Penhaligon's Ostara - Dancing with the Daffodils (2015) {New Fragrance}

Courtesy picture © Penhaligon's

New 2015 Unisex Fragrance

Penhaligon's have launched a new unisex fragrance called Ostara, which is said to be inspired by a modern interpretation of daffodils as well as the poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by Wordsworth (1804) who as early as 1802 formed an unforgettable vision of daffodils he encountered on a walk...

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

The fragrance reported to be luminous and solar - how could it be otherwise ? - is signed by master-perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour. The composition is choke-full of springtime notes warmed up by an oriental base, perhaps announcing the coming of summer at the end of spring.

Olfactory notes are in the opening clementine, bergamot, red fruits CO2, juniper berries, green mint, cassis buds CO2, violet leaves absolute, a foliage effect, and aldehydes. The heart reads like a symphony composed for spring with hyacinth, narcissus absolute, beeswax absolute, cyclamen, ylang ylang, hawthorne and wisterias. In contrast with these fresh notes tinged with a few solar ones, the base perhaps annnounces not only summer but the always looming autumn with styrax resins, vanilla, benzoin, musk, amber and a white-woods effect.

Via press release