Honeysuckle

Some people smell a beautiful rose, violet, linden, lilac, or orange blossom scent for example, and are breathtakingly transported back to a moment/time in their childhood. My fragrant time machine is most definitely honeysuckle. My childhood backyard was literally fenced in by wild honeysuckle bushes. I spent every summer day breathing in their delicious, dewy, intoxicating scent. As I got older, and spent time exploring the woods and creek behind my house, looking for the fairies I was SURE lived out there, the cool shade of the woods always beckoned me out of the hot Texas sunlight with this fragrance. I mentioned these childhood memories in my review of Le Chevrefuille, which is my treasured true-to-life honeysuckle scent. I honestly had never worried about testing this, because I've grown accustomed to most honeysuckle notes being nice, yet never the real thing. Le Chevrefuille was the only perfume that lived up to that. I had the good luck, however, to receive a FULL sized surprise freebee bottle of this in my first ever Demeter order! I was happy to see this gift, but had no expectations. Honeysuckle lovers-LISTEN to me.....this IS the scent of a LIVING honeysuckle bush in the air on a summer day. I dont know how they bottled it, but they did it, and beautifully. I have discovered that, understandably, some Demeter sprays can be on the synthetic end of the spectrum, but this is exact opposite end. I hate to even utter this, but in some ways, it might be even more realistic than my beloved Le Chevrefuille. I find that it lasts quite a while in my hair, and on my clothing. Even if it did not, I'd still love it. It is not perfume, with base notes that linger...it is the natural scent of honeysuckle that you spray on. One of the downsides of some extremely natural floral scents and perfumes, however, are the kind of "peekaboo" appearances of isolated mothball-tinged indoles, which are themselves, responsible for for the extremely realistic beauty of these floral scents. I never know when they will appear, but I might catch a teeny whiff with one flick of my hair, while with the very next flick of my hair, it's gone without a trace. And this only seems to happen once or twice in a wearing. It's like you really can smell them in isolation for a split-second. (or maybe I'm just crazy ;) ) I've experienced this with some of my very favorite fragrances, including Le Chevrefuille, Jo Malone Orange Blossom, and some Lilly of the Valley scents. I feel self-conscious when this occurs, but it always seems to be fleeting, and I remind myself of the important role indoles play in a natural smelling floral. I will happily pay that small price, however, to smell like I am wearing the actual namesake blossoms, rather than a perfume. :) I am thrilled to have received this surprise bottle, and I am sure it will be drained in no time. Honeysuckle heaven, I tell you! :)

First of all who said that honeysuckle is for women? I asked the honeysuckle bush across the street it didn't give me any indication that its fragrance was for women only, it's a natural flower so its beautiful fragrance should be enjoyed by everyone. This is very much in line with the experience I've had with all the Demeter fragrances: they smell exactly what they are supped to smell like and since I love the smell of fresh honeysuckle and the perfume enables me to spray myself and spend the next 4-5 hours smelling like a human honeysuckle bush which is just what I want. Being a soliflore, there are not different notes and the perfume does not change much on the skin, it goes on smelling like fresh honeysuckle and that is what it smells like for about a half meter area around so, so those near you will smell it but not necessarily everyone in the room and it will last several hours at which time if the mood strikes you you can just spray some more on. Some may fault Demeter that their perfumes don't last as long as others but when they consist of a single note you must consider if that note is normally a top, heart, or base note in perfumes. If it's a citrus, for example, it's always going to be a top note because citrus oils have a very repaid evaporation rate and even with some of the fixatives to slow this greatly they still are not going to last long. In the case of the pure florals, like honeysuckle, this is a heart or middle note and the flower absolutes, whether natural or synthetically composed tend, when properly fixed stay on the skin 4-6 hours, so this is how long any perfume with that single note can possibly last, no matter how much absolute they add or who makes it. But in search of a great honeysuckle I have explored just about every honeysuckle soliflore out there from the very expensive to the cheapies and this is the one that best depicts the live flower in the evening when the fragrance bursts forth in the air. The fact that it's so inexpensive makes me like it even more. If it's made with all synthetics or naturals makes no difference to me, I evaluate it only on it's smell and lasting quality and those are both maxed out. In my book the best honeysuckle perfume available at any price. I will always have a bottle on hand.

