The Different Company White Zagora: fragrance review

White Zagora by The Different Company stands as an optimism shot for occasional gloomy days, even if the heat does not let us perceive them as such. It's an uncomplicated scent of bright citruses allied to a core of orange blossoms, with the greener (thanks to the note of neroli, the distillate from the citrus aurantium flower), the crisper, more joyful and spring-fresh elements pronounced.

photo copyright Elena Vosnaki

Whenever I spray the vivacious, optimistic scent of  White Zagora, composed by perfumer  Emilie Coppermann, it makes me think of going out, striding with big steps to a purposeful destination that will fulfill important meetings and pleasurable sights to quench my soul's thirst.

I predict that it will get me through summertime, especially if seascapes elude me for longer than anticipated. It's a Mediterranean scent, but it does not particularly evoke aquatic destinations, despite its refreshing character. It's "white" but not detergent-like. It's pure, unadulterated pleasure in a bottle!

Jo Malone Honeysuckle & Davana: fragrance review

Jo Malone's latest fragrance launch Honeysuckle & Davana is advertised as a happy smell and it most definitely is a happy smell. One that feels like fortunate news spreading through the peals of countryside church bells into the distance; smiles in a nursery when the little one first stretches his/her facial muscles into that endearing way that has caretakers have their heart aflutter; or of long lost friends meeting at a long awaited rendez-vous. The brand's choice to illustrate the fragrance with the girl with the canary is spot on, even if canaries do not dot the English countryside by any stretch of the imagination.

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Honeysuckle & Davana is quite fresh and honeyed at the same time, and at that intriguing intersection between warm and cool which I find very alluring. There is an oscillating ribbon of white florals right in the middle of the scent, further cementing that freshness which blooms when the scent is sprayed liberally. This is a fragrance that reveals facets when used in excess, much like their previous Mimosa & Cardamom needs the bigger spray rather than the applying with a small wand on skin testing technique to fully reveal its pretty message. Compared with that other honeysuckle fragrance in the Jo Malone catalogue, Honeysuckle & Jasmine (1999), which used to be quite charming in its naturalistic impression of a fragrant garden at dusk somewhere south, the newer edition is more upbeat, with interesting facets that differentiate it from the white florals that are so screechingly taking over perfume counters as the "immediate femininity" index when the whole isn't hoarding under tons of syrupy sweetness...

In the drydown of Honeysuckle & Davana, we come up with a mix of an earthy note that might be attributed to Evernyl, but which is also mixed with clean, starched white musks (and which provides the very tenacious part, however those who are anosmic to some musks might find this undetectable, so try before you buy).

Top Favorite Smells for Britons

Smell associations admittedly have to do with environmental and generational factors: what we like and consider pleasant today is what shaped us in our childhood. And that has to do with both the culture we grew up in as well as the time period in which our childhood was spent. Thus for instance people in the baby boom generation and beyond have played with Play-Doh plasteline and find it a comforting reference (hence Demeter's PlayDoh fragrance!) while people growing up in farms in the 1920s and 1930s cite fertiliser and big balls of hay as the quintessential memory triggers.



In new research focusing on Britons in the here and now several interesting facts emerged. Of course the research was commissioned by Vileda, a company of home-cleaning products, so take what you read with that in mind. Lindsey Taylor, from Vileda commented: 'Comfort smells associated with the home, such as Sunday roasts and fresh linen, make us happy and by keeping your home clean and fresh you will make sure that they are not drowned out by bad smells like kitchen bins and piles of washing up in the sink."

Aside from that, not coincidentally again the nostalgic smells of childhood (when it's a happy one, of course) bring the most contentment to people: freshly-washed linen, home baking, cut grass on the lawn and the domestic scent of Sunday roast. "Bacon was an unsurprising high-scorer, while more unexpected popular scents in the Vileda Cleaning Report included hairspray, leather, coal, petrol and chalk dust.[...] Participants named aftershave, beer and fresh paint as the smells that reminded them of their fathers, while perfume, Sunday roasts and freshly washed sheets triggered memories of mothers.[...] Among the scents which associated with the older generation of grandmothers were soap, lavender and musky perfumes.Wood smoke, pipe smoke and strong aftershaves brought back memories of grandfathers in times gone by and do not appear in the list of favourite modern-day smells.

The list of Britain's Top Favorite Smells runs thus: 
1.Cut grass
2.Aftershave
3.Freshly cleaned house
4.Baking
5.Sunday roast
6.Fresh flowers
7.Fresh linen
8.Hairspray
9.Bacon
10.Leather

Read more on the Daily Mail

pic via motifake.com