Slowdive

I grew up associating the scent of honey as being sticky, syrupy and throat-scratchingly sweet, which is nothing like this fragrance, so you can just imagine my confusion when I first encountered this scent. The first time I tried this fragrance was a bit of a disappointment. I thought it smelled like an apple and cinnamon scented car freshener, but I still gave it a lot of chance by testing it every now and then. Nearly a year after, I decided to reunite with this fragrance, and accidentally spilled the shit out of almost the entire Luckyscent sample vial of this fragrance on my arm, and from there is when it clicked on me. It took me a long time to figure out the honey in this composition. I still do get a little bit of that apple cinnamon car freshener vibe right at the very beginning which lends off a rubbery, semi-plasticy, alcohol-like feel on the opening, but right after within minutes, the actual fragrance unfolds with a dominant honey note that smells familiar but I don't exactly know which type. Honey has several different variants. I haven't tried all of them, but the honey note in this really does remind me of one of the few ones that I've encountered. What makes this honey fragrance different and harder for me to wrap around is how much of the sticky, cloying sweetness of a honey is cut off, so it doesn't give off an edible gourmand character, yet still maintaining its natural sweetness and subtle syrupy nature. Hues of indistinct dried fruits and sweetened black tea note contributes to the scent profile of the dominant honey note giving it dimension, and a multi-faceted character. Also, somewhere between the opening and the middle of this fragrance if i pay closer attention, i almost thought i picked up something that kinda reminds me of weed. I just thought it's a bit funny to add, but i suspect maybe it's the tobacco note. As this fragrance is marinating on my skin, a powdery note in a Johnson's baby powder way is gradually appearing from the distance as it coats this honey note, which further cuts off the sticky, syrupy nature of honey. Once it approaches its middle stage, the intensity of the honey note gradually softens. The fruitiness form the dried fruits remains a little bit and this baby powder note increases its intensity. This baby powdery note suggests a soft ambery, vanillic tint. The middle stage of this fragrance is my least favorite part though. I find it a bit too bland. Just a bland powdery honey. As this fragrance reaches its final drydown stage hours later, it turns interesting once more. It isn't that unusual of a scent, but i'd describe it as very comforting. The afformentioned baby powdery, ambery vanillic note takes over the entire fragrance with a faint furry musky tint, giving it an old, worn-in feel. This accord reminds me of the drydown of those old school "oriental" fragrances. It also reminds me of a really old unlit candle, which is probably from the beeswax. It also suggests a little bit of a play-doh texture, which is a common thread among classic amber-vanilla fragrances. There is also something in this that reminds me a little bit of a doll's head made out of plastic. Something kids would play with in the 90s or 2000s. The over all tone and texture of this stage is soft, faded and quite dusty, yet again comforting and nostalgic. The drydown of this fragrance is like the every aspect of your childhood bedroom. The old toys, the clean yet slept-in sheets, the baby powder, and this overall faded bygone memory that feels comforting inside. Kinda like the hazy shoegazy sounds of Slowdive (the band). Comforting, nostalgic and romantic.

