Aerin Beauty Mediterranean Honeysuckle (2016) {Perfume Review & Musings}

The outer packaging, inspired by the tiles of Capri, was designed by Sitki Gulergun © Courtesy Estée Lauder cos Inc,

Aerin Beauty Mediterranean Honeysuckle Eau de Parfum

Mediterranean Honeysuckle is the 9th introduction in the Aerin Beauty fragrance range. When Estée Lauder's grand-daughter Aerin Lauder launched this line in 2013 she explained that for her every memory is linked to a scent-memory. She even gave the example of the scent of honeysuckle then, saying,...

"When I think about certain people and moments in my life, fragrance is always involved -- whether it's going for a bike ride and smelling honeysuckle for the first time or gardenias in my hair when I got married. They all evoke memories and stories and moods."

Three years later, the brand founder has gone back to that initial evocation tapping further into her memory bank of meaningful, personal olfactive gems.

The head of Mediterranean Honeysuckle is quite perfumey - rather than natural and dewy. The honeysuckle feels breezy, light and sophisticated. Contrary to logical expectations, it is more of a floral-citrusy composition than a simple floral one. I see a gourmand touch in the scent I perceive of a halved grapefruit sprinkled over with caster sugar - an iconic vision of a healthy breakfast. It turns out that the fragrance developers worked with the idea of a main accord of honeysuckle and grapefruit. You can perceive the bitter, sulphurous nuances of grapefruit, which are never overstated.

Warmer notes of - pretty harsh at first - white musks, then ambergris add a solar quality of their own by suggesting clean skin by the beach and tan skin under the solar rays. It's easy to imagine you're having a Continental breakfast in the morning on a terrace overlooking the big blue sea breaking at your feet, your gaze getting lost on the horizon.

While I was preparing to underscore once more the signature airiness of Aerin Beauty fragrances and Aerin Lauder's visible predilection for the discreet scent of the bourgeoisie, the fuller-bodied development makes me stop in my tracks.

Honeysuckle is set against other white floral notes including the All-American gardenia

Mediterranean Honeysuckle has not only become warmer and more animalic thanks to a note of ambergris (Ambrox), but also creamier thanks to vanilla - and gardenia. The honeysuckle plays its fresh, floral note as in a counterpoint but suggests the notion that wearing sable in the sun is an acceptable idea. There is deliberate showcasing of the title flower inside a floriental composition.

The fragrance can be described as a fresh floriental nonethelesss as green nuances of blackcurrant buds and watery-floral accents of Sambac jasmine make the texture of the scent feel more diaphanous than is usual for this perfume genre. Fruitiness in the fragrance is present yet subtle, with notes of mandarin essence and Sambac jasmine echoing each other.

While Aerin is an aspirational brand, it makes available affordable sizes for its perfumes, like this rollerball priced at $28.

The Aerin perfumes are about a light, sophisticated American touch combining elegance and casualness. This is a different sensation from the understated one developed consistently as well by Prada in their Infusions line, whose ethereal character is more about elegance and a quest of refinement. Perhaps, the main difference resides in a background history of the love of sports in American culture, which influenced its history of fashion. With Mediterranean Honeysuckle, it's more about a genuine liking for clean, qualitative, what-you-see-is-what-you-get scents. This perfume is not about a theater mask and you playing a role, but about your genuine self, a nice attitude and a smile. It insists on the effect of transparency as a moral quality, not just as perfumed texture.

The term « Mediterranean » to peg this honeysuckle in the constellation of honeysuckles lighting perfumery is justified by its emphasis put on a hesperidic note at first. In the end, you do get the sense that it is a vision of the Mediterranean universe as filtered by an American aesthetic of cleaner, simpler and more straightforward lines.

Fragrance notes: Italian bergamot, mandarin oil, grapefruit, bourgeon de cassis, lily of the valley, gardenia, honeysuckle, Jasmine Sambac absolute, Ambrox, musk.