“In the spring time, the only pretty ring time, when birds do sing… sweet lovers love the spring. , As You Like It, Act V, sc. 3. -William Shakespeare

 

 Juliet statue and home in Verona

 

Romeo and Juliet is considered the most famous love story of all time. They are the most beloved of lovers, and their story written more than four hundred years ago in 1595 resonates just as strongly in 2013 as it did during Elizabethan times. Yet it is Juliet who is immortalized forever. Her statue in Verona, Italy has been lovingly tended for seventy years by "secretaries" who collect and answer letters written to her asking for advice on love; no one writes to Romeo. Although she is a character of fiction she has a tomb and a home. She is the symbol of immortal love, eternal youth and the fleeting promise of Spring and no perfumer captures her persona as brillliantly as Alexandra Balahoutis. 

 

 

Juliet by William Hatherell 1912

Now that Spring has finally arrived, I am drawn to Fair Verona from Strange Invisible Perfumes (whose name comes from yet another play by Shakespeare). When I wear Fair Verona, I envisage just that place where Juliet stood on her balcony, trembling with love for her Romeo, on a warm night scented with jasmine.

 

Juliet by John Williams Waterhouse

From  Strange Invisible Perfumes website: "Organic Italian citruses, sandalwood, mimosa, and a precious array of jasmine essences sweetly conjure Shakespeare’s heroine, Juliet. This Strange Invisible classic inspires clarity and charm".

 And so this is true. As I was doling out the precious droplets of my sample of Fair Verona I remember myself thinking how perfectly it had retraced Juliet’s trajectory – it starts very young, green and yes, charming.  Fair Verona reveals its exquisite jasmine heart that takes my breath away and is as  memorable as Juliet's love for Romeo. There is a fruity aspect of jasmine in Fair Verona, a hint at a luscious apricot or peach, and  when I raise my nose to my wrist, I smell the aspects of wood and spice that recreate an evening in Verona. I want these precious few hours to last forever, but, as always happen with the coming of Spring and of perfumes, a melancholy fading away comes after the height of their beauty, not unlike the lark Juliet was so reluctant to hear on her first and only night of love.

 

 Frank Dicksee -Romeo and Juliet 

 Did I tell you that I loved happy endings? Any other ones always broke my heart. I kept stretching my imagination, trying to come up with an alternative story in which something different happened,  and the matters turn to a happy ending after all, thus inventing a genre of fan fiction which, it seemed to me, had existed as long as the literature did, but only received its name recently.

  Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting Romeo and Juliet (Franco Zeffirelli,1968)

However, the sad ending of Romeo and Juliet had always sent me into a hapless grief. Once after watching the Franco Zefirelli’s movie version of this play I came back home crying and fell into an over a 100 degree fever without any other symptoms. The fever stopped when I stopped crying, which was next day. I would never revise the story of Juliet and Romeo, I could only relive it multiple times. And that’s what I’ve been doing, trying out Fair Verona on different days of my life. It is the whole story amplified yet played in slow motion.  Today, I take out my vial of  Fair Verona perfume and wait through the intensely green beginning, and then hear the citrus notes ringing like little bells and rising up like the sun rays. Joy from tragedy and I think, Oh is that the meadow lark again, and does  that mean that the night had gone? No, Juliet, no, the night had not gone yet. The passionate night blooming jasmine and your only night of love are still ahead of you. And yes, a strange invisible perfume hits the sense.

– Olga Rowe, Contributor and Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

Art Direction: Michelyn Camen

William Shakespeare was born April 23 and died on the same day  April 23,  54 years later, but lives on forever.

For our draw to celebrate William Shakespeare's birthday and the forever young Juliet, Strange Invisible Perfumes is offering the Fair Verona  Eau de Parfum  to one of our U.S. readers. Please leave a comment with your favorite Shakespeare female character AND your favorite Strange Invisible Perfume  (or one you would like to try).  Draw ends April 25, 2013.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.