Happy Diwali! Celebrating With Jo Malone Jasmine Sambac and Marigold & Honeysuckle and Davana

Deepavali, or Diwali, depending on where you are, was always my favorite holiday in Singapore, and there they celebrated pretty much everything. I loved the colorful lights, I loved the warm and spicy Indian food--delicious and cheap as chips in Singapore's Little India community. As my husband and I moved from Singapore late last year, this will be the first time in fifteen years I've missed the lights and the celebration.

A couple of years ago I wrote My Marigold Scented Deepavali Perfumes: Profumum Roma Tagete and En Voyage Perfumes Tagetes Femme to commemorate this event.This year I'm doing something similar but surprisingly I am featuring reviews of the veddy veddy British Jo Malone, two of which inspire with references to India and the scents I encountered there years ago.

Is Jo Malone having a bit of an India moment or what? Romancing the memory of the British Raj era? For Jo Malone Jasmin Sambac and Marigold, a new addition to the Cologne Intense line, the perfume was actually inspired by the jasmine fields of south India. Jo Malone's Head of Fragrance Development (best job ever?), Celine Roux, and Master Perfumer Mathilde Bijaoui visited south India in 2016 and were inspired by the beautiful scent of the sambac jasmine and its use as an adornment for hair and as temple offerings. They also noticed the colorful orange and yellow marigolds that have great significance in Hindu worship. When I lived in India I always found it interesting how reverentially people treated the marigold, which is not really used in floral arrangements in the Western world.

www.Rediff.com

I have always admired how Jo Malone fragrances sometimes twin two disparate notes, like hitting a discordant tune on a piano that somehow makes music. In the case of Jasmine Sambac and Marigold I think it works well. The first time I tried this perfume the marigold was very evident and really reminded me of scents in India. It added that slightly discordant note which makes the perfume more interesting and not just another jasmine, albeit a very lovely one. As for the jasmine, Ms. Bijaoui said her intention was to make that note as realistic as possible, and she added orange blossom and honey to achieve this luxuriant freshness and opulence of the jasmine petals. To bring warmth to the mix, in addition to the marigold she added vanilla, ylang ylang and benzoin. When the jasmine eventually loses some steam, these are the notes that keep the scent warmly generating a lovely scent for many more hours. Jasmine Sambac and Marigold is one of the more interesting from the line that I've tried in a while, but if you don't like jasmine I can't see this swaying you to buy.

When Honeysuckle and Davana Cologne was released earlier this year I was eager to try it because I love honeysuckle scents! (Go here and here to read more about that). The reason I thought to put this perfume, which Jo Malone markets as the quintessential English countryside fragrance, in a post on India and Diwali, is the addition of Davana to the perfume. 

The davana plant is native to southern India, the same place that had the fields of jasmine sambac that inspired Ms. Bijaoui and Ms. Roux. The davana flower and the oil that is gathered from the plant are known for a sweet and boozy odor, but it can show other aspects such as herbaceous, balsamic, woody and bittersweet. It is the bittersweet that interests me the most because that is the sensation I got when I first sprayed the cologne, along with the herbaceous note. It gives an interesting twist to the otherwise virginal honeysuckle note. When the honeysuckle appears it is very sweet, delicate and appealing. Jo Malone calls it a "sunny" fragrance and I would agree with that. Ultimately is goes to a mossy base note and on my skin becomes a bit muddled and indistinct at this point.

I enjoyed both of these perfumes and I have been known to be critical of Jo Malone, as some of their offerings I simply struggle to smell anything. Bear in mind that I am a huge white flower lover and factor that into my affection I'm showing to these two new offerings from the house of Jo Malone. Nevertheless I am encouraged that I have positive feelings and it makes me look forward to see what next they will produce.

Happy Diwali or Deepavali to those who celebrate and apologies for my lateness in posting, as the holiday is about to draw to a close.

Top photo www.littledayout.com. Bottom photo Google image. Perfume sample my own.