I have a confession to make: I am a total perfume addict. As far back as I can remember, I’ve had a personal relationship with fragrance. It holds the power to transport me back to places I’ve been, to loved ones I’ve embraced, and to moments I hold dear. Lucky for me then, that I’ve spent the past 11 years as a journalist working in women’s magazines, so not only have I built up quite an impressive collection of perfumes, but I know a thing or two about them, too.
As you can probably tell, to me, a good perfume is all about emotion. The best scents in the business don’t just smell good; they make you feel something, too. And at this time of year, as spring starts to beam its way in, the fragrances I reach for are spiritually uplifting and vibrant, the ones that make you feel a little bit lighter and brighter from just one spritz – a bit like waking up to a crisp, blue-skied spring morning, but in a bottle. I’m hard pushed to think of a brand that does such scents better than British fragrance maker Molton Brown.
Made in the UK since 1971, Molton Brown works alongside the finest perfumers to create unique, top-tier fragrances, using high-quality ingredients – and high concentrations of them – to help the scents last all day.
There are three bestselling spring fragrance collections to choose from, all of which have earned their place in my bathroom cabinet. The first, Orange & Bergamot, created by Master Perfumer Beverly Bayne, is a zesty, uplifting scent, using a ton of just-picked sweet oranges, zingy bergamot and creamy neroli. It smells like afternoons on holiday spent strolling down sunny cobbled streets, paths lined with blossoming orange trees with sunlight peeking through their leaves. This is my get-up-and-go scent; a much-needed revitaliser on a Monday morning.
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Then there’s Delicious Rhubarb & Rose, created by Senior Perfumer Vanessa Prudent, which is more fruity than floral and more tangy than sweet; a crisp, quenching cocktail of sweet lychee and juicy raspberry mellowed with delicate peony and earthy cedarwood. What all that actually means is that it smells like a summer afternoon in a beer garden with your girls, sipping fruity cocktails with vines of sweet-smelling flowers creeping over the veranda above you. This is my afternoon pick-me-up; my Thursday evening post-work tipple.
Finally, there’s the sexy and sultry Flora Luminare, created by Senior Perfumer Maïa Lernout, a heady symphony of white flowers – orange blossom, jasmine and tiare (a gardenia flower grown in Tahiti) – that smells like getting lost in a secret garden somewhere sun-drenched and exotic, or warm suntan-lotion skin sinking into sugary white sand. Basically, it smells like sunshine and fun; lazy beach days with nowhere to be. This is my go-to weekend scent in spring. I instantly feel sunnier after spritzing it, like I could actually be on holiday.
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The scents are available as Eau de Parfums and Eau de Toilettes, with the EDP using a 20% oil concentration – one of the highest levels in the perfume industry – and lasting up to eight hours, and the EDT typically has a 10% oil concentration for a softer wear of three hours. But unlike many other perfume houses, the difference between the two isn’t just related to strength. Each EDP is bottled with a olfactive signature note to set it apart, whether to contrast, complement or enrich the EDT. So, in Flora Luminare, the signature note is ylang-ylang, which is triple distilled (essentially making the rich creaminess of the flower extra potent) and complements the scent’s existing bouquet. Basically, with Molton Brown’s EDPs, you get a special bonus scent as an extra treat.
These fragrances are also available across the brand’s range of products, including bath and shower gels, scented candles, diffusers, body lotions and hand creams, which I like to apply throughout the day as a form of fragrance layering, to amp up the smelling power of my fragrance.
Orange & Bergamot Eau de ParfumFlora Luminare Eau de Parfum 100mlDelicious Rhubarb & Rose Eau de Parfum 100mlPlus, Molton Brown has a long-standing commitment to sustainability. The brand has been cruelty-free since its inception and was one of the first brands to never test on animals; a pretty radical concept for the cosmetics industry in the '70s. The brand's manufacturing facility in Hertfordshire is also carbon neutral, and the in-store Return.Recycle.Reward. scheme offers customers 10% off their next purchase when bringing in their used plastic bottles.
If you’re looking for some spring scents that will make you feel just as good as they make you smell, then your search is over. I promise.
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