Tulips and Pansies: Fragrance, Fashion and Beauty + “True Colors” Perfume Draw

Tulips are one of the most admired and beloved flowers the world around. Tulips are symbolic of fame and perfect love. The symbolic meanings also change with the color of the tulips. Red tulips mean “true love”. Variegated tulips mean “you have beautiful eyes.” Yellow tulips mean “there’s sunshine in your smile” and cheerful thoughts. Cream colored tulips mean “I will love you forever.” White tulips symbolize heaven, newness and purity. Purple tulips symbolize royalty. Pink tulips mean affection and caring. Orange tulips mean energy, enthusiasm, desire, and passion. The pansy is named from the French word “pensee” meaning thoughts, in particular the thoughts of lovers. The myth grew that you could see a loved one in the face of the pansy.

When it comes to the realm of fragrance pansies and tulips aren’t given the same deference as roses, jasmine, violets, lilies, or plumeria, which have a strong fragrance. And can be created without synthetic molecules. According to the renowned Michel Roudnitska, président at FONDATION EDMOND ROUDNITSKA you cannot extract the “jus” of a pansy, you can only evoke its velvet like texture. (Be serious folks, please) In haute couture fashion, violets and roses are popular themes…. ditto beauty.

So let’s pay homage to the common tulips and pansy through the avant garde lenses of Illamasqua, Christian Dior Couture, Hilde Soliani, L’Artisan Parfumeur and Ellie D by Michel Roudnitska.

Illamasqua’s roots stem from the dark and illicit 1920 and 30s club scene, and the kaleidoscopic palette and out-of-this-world colors would fit the hedonistic vamp played by Liza Minnelli in the movie Cabaret as easily as it would Lady Gaga’s futuristic and flamboyant style. The buzzzzz was building when I first found out about the line in 2009, and I hadn’t seen anything like it since M.A.C was introduced in Henri Bendel’s on West 57th street in the 1980s. Created by British makeup artist Alex Box and adopted quickly by celebrities like Sienna Miller, Lily Allen,and Adele sold out completely within three months of its debut in Sephora. Nary a beauty aficionado, a scant two years later from women (and men) age16 to 60 are stocking up and the brand which is synonymous with TRUE COLORS.

The hot colors this summer are inspired by, yes, pansies and tulips. I NEEDED a new lipgloss in coral and hot pink that didn’t have the intensity of a lipstick but provided a pop of color; having experience with the brand I selected from their range of ‘sheer’ lipgloss (which, by any other brand’s standards would be full color) which is so richly hued and flattering, that I can wear it on its own in lieu of a lipstick. I chose Divine and Torture. They are especially beautiful layered.

One blush to wear with everything this summer is the peachy apricot with a hint of pink, Lover. So go bold, or more natural, you are sure to look beautiful. I promise you, you will not look like “Divine” …that is unless you want to.

Available at Sephora.com and Illamasqua.com.

John Galiano, formerly head designer of Christian Dior Couture is now a persona non grata in the fashion world ( for his racial slurs and anti Semitic remarks and is about to stand trial in France). But his body of work can be separated from the man for the purpose of this article to showcase pansies and tulip patterns and shapes. As most haute couture, use your imagination on how these beautiful designs, colors and patterns can be translated into real life.

When I think of tulip and perfumes, I immediately think of Hilde Soliani Tuo Tulipano (from the Ti Amo collection, (remember… red tulips symbolize “love”); nary a tulip note in the composition , yet it is the embodiment of a red tulip and everything that the often detested and over marketed fruity-floral could be and is in a niche brand.

Top notes: lime, bergamot, black currant, white peach, kiwi, passion fruit
Heart: freesia, jasmine, lily of the valley
Base: musk, vetiver, oak moss

http://www.iltuotulipano.com/iltuotulipano.html

One of my favorite fragrances that actually uses tulip notes is L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Traversée du Bosphore; which is also the last time I saw Bertrand Duchaufour (October, 2010). “In creating this perfume, for me it was very important to show duality. The leather contrasted with the Turkish Delight is very important element of this fragrance. When I asked which fragrance Brian Kurtz, Sales and Marketing Director, North America at Penhaligon’s (who introduced me to the line back in 2007 and returns after a hiatus to L’Artisan and Penhaligon’s) is wearing NOW, “ I am really liking Traversee du Bosphore.” I was surprised and his repsonse prompted me to review the press release which included the line “Gardens bursting with a thousand dazzling tulips exude green notes” I defer to Managing Editor Mark Behnke’s spot on review

www.lartisanparfumeur.com

Jessica Dunne hired Michel Roudnitska to create her inaugural fragrance— Ellie, for her new company Ellie D in 2006 (naming the company Ellie D was an ode to her grandmother Eleanor Dunne, who loved classical French perfumery). Ellie has bright, citrusy top notes of bergamot and tangerine, a floral heart of cyclamen, lily of the valley, jasmine, gardenia and rose, to the woody drydown. Unexpected accords of coconut and vanilla created a surprising twist to a not quite traditional white floral.

