As a kid, I used to catch tadpoles in a drain along the laneway which led to our house. That probably sounds like I was a grotty little tomboy of a kid (which I kind of was I guess!), but this wasn’t like a gutter in the street loaded with rubbish and who knows what else; it was mainly from rainwater and filled with lovely moss, healthy plant life and of course, tadpoles; which I would scoop out of their cozy home with a little green spade, then trickle them into an empty ice cream container which I’d carted along with me. I’d take them home with the hopes of watching them grow, although I don’t remember if
that happened, I don’t have memories of frogs jumping through the house and freaking mum out!I do have a distinct fragrant memory of that laneway though. Above the drain was a huge wall of greenery. In the summer, a mass of gorgeous honeysuckle would blossom and fill the air with its warm green and sweet honeyed bouquet. As I trotted along, I would grab some honeysuckles, pull out the middle and suck the lightly honeyed water out of a few blooms – such a short, but very sweet moment - then head home, ice cream container in one hand with its wriggling tadpoles and a bunch of honeysuckles in the other. If I had just a sniff of that flower today, I would be right there, ten years old again, skipping down that laneway in the late summer sun to the hum of a thousand cicadas and breathing in that warm scented air.
U
nfortunately, I haven’t sniffed honeysuckles for a while, and ever since my perfume obsession began in earnest, I’ve been looking out for the perfect, or as close to perfect, honeysuckle scent that I can get. I’ve had some luck in my search, but mostly they’re too green and overly floral. Maybe it was just the type of honeysuckle we had, but I think what I’m looking for is just a hint of that heady green floralness that was carried along in the humid summer air (maybe there were other summer bush flowers mixed in), but mostly that barely floral honeyed water I sipped from the flower.My absolute favourite so far is Love Potion Magickal Perfumerie’s Sugared Honeysuckle. It’s honeysuckle with a mix of three light sugars. It is a little strong and a touch soapy on its own but mixed in with their layering scent of Sugared Pure it’s really pretty; the Sugared Pure adds that fresh watery syrupy sugar note. This combo also has amazing sillage! Even though it’s not quite the honeysuckle I’m after (unlike how Ava Luxe captured the sweet watery essence of gardenia in Gardenia Musk (see towards the bottom of the entry), it’s still wonderful as a scent in itself and the closest I’ve come yet to a mix of the flowers and honeyed water.
I’ve only tried four others so far, plus one that doesn’t have a honeysuckle note in it at all, but sort of reminds me of the smells when I was playing in that laneway.
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz - African Honeysuckle
Essence Oils ~ A sweet and heady tropical honeysuckle note with a deep, musky dry down.
Top notes: Gardenia, Tropical Fruit / Middle notes: Honeysuckle, Jasmine / Base notes: Musk
This is quite heady, sweet and lush. I like it but it’s not quite right as sometimes I’ll sniff it and think, “That’s it!”, but then it goes a little too soapy on me, albeit a beautiful floral type of soap, a lovely clean floral note. As it dries down a very nice mix of the gardenia and sweet fruit notes come out more, but taking it even further away from honeysuckle.
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz - White Honeysuckle
Essence Oils ~ A cleaner, less heady honeysuckle note.
Top, Middle and Base notes: Honeysuckle
Another minor contender, but very green this one with a touch of what reminds me of spicy carnation. Dawn’s description is that this one isn’t heady, but I disagree…a little goes a long way.
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz - Red Honeysuckle
Essence Oils ~ A sweet and heady honeysuckle note.
Top, Middle and Base notes: Honeysuckle
This one is a little similar to White Honeysuckle but somehow reminds me a little of a floral air freshener. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a little too overtly floral. It has a slight soapy sweetness but is more rounded than White Honeysuckle.
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz - African Musk
Essence Oils ~ A soft, floral musk with violet, lily, and jasmine nuances.
Top notes: Lily of the Valley/Muguet, Violet / Middle notes: Jasmine / Base notes: Musk
This one isn't meant to be like honeysuckle, but I am reminded of the feeling of being in that laneway. It has an earthy green, lightly lemony herbaceous feel, not sweet. It’s like a combination of the plants that surrounded the scent of the honeysuckle in the air.
Attar Bazaar - Tunisian Honeysuckle
A moist, deep scent which expands one’s sense of light-heartedness and joy. Often favored by the elderly and very young. Ruling planet: Moon.
Eep! Attar Bazaar's isn’t like honeysuckle to me at all; it has an odd sort of coconutty nuance, and somehow a little bitter while being sickly sweet. Odd! Although it does get a little nicer as it softens.
As scents can smell different in the outside air, I went outside with all of these on to sniff and see if it brought back any memories. Unfortunately it was a brisk Autumn night rather than a balmy summer one, but with my nose at a breezy distance from my wrists, I did feel a little like I was surrounded by bushes of flowers, just not honeysuckle…although there may have been one or two in there.
Photos from BBC Springwatch and Bo Jensen
