Clayton J Mitchell Photography©
“We carry our inner child through those hardships and hills, trying to protect it, guarding it on the road. For me, mimosa flower is a symbol of a beautiful, fluffy pompon, innocent and micro-sized Earth” – Eglija Vaitkevice
With so many events put on ice during lockdown, it comes as a pleasant surprise to find a fragrance that conjures the very place we need to visit. Outdoorsy childhoods are often a beacon of halcyon nostalgia and the reason is twofold: firstly, as children we lived in the moment, banking memories both visual and olfactory without even realising it. Secondly, for many children, our happiest times were the days spent free-playing out doors, with the benevolent warmth of the sun giving blessing to our dens and adventures. The world was new and flowery and muddy and full of hiding places.
As adults, it takes a lot to recapture that and, in my experience, it is only scent that has this inimitable and absolute power. Exaltatum Mimosa Gold captivated me at my very first spray. It conjured up rolling down grassy banks of yellow dandelions circa 1977. It gave me back the dusting of yellow pollen on my fingers when I plucked pussy willow from its silver branches and it gave me back those days when pollen dusted my nose from smelling native Welsh daffodils and yes, eating the yellow centres of daises (not recommended but it didn’t hurt me).
Mimosa via Pixaby©
I didn’t have Mimosa growing near me, and perhaps you didn’t either, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be taken down a time tunnel by the powerful scent of pollen and sunshine found in Mimosa Gold. It has the universal fairy dust of yellow powder that, if you were lucky, anointed your childhood with the best that nature had to offer. You’ll know this scent if you know the scent of sun blazed skin, flowers from both garden and hedgerow and the sense that a hum of bees is drifting lazily to your ear through the heat.
Eglija Vaitkevice
Eglija Vaitkevice, founder and perfumer at Exaltatum was trained in Grasse and within moments of trying her fragrances, you realise that she knows magic and how to bottle it. Mimosa Gold has the finest mimosa note I have ever smelled in a perfume. It manages somehow to capture both the honeyed notes of flowers shaped like fluffy pom poms and the earthiness of the warm ground they sprang from.
Branches of of an almond tree in blossom by Van Gogh
Mimosa has the biggest presence, like a bright sun at the centre. Alongside the jaunty yellow puffs are rich almond blossoms, giving this a hint of marzipan to my nose, alongside juicy Mirabelle plum. This is a perfect balance between the archly rich and the temptingly plump, beckoning you in deeper to a blossom covered copse of enchantment and memory. Mimosa, Acacia and ylang ylang blended with such finesse, are what gives this fragrance everything a bee could wish for. Its honeyed glow wreathes delicately around you as the sun sets. (longevity is excellent, incidentally). After a joyful day of idyllic nostalgia, warm base notes of sandalwood and cosy tonka beckon you indoors to wrap you in a comforting warmth like loving arms. Even when you wake the next day, little dustings of pollen will throw a teasing glimpse of contentment your way, dancing like dust motes, or maybe very tiny fairies.
Audrey Hepburn in a mimosa yellow gown by Ceil Chapman for Harper’s Bazaar, 1952: Richard Avedon©
Mimosa Gold is both the flower and the light that tinges the edge of the Polaroid. It’s you in a more innocent time, before taxes, bills and schedules. It’s you when nature was your playground and you believed in fairies. Exaltatum Mimosa took me to a place I never wanted to leave.
Notes: Mirabelle plum, almond flower, magnolia champaca, star anise, petitgrain, acacia farnesiana, mimosa dealbata, ylang ylang, heliotrope, sandalwood, tonka bean, orris, benzoin, patchouli, vetiver
Disclaimer: Many thanks to Eglija Vaitkevice for my bottle of Mimosa Gold and the samples that accompanied it. Opinions are my own.
– Samantha Scriven, contributor and writer of the iscentyouaday perfume blog//co-art direction Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief
Mimosa Gold image courtesy of Eglija
Thanks to the generosity of Eglija Vaitkevice of Exaltatum, we have a draw for a 15ml extract de parfum bottle of Mimosa Gold for one registered reader in EU, USA or Canada. You must register here or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what you enjoyed most about Samantha’s review, if you have tried an Exaltatum fragrance, and where you live. Draw closes 5/23/2020
Editor’s Note you can read Elena’s review of St. Paul’s here and Pergola was one of Elena’s favorite scents in her quarantine article here
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