Jo Malone Scarlet Poppy Cologne Intense via Jo Malone
“Now it is well known that when there are many of these flowers together their odor is so powerful that anyone who breathes it falls asleep, and if the sleeper is not carried away from the scent of the flowers, he sleeps on and on forever. But Dorothy did not know this, nor could she get away from the bright red flowers that were everywhere about; so presently her eyes grew heavy and she felt she must sit down to rest and to sleep.” ~ excerpt from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 1900 by L. Frank Baum
Judy Garland as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz 1939
The much-loved author of children’s literature L. Frank Baum was very likely familiar with the ‘juice of the poppy’, given the era in which he lived and his own sickly childhood. The most common panacea for insomnia and pain was laudanum, a solution of opium in alcohol which was freely administered to both young and old alike. Folk thought about the poppy as they did about any other medicine; they didn’t. The poppy came into disrepute much later, when the opium trade (which began in the 6th or 7th C., when Turkish and Arabic traders first introduced it to China) spawned wars and increasing addiction. In my researching the history of opium, I discovered that many wealthy Boston merchants founded some of our most illustrious institutions with their ill-gotten gains: The Perkins family financed the Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, and the Boston Athenaeum as well as their famous Perkins Institute For the Blind (think Helen Keller, and you’ve got it right). Opium infiltrated our culture far beyond relief of care and restlessness; it permeated every aspect of daily life, either directly or by proxy.
Jo Malone Scarlet Poppy Intense Cologne ad
Pity the much-maligned poppy – an exquisite example of Nature’s bounty, illustrative of function and beauty via utmost simplicity of design, available in many shades. I cannot speak to any specific aroma which they possess other than a crisp fraîcheur, although I have smelt a multitude of them in several countries. Their intense coloration and dimensions incite me to bury my nose in each bloom, regardless of how many there are in front of me. Perhaps that is why perfumers seek to capture an ineffable evocation of their history and exoticism.
Mathilde Bijaoui and Creative Director Celine Roux via Jo Malone
Jo Malone released an English Garden Collection three years ago, when the fragrance Poppy and Barley Cologne (as gorgeously reviewed by former Senior Editor Gail Gross) was presented – depicted as violetty, piquant with black currant seated upon the beauty of bran and musk, a bucolic scent. When an intense version of poppy was decided upon, the same perfumer – MANE’s Master Perfumer Mathilde Bijaoui,(her Young Perfumer interview here) – was chosen to create it. Scarlet Poppy Cologne Intense was born from an accord Mathilde had created a few years ago which was stunning, but didn’t fit any of the projects which were being developed at the time. The image of a rich burgundy hued Asian poppy, immense and tall (the bloom is 8 inches in diameter, with 3-foot-high stems!) sprang into consciousness – as far removed from an English garden as one can imagine. The voluptuous accord had found a home.
Ida’s bottle amidst the poppies
Jo Malone Scarlet Poppy Cologne Intense’s initial impression makes one feel like a glutton at a banquet: the olfactory groaning board is plentiful and our senses are inundated with luscious aromas. You experience them all simultaneously – the musky/woody/floral ambrette; orris’ buttery metallic floralcy; a fig which conspires to be fleshy, verdant, and woody all at once; tonka, with its caramel powdery hay tone accented with tobacco; almondy heliotrope, sublime gourmandise; gentle barley, the sweet grain of soft earthiness; and the fantasy accord of flaming red poppy (because we know that it has to be a concoction of the imagination). Part of me wishes that the first spritz lasted indefinitely, because each unique voice is readily discernible with a startling clarity; it feels emphatically seductive, open. Not long into the unfurling, you ask yourself: “Is that balsamic note a vetiver?” A silvery-edged sweet green steps forward, sighingly lovely – and either it exists in the poppy accord or it is Mme. Bijaoui’s choice of fig which creates this aroma, but either way it’s delightful. The heliotrope is subtly proportioned, which is frequently not the case when it is employed in perfumery. Scarlet Poppy straddles a delicate balance successfully: it maintains a refinement which does not permit cavity-inducing sweetness or heavy handedness. Jo Malone’s narcotic vision veers away from any reference to spice-laden, weighty ambers recalling orientalism and instead focuses upon a fleshy floral gourmandise – but not so gourmand that one suffocates under its oppressively sticky cloak. The eventual drydown comes to a fluffy, diaphanous conclusion, a tender sweetness which never overstays its welcome.
via Mathilde Bijaoui’s Instagram
Jo Malone Scarlet Poppy Cologne Intense is going to be one of those fragrances which are effortlessly, deservedly admired and worn. It has a broad appeal and is cosseting – along with being beautifully composed and easy to wear. It invites the audience to focus on you, not the perfume screaming for attention – an impalpable, delectable aura. Do you have a favorite Jo Malone Cologne?
Notes: ambrette, orris, fig, poppy accord, tonka, heliotrope, barley
Many thanks go to Jo Malone for my marvelous bottle! My nose is my own…
~ Ida Meister, Deputy Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor
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