Photo: Courtesy of Jane Daly


Ellie D’s second perfume, Ellie Nuit, just by its name sounded like a more intense version, a ’flanker’ of the original. NO! This is an entirely different perfume, a woody floral that showcases the talent of Michel Roudnitska. Ellie Nuit opens with the green sap of fig and the wood accords immediately kick in—sandalwood, oakmoss, and cashmere wood. So unexpected, these accords usually appear in the drydown. The heart releases violet, rose and blackcurrant and then, the mysterious dry down, which I wish I could express more eloquently, but evokes burying your face into dark purple pansies, soft as velvet. Ellie Nuit is so decadent; I sometimes use it in my bath. Available at www.luckyscent.com

– Michelyn Camen, Editor-In Chief

For our draw:

100ml of of Hilde Soliani Tuo Tulipano –valued at $250.00

.5 0z of Ellie Nuit perfume oil-valued at $180

50ml of Traversee du Bosophore –valued at $115

(We thank Jessica Dunne, Brian Kurtz, and Hilde Soliani for the draws. Wink to Tom Kast Hoyer)

To be eligible, leave a comment, a poem, a song, a painting that evokes pansies and tulips. Give a shout out to Illamasqua and Cyndi Lauper who out Gaga’s anyone from back in the 80s. Creativity counts but so does every comment! You can specify which fragrance you would like to win. Draw closes June 12, 2011

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33 comments

  • Tulips!  Last spring when I was in Amsterdam it was too cold for the tulips to be out at the famous Keukenhof gardens. I was disappointed since I'd seen Keukenhof when I was younger and wanted to visit with my husband. Also tulips are one of my favorite flowers. We were out on a rainy day visiting museums and returned to our room in a canal house to find the hotel owners had brought a huge vase of tulips to our room!  I went down the super steep steps and thanked them.  The owner said, "we thought if you can't get out to see the tulips, we'll bring them to you!"  

  • sonia garcia says:

    Talking about tulips reminds me a trip I made to Netherlands a few years back, beautiful country, and I saw some amazing and beautiful tulips, and brought some back home (the wooden ones 😛 )
    I really love this Okkervil River song called "Blue Tulip" a beautiful song:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZPHYFSRIxk&feature=related
    I love the Cindy Lauper song too, reminds me of Glee…Thanks again for this amazing giveaway!!! I'd love to get the Traversee.
     

  • scentual healing says:

    The beauteous pansies rise
    In purple, gold, and blue,
    With tints of rainbow hue
    Mocking the sunset skies.
    – Thomas John Ouseley,
    The Angel of the Flowers
    I am a great admirer of Michel Roudnitska for his perfume and for his humanitarian work I would love ellie Nuit

     

  • I like "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" from Tiny Tim. Tupils are my favorite flowers especially because of color variety. It would be nice to win Hilda Soliani's pefume, thanks for opportunity!

  • I'like tulips because of so many different colours. Here is a haiku about them:
    this fleeting world !
    light and shadow
    on the tulips

    (by Gabi Greve)

  • Oh so glad you like my pansy photo! I was at our local garden shop & stopped dead in my tracks by that beauty. That is an unedited iphone photo- amazing! Georgia O'Keefe's Black Pansy is my absolute favourite flower painting of all time. LOVE it. Pansies are like little velvet flowers.

  • French tulips are my passion.  They are so amazing and gorgeous!!!  I am crazy in love with Il Tuo Tulipano…and Traversee du Bosphore; so would love either of these.  I have not tried the Ellie Nuit, but it sounds delicious, too.  And now for a quick poem, An Ode to Spring by yours truly:
     
    Spring eternal, touching hearts
    Breathing life, bathing pain
    Swooning over beauty born
    Healing sorrows, nature's gain.
    Lay your head in cool, soft green,
    Sunlight's easy warmth to soothe
    As tulips dance around the breeze
    And pansies croon a blissful tune.