Ooohh beautiful. This is a blast of realistic honeysuckle. I bought this and hesitated to use this bc the smell from the cap and on paper made me think it wouldn't smell like honeysuckle. I've always loved the smell of honeysuckle, but it seemed really difficult to capture in a perfume. I ended up trying this a few weeks after I bought it and was very pleasantly surprised. The scent on my wrists and chest was soo beautiful, and it actually had that honeysuckle smell that I've been looking for! It smells very close to real honeysuckle, but I'd say it's a mixture between close-up honeysuckle and honeysuckle in-the-air. It's so lovely and simple. The only thing missing is longevity, but it is technically a cologne spray, so don't expect it to perform like a perfum/edp/edt. Also, I've never found honeysuckle scents to last. On me, it has an amazing initial burst of smell, but it quickly dies down and becomes a skin scent within an hour, and then only lasts about 1 hr after that. Performance on clothes isn't much better either, only lasting about 1 hr more, but by then, it's like dig-your-nose-in subtle. Overall, I'd rate this a 8.75/10 for scent and a 3/10 for performance. The price is fair enough that I don't mind spraying often. On the bottle, it says "Pick-Me-Up Cologne Spray" and I'd say that is an apt description. I love spraying this whenever I want to smell a burst of honeysuckle as a pick-me-up. I still would recommend this for anyone looking for a realistic honeysuckle scent, and would def recommend to USE THIS ON SKIN.

I agree with the user Fostermd below, on the fact that why does this have to be classed on here as female only? I just received this fragrance in the post, did one spritz on my wrist, and im in absolute heaven. To me, this definitely does not scream feminine at all. This scent is exactly what summer smells like to me here in Australia. I walk down the street to the shopping centre or the train station in summer, its half humid/half dry, and being carried through the warm, dry breezes that come from the west to meet with the humidity from the ocean in the east (im in Brisbane) is this beautiful honeysuckle. This honeysuckle is not combined with anything else from what i can smell, so its just an uncomplicated fragrance. Until now, i was so frustrated every time i smelt this in the air, as i could never find the damn flower! Its a hidden beauty around here, yet you know its alive and well, as it greets you the moment you leave your front door. Projection is great, longevity is great, and its just over all GREAT! aha i really do love it, ill always have a bottle in my collection. Men - DONT BE AFRAID TO PURCHASE THIS! If you love these types of scents, get yourself one. I'll be getting the lavender and jasmine one next, as jasmine grows everywhere around where i live, and its amazing sitting outside on the deck at night when its so warm, and a cool breeze brings her to you. Scent = 9/10 Longevity = 8/10 Projection = 8.5/10 Bottle Design = 7/10

This week the honeysuckle came out full force in our area. Quite by chance I was sent a sample of Demeter Honeysuckle. I got to compare them both side by side! Folks we have a winner. I'm still a huge fan of B&B Wild Honeysuckle (now discontinued). But for the most natural fragrance the Demeter wins hands down. It's the real deal, or as close as humans can come to getting it right. Side by side it is almost exact. The test was done at the edge of our woods where the wild honeysuckle grows. The air is perfumed not only by the honeysuckle flowers, but also the riot of green growing things the vines climb on. Sweet, clean and green. Demeter captured that wild, living green perfectly. They also worked magic getting the faint opening hint of lemon that is so exclusive to the fresh flowers. Going back inside the scent stayed with me (from the perfume)for about half an hour. Longevity could be better. But for such an ethereal entity, you can't have everything. Spritz some in your hair or on your lingerie for longer lasting joy. Word of warning - if you layer this with a rose fragrance it's like walking into a funeral parlor in full swing. If you like this sort of thing then by all means layer it with Perfumer's Workshop Tea Rose.