Audrey Hepburn in a mimosa yellow gown by Ceil Chapman for Harper’s Bazaar, 1952: Richard Avedon©
So many of us here at ÇaFleureBon adore mimosa that I feel fortunate to review Amouage Love Mimosa, which was composed under former creative director Christopher Chong. True to form, his vision of this Mediterranean floral beauty is no wilting blossom: she is a potent powerhouse with presence. Mr. Chong chose a young Firmenich perfumer who grew up in that area – Elise Benat, a south of France native and well-acquainted with its flora. Between them they composed all that’s fruity, floral and vibrant, infused with inoubliable optimism; when Mr. Chong and Ms. Benat created this fragrance they wished to celebrate female force in all its radiant energy.
Mimosa via Pixaby©
Part of a distinctly Mediterranean terroir is its climate. You smell ocean air everywhere – and limpid violet leaf is an instinctive choice, augmented by Firmenich Cascalone©, a later generation of aquatic synthetic which does not possess the oyster nuance or watermelon reference of its predecessor, Calone but is chemically related. Mimosa is often associated with powder (think Caron Farnesiana), but it has that honeyed, animalic furry bee underbelly (Frederic Malle’s glorious Une Fleur de Cassie), and Amouage Love Mimosa plays to both facets. Violet leaf imparts a cucumber-juiciness which features as a portion of mimosa’s scent profile. Heliotrope, with its meringuelike cherry/almond resonance feels integral and is frequently employed in mimosa-inspired fragrances; juicy pear is delicately incorporated with orris for a gauzy halo effect. Marrying buttery-and-indolic, heavy hitting ylang ylang is the miracle Paradisone©: Beyond Floral. Paradisone smells like dream flowers – gardenia, frangipani, magnolia, lily of the valley, hyacinth, jasmines-on-crack-cocaine and more; it makes perfumes glow. We’ve encapsulated dreamy, limpid, watery, outrageously floral, powdery, animalic/indolic: now the combined ambergris/ambery base is prominent, embodied by Ambrox. Some describe it as raspy, a polarizing but popular note in perfumery. It is very much a part of Love Mimosa’s DNA and is not in the least timid – so I firmly believe that one does well to dose accordingly. It inhabits its own force field…
Clayton J Mitchell Photography©
Amouage Love Mimosa is not an introverted perfume, unless you are an introvert who chooses to express yourself through sillage (and I know several who do just that). It’s an effusive declaration of confidence and positivity, an aromatic expression of hopefulness and belief that there is better yet to come.
Christopher Chong 2019 Photo by Jay Brooks©
We will sorely miss Christopher Chong, Creative Director for Amouage since 2007 (Guest Contributor Michael Devine recently penned an eloquent homage which we hope you all will reference). Mr. Chong’s prodigious body of work is an art unto itself, spanning every possible genre of fragrance and shepherding it to the foreground. It was my pleasure to travel to Manhattan to meet him when he launched his Memoir perfumes at Bergdorf Goodman in 2010. He was charming, elegant: “You came all the way from Boston just to see me today?” he inquired in his modest manner. “Absolutely. How could I not?”. I was caught off guard by his youth and good looks – he is one of those rare people who look precisely as they are photographed, no filters or airbrushing required. We shared a common love of the arts; both of us had studied and sung opera, among other things. I found him delightful, urbane and well-informed. Two years earlier when Jubilation 25 Woman had been released I was instantly besotted and purchased it posthaste, being an avowed chypre lover. Lyric, Epic, Beloved, Fate, Sunshine (Woman and Man!), Journey Man (and several of the Opuses) found their way into my ‘top shelf’ as surely as if they were the finest single malts. I owe Christopher an aromatic debt which I can never hope to repay.
Notes: violet leaf, Cascalone, orris, mimosa, pear, Paradisone, ylang ylang, Ambrox, heliotrope
Carded samples sweetly provided by Amouage USA LeviPCPR – many thanks! My nose is my own…
~ Ida Meister, Senior Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor
~ Art Direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief
Photo courtesy of Amouage
Thanks to the largess of Amouage, we have ten 1 ml carded samples of Amouage Love Mimosa for one registered reader in the USA. You must register here or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what you enjoyed most about Ida’s review of Amouage Love Mimosa. Draw closes 9/17/2019
Available September 2019 in the USA through the USA distributor Europerfumes and select stockists worldwide
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