  • It is Shakespeare season here. Our local theater always has summer productions, and one of my favorites is "A Midsummer Nights Dream".  This reminds me of these lines, where the pansy (Or heartsease) is used as a love potion:

    Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
    It fell upon a little western flower,—
    Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,—
    And maidens call it love-in-idleness.

    Fetch me that flower, the herb I showed thee once:
    The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid
    Will make or man or woman madly dote
    Upon the next live creature that it sees

     
    I also love Cindy Lauper. My favorite song of her's is Time After Time.
    I would be thrilled to win any one of these fabulous perfumes. it is hard to choose. But I've wanted to try Ellie or Ellie Nuit for a long time, so I'll choose this. Thank you for a marvelous draw!

  • stylised tulips (by RG Gregory)

    stylised tulips – this is what the card says
    and they have that nineteen-twenties’ feel
    of those bright young things a decade before us
    who had a way of walking with their legs
    bent back and their pelvis forward as if
    inviting a kind of sexual depravity
    with the no touch signs fervently displayed

    Painting and poem so evocative of the bohemia of 1920s and 30s…and the color palette of Illamasqua's line-

  • Irving Penn's astonishing book "Flowers" (see: http://www.amazon.com/Flowers-Irving-Penn/dp/0517540746) with the photograph of a tulip on the cover forever changed my view of beauty. Penn opened my eyes to the beauty of a flower in every stage of its cycle of life, even in the overblown stage (drooping, losing petals, tinged with brown) where most of us would throw it away. And by extension don't human beings possess a unique beauty throughout our entire lives? (I would like to be considered for Elle Nuit.)

  • I don't know if I will be eligble for the draft (Elle Nuit would be interesting for me), but I will leave instrumental song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R57Iq9AhCrU. Just by accident, the description on YouTube says what I wanted to say as well: As in all instrumental pieces, one can add their own words, colors and images to the music.

  • Growing up in New York, autumn was the glory season. Now in Portland, I've learned to love the early spring cherry trees that sprinkle petals like pink snow over the city while a bulb bonanza explodes underfoot.

    One day in April, aching for winter to finally end, I bicycled past a garden someone had filled with white crocuses, daffodils and tulips. Most early spring flowers are white, blue, or pale yellow and I wondered why someone would forgo the bold reds tulips offer to make them boringly blend with all of April's other white flowers. This poem is the result.

    White Tulip Gardeners

    white tulip gardeners
    why do you bother
    when narcissus glow incandescious
    under skeletons of spring trees

    nature's palest petals march up
    amid grape hyacinth carpets
    and neither bloodroots nor bleeding hearts
    can wear the tulip's cinnabar turban

    why do you bother
    white tulip gardeners
    growing light bulbs for Easter
    when even rabbits know to plant red eggs
     

  • My mother loved pansies and and selected them for her pots by their "faces". A few years ago, a friend gave her this poem which she kept in her address book (no idea why!).  She felt this poem explained how pansies came to their faces.  I had to search the internet to find out who wrote it (Robert Herrick). 
     
    I'd love to be in the Traversee du Bosophore drawing.
     
    Frolic virgins once these were,
    Overloving, living here;
    Being here their ends denied
    Ran for sweethearts mad, and died.
    Love, in pity of their tears,
    And their loss in blooming years,
    For their restless here spent hours,
    Gave them hearts-ease turn'd to flowers.


  • I'm getting married tomorrow morning, and I'm a little bit nervous, so my creativity is at a minimum, but I wanted to say that I always think of the Disney Classic Alice in Wonderland when I see pansies. I remember the song that the flowers sang and the pansies were lovely and really cute. But the other flowers were really rude at the end with poor Alice LOL
    They sang:
    Little bread-and-butterflies kiss the tulips, and the sun is like a toy balloon. There are get up in the morning glories, in the golden afternoon. There are dizzy daffodils on the hillside, strings of violets are all in tune, Tiger lilies love the dandelions, in the golden afternoon, the golden afternoon. There are dog and caterpillars and a copper centipede, where the lazy daisies love the very peaceful life they lead… You can learn a lot of things from the flowers, for especially in the month of June. There's a wealth of happiness and romance, all in the golden afternoon. … All in the golden afternoon, the golden afternoon…
    Traversée du Bosphore would be the prize I would pick if I won 🙂  Thank you!

