Chelsea Flowers
Tulip is not a material you meet often in perfumery, and Bond No. 9 Chelsea Flowers Eau de Parfum 100ml puts it at the centre of a bouquet that otherwise plays things straight.
The opening is fruit and greenery. Pear is soft and a little granular, clementine is bright and juicy without going sour, and ivy leaf cuts across both of them with a cold, green, slightly bitter note that reads like a hedge after rain. That greenness matters, because it is what keeps the fruit from being sugary.
Then the flowers arrive, four of them, arranged rather than piled up. Tulip is faintly green and almost scentless in life, so what it contributes here is a cool, clean, papery freshness that works as a frame. Rose supplies the recognisable centre, tuberose pushes in with its heavy, creamy, almost rubbery richness, and jasmine rounds the edges. It is a proper garden bouquet and it does not pretend to be modern. The finish is warm and quiet. Sandalwood gives a soft, milky wood, amber adds a low sweetness underneath, and iris powders the end of the wear so the flowers fade out dry rather than sweet. It lasts well for a floral, holding the first couple of hours with real presence before easing into something that only people standing close will notice. It reads clearly feminine, and it is at its best in spring and early summer, in daylight, at the sort of event where you dress up a little. Laurent Le Guernec is the perfumer, and this is one of the house's earliest bottles, from 2003.
Laurice Rahme opened the business in New York in 2003, and the shop at 9 Bond Street in NoHo gave the house both its address and its name. Chelsea Flowers was among the bottles it put out in that first year.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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