English Pear & Freesia
Jo Malone English Pear and Freesia Eau de Cologne is one of the two or three scents that most people picture when they picture this house at all, and it has stayed in the range because it is almost impossible to dislike.
Pear is the whole opening and it is beautifully done, crisp and slightly grainy, closer to biting into the fruit than to any pear drop sweetness. Melon sits behind it with a watery coolness that keeps the pear juicy rather than sugary. This is a scent that smells edible for about two minutes and then thinks better of it.
Freesia and rose make the middle. Freesia is the greener, more peppery flower of the two and it gives the fragrance its slightly watery, garden like quality, while rose adds roundness and a familiar floral sweetness. Underneath, musk softens everything, patchouli adds an earthy weight that most people never consciously notice, and amber provides a dry warmth that stops the whole thing evaporating in an hour.
Christine Nagel composed it and it was released in 2010. As an eau de cologne it is light on oil, which means three or four hours and a close, polite wear, and it was always designed to be layered with other scents from the house rather than relied upon alone. It reads feminine, suits spring and autumn, and is as comfortable at a desk as at a lunch.
The business was started by the perfumer Jo Malone, who opened a Chelsea shop on Walton Street in October 1994 after years of making bath oils and scents by hand. Plainly named colognes built on a single idea, boxed in cream and black, became the format it owned. The Estee Lauder Companies have held the house since 1999, and the founder herself left it in 2006.
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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