Solstice Scents Sweet Clover and Wood Smoke EDP bottle; photo courtesy of Solstice Scents
“Then summer fades and passes and autumn comes. We’ll smell smoke then, and feel an unexpected sharpness, a thrill of nervousness, swift elation, a sense of sadness and departure.” – Thomas Wolfe
In mid-August, the trees on the distant mountain outside my New Jersey home began an all-too-eager transformation. Outlining a lush and lazy green valley still in the swing of summer, these overzealous onlookers re-emerged over a summer night in autumnal hues of red, brown and orange. Turncoats. With my bare feet still in green grass, I observed this elemental shift, wishing I could stop time and bottle the remaining days of summer. Sweet Clover and Wood Smoke, the new release from Angela St. John, the creative powerhouse behind Solstice Scents, captures in a bottle the carefree days of summer with careful recognition to golden hues ahead.
Vernon Valley, New Jersey; photo by Michael Devine©
Solstice Scents Sweet Clover and Wood Smoke, available as an eau de parfum spray or perfume oil, is described on the website as “sun-baked sweet clover lining old Florida lime rock backroads.” Already an ardent fan of Angela St. John’s creations, this artful description was enough for me to add this release to my online shopping cart. A story in a bottle and true to its inspiration, Sweet Clover & Wood Smoke opens with lush, misty morning-wet clover, bundled with a spray of mimosa flowers and moringa blossoms. The opening is hopeful and smile-inducing, like the smile you’d give a child who’s picked for you a bouquet of flowers, her hands fragrant with stemmy greenness.
Sweet Clover and Wood Smoke 5ml perfume oil; photo courtesy of Solstice Scents
In the midsummer heart of the fragrance, the morning dewiness subsides as if to suggest sun-dried grass with patches of hay. The note of lime-rock adds a flinty earthiness counterbalanced by a cozy sweetness from coumarin and a bakery vanilla, like walking a gravel driveway, bouquet in hand, to return to the smells of home. All the while, somewhere in the distance, green turns to gold. Its olfactive concept reminds me of Black March, a composition from Christopher Brosius of CB I Hate Perfume, which opens with a frozen earth accord and as the fragrance wears on, green buds and flowers emerge, suggesting the passage of winter into spring. In similar fashion (conceptually speaking), the opening and heart of the deftly-composed Solstice Scents Sweet Clover and Wood Smoke portray an easy, airy summer season which evolve to the first glimpses of fall. While Black March was starkly photorealistic, Sweet Clover and Wood Smoke portrays reality through a fairytale haze, verdant and blithe.
Art by Solstice Scents
This fragrance is quite long-lasting and our journey is predominantly spent in the bliss of a seemingly endless summer. But of course, summer is never endless. In the air, there’s the eponymous wood smoke that, thankfully, when combined with the creamy vanilla sweetness, is comforting rather than melancholic. The passage of time can be a daunting reality. Solstice Scents Sweet Clover and Wood Smoke is a reminder that it can also be an opportunity to express gratitude for the pleasures of life, the beauty which surrounds us and the hope of what’s to come.
Notes: sun-baked sweet clover flowers, coumarin, green clover leaves, mimosa flowers, moringa blossoms, limerock road, sweet delicate wood smoke
Disclosure: review based on the perfume oil; bottle purchased by the author.
—Michael Devine, Contributor
Solstice Scents
Thanks to the generosity of Solstice Scents, we have a 5ml bottle of the perfume oil AND a 2.5 ml sample of the eau de parfum for one lucky registered ÇaFleureBon reader IN THE CONTINENTAL US ONLY. Please register here or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment with what intrigues you about Solstice Scents Sweet Clover & Wood Smoke and indicate that you are in the Continental United States. Draw closes 9/9/20222. Do you have a favorite from the brand? Please put Solstice Scents on your radar and support our Artisans
Editor’s Notes:
Angela St. John composed Talisman for CaFleureBon 7th Anniversary as part of a seven multi perfumer collaboration
Please read more about perfumer Angela St. John in Art of Artisan: The Pioneers here
Angela St. John’s path to perfumery featured in CaFleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery Here
In memory of Editor Emeritus Robert Herrmann who wrote this beautiful review of Solstice Scents Sea Of Gray in 2017 which is still available here and the review of Talisman
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