Wit and West Honeysuckle Halcyon
Every honeybee
Fills with jealousy
When they see you out with me
I don’t blame them
Goodness knows
Honeysuckle rose
When we’re passin’ by
Flowers droop and sigh
And I know the reason why
You’re much sweeter
Goodness knows
Honeysuckle rose — Fats Waller, “Honeysuckle Rose”
Clara Bow in the film It, 1927
This joint is jumpin, the piano’s thumpin’ and this here spot is more than hot. It’s a summer night in Chicago, round about 1922. The heat steams, rising from the asphalt like an entourage of frisky ghosts. Sweat beads like tiny diamonds on flapper foreheads as they dance a furious Charleston in one of the Andersonville dance halls. But down the street, tucked into the back of an alley where the men light their cigarillos in the shadows and their women purse their lips in bee-stung pouts, there’s a speakeasy where a ballad is being hammered out on an old, yellowed piano. All along the wire fence at the end of the street, tendrils of wild honeysuckle have set up home. Their vines curl like cigarette smoke around the cold metal, sweet perfume caressing the night air. Wit and West Honeysuckle Halcyon evokes a lazy, long August night on a 20’s Chicago Street where the weather is torpid but the jazz is cool. Sappy, sensual, full-bodied, Honeysuckle Halcyon is a Clara Bow starlet, equal parts wide-eyed innocence and provocative sensuality.
circa 1925: Flappers at the bar of Isa Lanchester’s night club in London. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)
Wit and West artisan natural perfumer perfumer Whitney Swales, describes her inspiration for Honeysuckle Halcyon as “an homage to jazz clubs and speakeasies of the early 1920s.” Created with a rare honeysuckle absolute oil and deliberately few top notes, Honeysuckle Halcyon puts its namesake flower squarely centerstage. On first spray, Honeysuckle Halcyon lets you know exactly what she’s about. After a few generous spritzes, my arm is drenched in deliriously pretty, honeyed flower that strikes me as an easygoing little sister to Parfums Delrae’s gorgeous Amoureuse: heady, syrupy and sensual. But baby girl is out for a good time and mixes in some peach juice and a scattering of mimosa blossoms. It is sweet, but not overly so, juicy and languid, and makes me want to twirl into the arms of someone mama warned me against.
Whitney Swales, natural perfumer
The construction of Wit and West Honeysuckle Halcyon is carefully thought-out. At the outset, mimosa provides a fluffy, powderpuff introduction to opulent honeysuckle in the perfume’s heart. But not before the florals pick a few peaches from the garden, dripping with tangy-sweet juice. The mimosa-peach cocktail is absolutely delicious, and I’m sat here wondering why I haven’t encountered this combination before. The peach has a light zippiness that seems more white peach than Georgia yellow, and it adds just the right complement and counterbalance to mimosa’s ethereal hay-and-honey fragrance. The honeysuckle makes her entrance early, speckled with lovely, green boxwood accents and densely sappy. Soon after, I notice unexpected surprises: a dry cocoa note coming up behind the honeysuckle – likely the combination of the particular patchouli Whitney Swales uses is paired with the vetiver — and a tickly little mint note. She explains that the minty aspect also derives from the patchouli – which is a relation of the mint family – and the version she uses here draws out that quality.
Honeysuckle image courtesy of Whitney Swales
If honeysuckle is the leading lady of this scent, jasmine is the supporting player. Neither indolic nor girlish, the jasmine sambac at the perfume’s center is fruity and creamy, lighter and less spicy than grandiflorum. It is the perfect anchor for the honeysuckle and mimosa, enhancing the vine flower’s green-tinged, pollenous scent. Wit and West Honeysuckle Halcyon dries down after about 45 minutes to a mellow, cocoa-infused floral. The honeysuckle stays forefront, while the mimosa fades, as it often does, into hints straw and face powder. Vetiver, which so often trumpets its presence in perfumes, stays quiet in the base, letting that chocolatey patchouli do most of the lifting.
Syrupy, voluptuous Wit and West Honeysuckle Halcyon puts me in mind of one of those sultry nights when time seems to slow to the tempo of a languid waltz, where the dancers sway against each other, feet barely tracing a box step. The air is thick with humidity, and crickets call to each other in their rhythmic rise and fall. The scent of sweet blooms hangs like a fringe over the night sky, and inside the club, Fats Waller is teasing the keys of an old piano in a slow, saucy love song.
Notes: Mimosa, peach, honeysuckle, jasmine sambac, patchouli, Haitian vetiver.
Disclaimer: Sample of Wit and West Honeysuckle Halcyon kindly provided by Wit and West Perfumes. My opinions, as always, are my own.
Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
Wit and West Perfumes Honeysuckle Halcyon
Thanks to the largess of Wit and West Perfumes, we have a draw for a 15 ml bottle ($60) of Honeysuckle Halcyon for one registered reader in the U.S. only. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what strikes you about Wit and West Honeysuckle Halcyon and that you live in the USA. Draw closes 9/21/2022.
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