  • I feel a little lost amongst all the poetic, artistic people on here leaving those beautiful comment. My comment will be rather simple but true.  First let me say Hilde Soliani Il Tulipano is a perfect scented poetic rendition of a large tulip field in a bottle, the kind you would see in Holland. The way you would imagine those beautiful tulips to smell, uplifting and cheery.  I also love the beautiful L'Artisan Traversee du Bosphore, on me it turns gourmandy in a soft sort of way. I have not had the pleasure to try the Ellie Nuit, so i think it would be my preference, but i would definitely be up to add more Tulipano to my collection. I think it is Hilde's best 🙂
    A shout out to my girl Cindy Lauper….every time i hear Time after Time or Girls just wanna have fun, it brings back great memories.

  • Roses are Red, Violets are Blue….i want some great perfume and so do You!!!! I know kind of cheesy, but so TRUE. All three of the fragrances mentioned here sound amazing, two of them i know are amazing and a must have for any perfumista.

  • My Pansy Haiku:

    Purple blue yellow
    Snuggled  in their lovely beds
    Faces bathed in sun

    I'd love the Traversee du Bosphore, but any of these would be lovely!  Thanks for the chance. 🙂

  • Il Tuo Tulipano was my first Niche perfume sample,and it blew me away and started an obsession-here's my ode to it:
    With a bubbling red 
    that is teasing and bold
    you sing your song of spring.
    With your juicy core
    and exuberant heart
    you whisper to me:
    let striving be and play for a while,
    you have travelled far,now sit with me
    and hear my song of love!

  • sara levy says:

    I love tulips. They are my favorite flower. In April I received an array of tulips for my birthday with a note saying "pack your bags, we're going to Amsterdam." Seeing tulips grown in large fields was incredible. Here's a line from a poem I wrote long ago about tulips:
    "…and when you gave me the tulips/I told you they were the seagulls of flowers/so noisy and so greedy in their white showiness…"
    the 17th century Dutch tulip paintings are the most evocative for me–check out van Huysum's works.

  • You have to see this image!  It totally embodies the Cyndi Lauper song, and it has tulips in it!


    http://www.saratogian.com/content/articles/2011/05/07/entertainment/doc4dc1b37c757c1005109676.jpg


    Tuo Tulilpano and Ellie Nuit are lovely!   I haven’t tried the new L’Artisan, but I love those other two!  I so rarely see Ellie Nuit written about…. why is that?  It’s so good on skin.  I’ve tried growing several fragrant flowers over the years but I’ve never tried tulips. Before getting into perfume, I thought of them as more colorful than fragrant, but now there are so many tulip pefumes that I love.  Perhaps we should try those when we buy the new house!


    I submit this poem called COLORS PASSING THOUGH US (it’s an excerpt from it). 
    Purple as tulips in May, mauve 
    into lush velvet, purple 
    as the stain blackberries leave 
    on the lips, on the hands, 
    the purple of ripe grapes 
    sunlit and warm as flesh. 
    Every day I will give you a color, 
    like a new flower in a bud vase 
    on your desk. Every day 
    I will paint you, as women 
    color each other with henna 
    on hands and on feet. 

    Cobalt as the midnight sky 
    when day has gone without a trace 
    and we lie in each other’s arms 
    eyes shut and fingers open 
    and all the colors of the world 
    pass through our bodies like strings of fire. 

  • Really creative comments keep them coming
    Aubrey re Ellie Nuit
    I think some of the most gorgeous niche fragrances get lost im the market because small companies cannot afford to advertise
    Ellie Nuit was not distributed widely and debuted about 4 years ago
    It was one of Michel Roudniska last fragrances
    The final one I believe was emotionelle for parfums del Rae

  • I have walked the tulip fields in the NW Seattle area..I have been to Holland…but the very best tulips I have discovered were my very own.  When your bulbs bloom in the Spring it gives me so much pleasure.  I am not sure a photo ever captures them…
    Pots of smiling faces..the pansies also bring much joy.  Both the tulips and the pansies do not have much smell…but relay great beauty. 
    ODE  TO A TULIP
    "The essence of the tulip is felt only in the eyes…the colorful, fragile petals open for us to peek ..to observe their beauty. 
    The wonder lies in our perception.

    Copyright 2011 JoAnne Bassett
    I would enjoy Elle Nuit as I admire Michel

  • Love letter to my pansies:
    Please forgive me for taking you for granted. I keep forgetting saying thank you for spoiling me with your beauty every year. There is no spring without pansies. Maybe the deep purple ones bring a special light in my eyes but I love all of you. I plant you every year in the backyard not because I don't appreciate you, but that is the first place I check every morning. And you never fail to cheer me up. So little, so fragile and so vibrant. 
    with love forever yours,
    C
    http://brownartgallery.com/024pansyfaces.htm
    I would love Ellie Nuit. 

