All across the globe, flowers grace the earth with a chorus of exuberant colours, intriguing shapes and enchanting fragrances. From the delicately layered jasmine bloom, its richly intoxicating scent swirling in the warm air of Indian nights, to the dense clusters of lilac flowers scenting the British springtime with powdery sweetness, this symphony is instinctively savoured and celebrated by humankind.
In the world of perfume formulation, a floral fragrance ingredient is a precious addition. Sometimes literally, as it often takes enormous quantities of valuable flowers to produce small amounts of fragrance extracts. But for an artisanal fragrance house, nothing stands in the way when the right perfume note is required.
For The House of Creed, the techniques involved in extracting a floral perfume are often labour intensive, sometimes traditional and sometimes highly advanced. What matters the most is that the extract is of the finest possible quality, respecting both the beauty of the flowers that went into it, and the artistry of the exquisite fragrance that it will be used in.
Together, the perfumes of different species growing in a garden will intermingle and create a sensual, captivating atmosphere, and the same is true of the fragrances made from them. But the individual flower has its own identity as well – each scent, made up of many different compounds, is ready to reveal its depths as we bend down to eagerly inhale.
Each fragrance is unique, and there is an extraordinary diversity of different characters, from the romantic swirls of enchanting rose to the exciting, honeyed zing of pretty freesia. Read on for a botanical tour of the captivating flowers found in The House of Creed’s fragrance collection, and discover the perfumes that contain them.
Rose - The Floral Legend
Often regarded as the cornerstone of modern perfumery, rose can be found in three out of four women’s fragrances. The exceptional versatility of this ancient plant is widely appreciated by perfumers for its ability to imbue a fragrance with powdery, woody, musky and even fruity notes.
The House of Creed’s latest fragrance, Wind Flowers, effortlessly nestles sweet Rosa centifolia amongst soft, luminous, yet powerful floral notes. Opulent and dazzling, Jardin d’Amalfi highlights rose’s romantic side alongside tantalising citrus and floral notes, encapsulating the spirit of la dolce vita, whilst in captivatingly bold Royal Princess Oud, the luxurious nature of rose is expressed through a chorus of rich, sensual woody and floral notes. Exploring the bright, joyfulness of rose,
Love in White is a pure declaration of love, a freshly floral spring scent that lends itself beautifully as the bridal fragrance of choice.
Despite a strong association with femininity, rose is also used to great effect in men’s fragrances - for The House of Creed, rose notes add a balancing dimension to the strong, spicy masculinity of Viking.
Lilac - The Joy Of Spring
Native to the mountains of southeast Europe, the frothy flowers and powdery, sweet scent of Syringa vulgaris is popular with gardeners, perfumers and even chefs, with flowers that encapsulate the aesthetics, scent and taste of spring. With over 2,000 varieties, the flowers come in colours such as dark purple, pink, white and the eponymous lilac, but the fragrant oil is laboriously extracted from its leaves, enabling the springtime scent to be enjoyed all year round.
Offering honeyed, green, heady and spicy notes, lilac partners well with jasmine, rose, freesia and violet. You can find lilac in The House of Creed’s iconic women’s fragrance, Aventus For Her.
Jasmine - The Sensual Fantasy
Seductive, sweet, intense – night-blooming jasmine is synonymous with sultry summer evenings, where the warm air electrifies and the atmosphere excites. There are over 200 species of this delicate, white flowered climbing plant, each with its own character.
The House of Creed uses Jasminum sambac, also known as Arabian jasmine, for its rich, mysterious and heady qualities. Much like rose, jasmine is a costly oil to produce, but for perfumers, the allure of this intoxicating flower is impossible to resist. Jasmine can be found in The House of Creed’s powerhouse men’s fragrance Aventus, creating a sensual dimension within the bold, audacious icon.
Reminiscent of an untouched paradise, the jasmine notes in White Amber add a sense of refined mysteriousness to a crisply floral, free-spirited women’s perfume, whilst in Erolfa, a fresh, breezy fragrance for men and women, jasmine warms and comforts alongside invigorating, exciting notes, conjuring a perfect balance, evocative of a relaxed yet joyful family holiday.
Tuberose - The Carnal Hypnotic
Originally a native of Mexico, Polianthes tuberosa is now cultivated for perfume houses in the warm climes of southern India, North Africa and southern Europe. No shrinking violet, the mesmerising fragrance of tuberose brings velvety opulence and bold character to a fragrance.
A night-bloomer with a complex scent spectrum, from cool camphor-like notes to green earthy nuances and a sweet, sensual exoticism, tuberose leaves its footprint wherever it is used. Often paired with similarly powerful partners such as citrus notes for an impactful, bold fragrance, such as in The House of Creed’s Fleurissimo, tuberose can also be somewhat tamed by the rounder notes of other white flowers, such as jasmine and orange blossom.
In The House of Creed’s shimmeringly exotic Iris Tubereuse, the romance of tuberose is combined with sweet, creamy and powdery notes to create a deeply sensual, alluring and utterly unforgettable perfume for men and women.
Freesia - The Sweet Delight
Indigenous to South Africa’s wild Cape Province, freesias are a feast for the senses, from their delicate, rainbow-hued flowers to their fresh, honeyed – with a zingy hint of citrus – fragrance. Once popular as the ingredient of single-flower scents, freesia has been reinterpreted for the modern world and can be found in an array of contemporary fragrances, combined with woody ingredients and other florals to create uplifting perfumes.
Playful freesia can be found in The House of Creed’s youthful, sweetly fresh and exuberantly feminine perfume Love in White for Summer.
Flowers are one of the greatest muses for the artist, indeed it could be said that they are second only to the inspirations of fellow human beings. Whether arranged into a vase in Ikebana, or distilled into a bottle in perfumery, we crave closeness to the natural world, and these meticulous expressions are the pinnacle of refined artistry, enduring through millennia by faithfully honouring the plants and flowers used to create them.
