Perfumer Christine Nagel
The Jo Malone brand is known for fragrances that resonate simplicity while maintaining an air of elegance. The newest limited edition collection of eau de colognes, London Rain, celebrates the beauty of spring rain as it falls on the city throughout the day. Spring is my favorite season. Everything about rain appeals to me and these eclectic minimalist scents capture many of the things I love in an olfactory equivalent to dancing joyously in a sudden downpour. All four fragrances were created by Master Perfumer Christine Nagel, who has been their in-house nose since 2010’s English Pear & Freesia. Her deft use of a minimal number of notes per fragrance usually results in something that keeps my nose pressed to my wrist. Ms. Nagel is one of my favorite perfumers and the London Rain collection will be the last she composes for Jo Malone which makes these colognes very special as she joined Jean-Claude Ellena at Hermès, Paris in March.
Rain Composition by Diana Lee
At Nordstrom, I was drawn to the flaçons with their color-drenched two-tone heavy glass. Though the color purple draws me like a magpie to something shiny, the teal blue of Rain & Angelica stood out. Pairing my favorite herb, Angelica with one of my favorite things, Mme. Nagel distilled post-dawn dew with early morning rain as it drizzles over a park into a cologne as evanescent as it is mercurial. This is aromatic and aquatic yet different from most in this genre. Centering on angelica in full bloom, with all its verdant plushness and herbaceous muskiness, Rain & Angelica vacillates between watery clean and grassy floral. The perfume starts out on a invigorating note before flowing along to a scent that is soft and comforting, despite the chill. Vetiver, tinged with slightly dark sweetness, evokes raindrops beading on the grass. Each successive sniff throughout my sample’s all too brief lifespan brought me repeated sighs and swoons…and has me adding yet another Nagel composition to my collection. Sillage: average. Longevity: slightly above average.
Notes: Lime, clear aqueous accord, angelica and vetiver
Black Cedar by Andrew Levitsky
As I love woody aromatic scents another favorite in the collection is Black Cedarwood & Juniper. The scent of dank rain can have an earthy aroma which can be off putting. Not here as the juniper and its lively aroma counterpoints a somber rain-soaked cedar. A distinctive opening of chili leaves and cumin adds a humid and sensual aura. Homage to warm midnight rain falling on tree and bush alike, this fragrance is shadowy without being “noir” and maintains a restrained edginess. It is the most brooding and melancholy of the collection and inarguably waxes the most masculine. Rivulets of tepid drops cascade down tree bark and needles adding a visual sheen, as well as an olfactory one, to a misty and nocturnal setting perfumed in translucent vapors of balsamic evergreen, spice and wood. Sillage: slightly above average. Longevity: above average.
Notes: Chili tree leaves, cumin, juniper, cedar and moss
Photos from Jo Malone website
Tinged a deep amethyst hue, Wisteria & Violet lives up to its name and fits its bottle perfectly. Awash in the airy fragrance of wisteria combined with fresh violet petals, Wisteria Violet falls gently on skin like the early morning rain it was meant to perfume, As the water lily opens, breathing a sigh of calm floral grace, it adds an aqueous undertone to the veil of demure and pastel purple flower catching and scenting the drops as they fall intermittently from nebulous gray heavens, cascading over cool stones and moss. A tender drizzle of patchouli anchors this magnificently. White Jasmine & Mint, a subtle reworking of the 2007 release, now saturates that sunny English garden with a warm afternoon downpour. The tender lilies close as rain pummels jasmine, rose, and orange blossom growing alongside fresh leaves, cool mint and diaphanous herbs, magnifying their essences as it rolls over blossom and foliage to join the earth. It is a floral green fragrance that dries earth-kissed and close to Both scents have average sillage and average longevity.
Wisteria & Violet notes: Water lily, rain accord, wisteria, violet petals and patchouli
White Jasmine & Mint notes: wild mint, rose, heirloom jasmine, orange blossom, matè tea
Disclosure: Reviews based on samples provided to me by the Ross Park Nordstrom in Pittsburgh, PA.
John Reasinger, Senior Editor and Natural Perfume Editor
Thanks to the generosity of the manager of my local Jo Malone counter, we have one sample set (one 1.5 ml sprayer each of all 4 reviewed) so one lucky US reader. To be eligible please leave a comment stating which London Rain scent you might like best or your favorite rainy day association. Draw will end on April 9th, 2014.
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.