Island Lavender

'In my search for the perfect lavender, I finally landed on the one sold by the monks on Caldey Island, Wales, which is simple and exquisite' (Perfumes: the A-Z Guide, Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez, 2009 edition, Profile Books Ltd., p.23). You don't have to take a boat from the south Pembrokeshire coast and give your money to the Cistercian monks in person to try it. Island Lavender is very easy to procure from the Caldey Island online shop, but is only shipped within the UK. It comes in 10ml and 100ml sizes at £14.95 and £44.95 respectively, pretty good value for money. It's more like a cologne than an EdT, it doesn't last very long and would take a good few sprays for any kind of throw beyond skin scent, but but but.... It actually is the best lavender fragrance I have ever had. I love smelling lavender flowers, but I find that a lot of lavender scents have a soapy/powdery tone that lingers and causes headaches for me. Probably many of these utilise lavandin essential oil, not true lavender. I live near Norfolk Lavender, and have tried their lavender scents. I have also had several different lavender fragrances from Provence. They are not anything like as good as Caldey's. Caldey Island Lavender takes the best of the lavender flower and puts it in a bottle. It is not sharp and does not include the greenness of the stems, just the flowers themselves. It manages to do something I haven't smelled in other lavender fragrances, which is include the sort of lingering spice that is smelled in the lavender flower itself, creating a juicier and fuller floral scent. Luca Turin was right. Simple and exquisite.

Lovely fragrance and probably the most photorealistic lavender I’ve ever smelt. It’s a great price but I just wish the longevity and sillage were better, becomes basically undetectable after about an hour

Divine. Luca Turin famously described this as the most accurate Lavender in the world. Can confirm, it's pretty much an entire lavender bush in a bottle. Bought from Caldey Island itself recently and very reasonably priced. Word of warning, it does behave like cologne, being nothing more than skin scent unless you give it a good few sprays. Very simple stuff. Just lavender and Exaltolide. Perfect