The small sound of a teacup returning to its saucer. Afternoon light falling at an angle through a high-ceilinged lounge, the conversation at the next table distant, the green of the garden moving behind the steam. If LUXURY FLORAL has to be put into words, that afternoon is the nearest place to begin.
Teatime in a hotel holds two things at once: relaxation and grace. Not so loose that you would kick off your shoes, not so formal that you would straighten your back. What that posture in between might smell like was the question Soie's dedicated perfumer set out to answer in LUXURY FLORAL.
This article sets the gift-giving side of the fragrance aside and lets the scent itself take the lead. We follow the raw materials of the composition one by one, and the way they unfold on the hands over time.
Bergamot and neroli: the floral citrus opening
LUXURY FLORAL is composed of seven notes: bergamot, mandarin, neroli, rose, vetiver, musk and amber. The first to rise are the citrus notes, bergamot and mandarin.
Bergamot brings brightness with a faint bitterness, mandarin adds a rounder sweetness on top, and the two produce the light lift of bringing your face close to a cup that is still steaming.
Neroli carries the impression of citrus and of flower at once, and that double nature is what moves the fragrance beyond a simple citrus into a floral citrus. The scent you notice the moment the serum touches the back of the hand, or the moment the lather closes around the fingers, is these three together.
The opening is the part of a fragrance that leaves the strongest first impression and the part that leaves soonest. Wash the hands and smooth in the serum before going out in the morning, and by the time you reach for your keys the brightness of the citrus has already begun to hand over to what comes next.
Rose, and a trace of jasmine
As the brightness of the citrus settles, the outline of the flowers comes forward. At the centre is rose. Not the rose that dominates a bouquet, but a single stem in a small vase on a tea table, placed with restraint.
A trace of jasmine is added beside it. The jasmine is not there to increase the sweetness; it gives the whole composition depth and a soft sheen. The line of white flowers that began with neroli reaches its fullest point here.
At this stage the words that suit LUXURY FLORAL are clean and refined. There is sweetness without weight, and brightness without noise. It is close to the air of an afternoon when the tea has begun to cool a little in the light.
This floral stage lasts longest while the hands are in use. Turning a page, lifting a cup, resting a hand against the cheek: each time, the trace of rose and jasmine reaches as far as the face.
Vetiver, musk and amber: the lingering notes
As time passes and the fragrance settles into the warmth of the hands, what lay underneath appears. Vetiver brings a dry, earthy calm. Its role is to tether the sweetness of the flowers gently to the ground.
Musk dissolves into the warmth of the skin itself, and amber leaves a faint sweetness and roundness. The impression the three make together is like the trace left on a chair after someone has risen and gone: not insistent, yet unmistakably there.
Because the hands are washed so often, the next wash sometimes arrives before the fragrance reaches this stage at all. Serum smoothed in after an evening bath, though, carries the scent quietly through to morning. That may be the time when the base of LUXURY FLORAL is known most fully.
Soie's fragrances are blended with the temperature and humidity of the hands in mind, and they move from top to base with the warmth of the skin. In LUXURY FLORAL, that movement, from bright citrus through white flowers to a warm afterglow, is the course of a single afternoon.
When this scent belongs
Although the name points to teatime in a hotel, nothing special is needed to enjoy the fragrance. At three in the afternoon, at a natural break in the work, wash the hands and smooth in the serum. In that one minute the scent rising from the hands changes the view across the desk a little.
Because it is pitched to be enjoyed close to the hands, it is easy to wear at work; it is noticed softly when the hands come near the face, and does not project the way a perfume does. For anyone drawn to a bright, refined floral citrus, it may be the most open door among the five fragrances.
It suits the hours of daylight particularly well. The citrus opening belongs to the morning, the floral heart to the afternoon, and the warm base to the early evening, so that a single application can keep company with the better part of a working day, provided the hands are not washed in between.
Scent is said to act on emotion and memory through the sense of smell. Keep LUXURY FLORAL at the small turning points of the day, and over time the fragrance itself becomes a cue that brings back your own place between relaxation and grace.
LUXURY FLORAL at Soie
LUXURY FLORAL is available in both Enlight Hand Serum, a beauty serum designed only for the hands, and Moist Fragrance Hand & Body Soap, which moisturises with every wash. Washing and moisturising in the same fragrance lets the whole arc, from the citrus opening to the amber afterglow, layer naturally on the hands and last longer.
The notes of all five fragrances are set out on our fragrance page. If you are undecided, begin by picturing a cup of tea in the afternoon. If that scene feels close to you, LUXURY FLORAL will most likely feel at home on your hands.