  • Beautiful Pansies!  When I lived in Colorado, I decided to plant our west facing, full sun balcony flower boxes with pansies. I’d water them in the morning before I left for work. In the late afternoon, I’d return home to find them “laying down” for want of more water. I’d water them again and it was almost magical watching them come back to life. I babied these flowers daily and they lasted well into fall until the snows finally did them in. Their beautiuful velvety purple, blue, and pink hues made me smile, and they were the only flowers I’ve ever been able to keep going.
    That was a wonderful year – I was young, just out of college and had just moved across the country not knowing what to expect. I have a lovely photo of my roommate (we are still friends) and me on the balcony with mountains and pansies in the background. It’s a lovely memory that makes me smile everytime I see it!  Now that I’ve moved away from Colorado and mountains and pansies are far far away,  I’d love  to wear Ellie Nuit  to remind me of good times! 

  • I love pansies. Unfortunately, their German name isn’t really nice, they’re called “liitle stepmothers” which somehow evokes a negative connotation for a lot of people. But they’re beautiful, though. They are innocent & fragile, looking at us with their pretty little faces, eyes wide open. They prefer living in groups & not alone.
    That’s how I see pansies (photo taken & edited by me):
    http://de.tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=kl21t8VP%2FYjUb9mtQBjvVIh4l5k2TGxc
    Tulips are somewhat funky to me, they have a 60s/70s vibe, fresh & preferably red, they seem to take life easy, they make the most of every day with a (funk?) song on their lips.
    This how I see tulips (photo taken & edited by me):
    http://de.tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=kl21t8VP%2FYjoGDFi4%2BnQ3Yh4l5k2TGxc
    Please enter me in the draw. In case I win, I’d be very happy about the “Traversée du Bosphore”.
     
     
     
     
     

  • I love pansies too, you know when pansies appear that spring is here. I also love all the different colors they come in and they are truly a hardy little flower. There is a poem i find so fitting:

    Pansies.

    O give me not red roses,
    That early dews have wet!
    They speak to me of kisses
    That are remembered yet.
     
    O bring me not white roses,
    That summer winds have drest!
    For once I placed white roses
    Upon a quiet breast.
     
    But bring me purple pansies
    If so you wish to please,
    For them I have affection;
    For pansies are "heart's ease".
    __Louisa Cooke Don-Carlos.

  • It would just about make my summer to win Traversee du Bosphore. That one was love at first sniff, so comforting. In keeping with the pansy theme, a quote from Robert Williams Buchanan:
    "Pansies? You praise the ones that grow today
    Here in the garden; had you seen the place
    When Sutherland was living! Here they grew,
    From blue to deeper blue, in midst of each
    A golden dazzle like a glimmering star
    Each broader, bigger than a silver crown;
    While here the weaver sat, his labor done,
    Watching his azure pets and rearing them,
    Until they seem'd to know his step and touch
    And stir beneath his smile like living things:
    The very sunshine loved them, and would lie
    Here happy, coming early, lingering late,
    Because they were so fair."
    I imagine the sun waking with a smile to spend the days with beloved pansies!
    What a picture these words paint.
     
     
     
     

  • I want to thank you for this colorful post and Cyndi Lauper memory recall. I love the true colors of this draw and to be truthful, Cyndi’s song time after time is a favorite of mine and when done aucousticly, it can bring tears to my eyes! I am a girl who just wants to have fun. I want to color the town purple and pink with pansies.
    Cyndi, had first case of girl power and she shared that emotion through song and fashion with the impressionable 1980’s youth like me.
    I learned a few things from this review (I learn new stuff all the time from your reviews) about tulips I had no idea that there was so much rhyme and reason behind the color chosen to be given. I only knew that if a boy liked you in a special way enough to use a flower to communicate where words had failed to adequitly discribe emoition, it would be red and likely a rose.
    Of the three of these scents I am most intrigued by Ellie Nuit Oil. I love feeling oil on my skin and enjoy how when I mix and layer oils the chemist in me is satisfied. I enjoy the disipation and evaporation of the layers of oils as well. They do not disappear they fade away and some almost never completly fade.
    I once had a jacket that I spent my early to mid twenties wearing. Every fall, when I had it cleaned I didnt like it as much for a few months. Reason being that all of the fragrance was gone all of my memories reamianed but my fragrance fingerprint had been erased:( Some of the scents that were on that jacket were memories that I could only relive through smelling the jacket. Those were my true colors and I loved them. My twenties scent dna.