Flowers have been part of perfume for as long as people have made it. Petals were steeped in oils and fats in the ancient world, distilled in the great perfume houses of Grasse, and dried into sachets to tuck between folded linen. Even now, a floral note is often the first thing we notice in a fragrance, and the last thing we remember.
Here is a short guide to the floral oils we love most: what they smell like, where they come from and where you can find them in our candles.
Lavender
Lavender is the most familiar floral of all. Its scent is sweet, clean and gently herbaceous, with a soft, powdery quality that sits somewhere between a meadow and fresh linen. Fields of it have been grown in Provence for centuries to supply the perfumers of Grasse, and in Britain the Victorians made lavender water a household staple. Many people still reach for lavender in the evening, as a scent for slowing down.
In our candles: Serenity, Rebalance, Nocturne and Calm. In some it is the hero of the blend, in others the quiet note that binds it together.
Rose and rose geranium
Rose is perhaps the most celebrated flower in perfumery. True rose oil, from the Damask rose of Bulgaria, Turkey and Iran, is rich, deep and honeyed, and it takes thousands of hand-picked petals to make a single drop. Its rarity has made it a symbol of luxury for centuries.
Rose geranium offers a gentler way into that world. Distilled from the leaves of a scented pelargonium, it has a fresh, green rosiness with a slightly minty lift. French perfumers of the nineteenth century prized geranium from the island of Réunion, and it has long been used to bring a rosy note to fragrances.
In our candles: rose geranium in Rebalance, and geranium in Serenity.
Ylang ylang
Ylang ylang comes from the star-shaped yellow flowers of the cananga tree, grown in tropical Asia, Madagascar and the Comoros. Its scent is rich, creamy and sweet, with hints of banana, custard and jasmine. It is distilled in stages, with each fraction smelling a little different, and it has long been a key ingredient in fine fragrance. In parts of Indonesia the flowers are traditionally scattered over the beds of newlyweds.
In our candles: Serenity, Nocturne and Calm. Sometimes it leads, and sometimes it simply rounds the blend with a soft, golden warmth.
Why florals blend so well together
Oils from the floral family tend to sit comfortably side by side. Lavender brings freshness, geranium a green rosiness and ylang ylang a creamy sweetness, and together they create something fuller than any one of them alone. That is exactly the idea behind Serenity, our bestseller, a blend of geranium, French lavender and ylang ylang.
Every one of our candles is hand poured in small batches in York, using responsibly sourced soy wax and scented only with pure essential oils from a supplier who is a member of the Aromatherapy Trade Council. We let each candle cure for two weeks so the florals can settle into the wax before it reaches you.
If you would like to bring a little of the garden indoors, you will find Serenity in our Floral Embrace collection.