Hiram Green Slowdive... I have not yet taken this fragrance for a spin. I have just received this as a sample, but have been awestruck by what it is doing on my skin. I am craving to test this out in the elements... Honey dominant scents are very difficult for people because honey on skin no matter whose it is can get a hint pissy. Whether one can handle this pissiness or not is up to the wearer. I’m weird so I enjoy the little hints of animalic sweatiness or maybe urea that is custom of the honey note or honey perfumes. I believe how comfortable you are with the scent determines how your body projects it. If you are nervous or uncomfortable with honey or maybe stressed in your environment the body heats up and your hormones may cause its fruity and floral properties to instead expel urea-like qualities. If you are confident, relaxed and at ease with your environment, your body is cooler and your hormones may allow the honey to project its gourmand or fruit-like properties. The way a natural honey note behaves on your skin also depends on your diet as well. Ahhhh the power of chemistry! Hiram Green Slowdive is my reference honey scent, I have already decided even without a full day’s wearing. It is a perfect balance of naturally pleasant and edible aromas that have me excited to finally be testing this fragrance out. I’ve never smelt a honey scent that was so three dimensional and natural smelling. Naxos, Oajan, Beverly Hill's Exclusive, Pure Havane, have all had auxiliary or abstracted focuses on honey and were not fragrances focused on making the honey smell realistic. This is replacing BHE as the best honey I’ve smelt so far. Slowdive... This is overwhelmingly piquant. Within Slowdive a busy resume of natural sensations that are the components of honey. Minimalist. At first I receive hints of apple crumble or a sweet potato pie - a pie, hot and fresh out of the oven which is bracingly sweet, cakey, with some sourness from baked fruit or sweet starches unlocking the sinuses. Rich chamomile tea comes shortly after the pie. It is light and watery, herbal with warm sugary nuance. Notes of cinnamon, and ripe peaches also arrive within this composition bringing smoothness and domestication to the sweetness anchoring all of these vivid facets of fresh honey together. Hiram Green's Slowdive is alive it is photorealistic, inspiring and beautiful. Well-blended and a very rich high quality composition. I can imagine this scent emanating from a warm syrup pitcher on a table as breakfast is just being served. It will be my pleasure to wear Slowdive to honor the bees and their critical work in keeping our planet and perfumery alive. It will be my pleasure to wear it in whatever temperature wherever I want... 🍯 🍎 10/10

Slowdive is one of the best honey-themed perfumes I have tried - with Serge Lutens Fils de Joie perhaps being the only other one that comes close. I'm working my way through my Hiram Green discovery set, and have fallen in love with this brand in general. Combining all-natural ingredients with classical French-style perfumery, Hiram Green's creations are creative marvels as well as being wearable and completely natural. I am a lover of honey, and here it is transposed beautifully into perfume form. Slowdive opens with orange blossom and neroli; sweet, floral and citrus-tinged, paving the way nicely to the honey note at the heart of this scent. There is a slight greenness to the neroli, but this scent is nectar-like, sweet and rich - increasingly so as the honey note develops. Tuberose, while not a dominant note (unusually!), adds a heady floral quality to the honey note - reminiscent of artisan honey that contains floral nuances. The tobacco blossom adds a dry grassiness, providing a nice counterpoint to the sweetness while further placing this scent firmly in nature. The dried fruits, of which I get dried apricot in particular, complement the floral-honey accord beautifully. The amber drydown is resinous and rich, which, alongside the honey and beeswax notes, brings the image of the beehive to life. It fades to become a honeyed amber skin scent. Sillage and longevity are moderate. Unisex in my opinion despite the sweetness, it is an unusual yet wearable daytime scent. Despite the amber base and rich sweetness, it feels most appropriate to me to wear this in spring/summer when bees are in season. Perhaps it is transeasonal. There is a quiet stillness to Slowdive, as @funeralparty below puts it so beautifully, it is like leaning in close to smell a flower. An excellent artistic rendering of honey and the beehive, Slowdive is rich, sweet and sticky, yet nicely balanced by its floral notes. It also manages to be wearable. Excellent. 4.5/5.

“Mellifluous” I've now finally recovered from how much I hated Serge Lutens Miel de Bois! Zoologist Bee and Hiram Green Slowdive are two beautiful honey fragrances. Both are completely realistic, as found in nature, the scent of honey from a jar (with some perfumery magic). I am struggling to decide which one I like better to buy a bottle. I have 5 mL decants of both and truly enjoy them both. #thestruggleisreal Bee is super sweet. Slowdive is sweet but a bit more floral, but still definitely all about honey. I'm probably leaning toward Slowdive but I truly enjoy both honey fragrances immensely. I could lick my arm. Both make me think of fairies and bucolic natural landscapes with all the flora and fauna abounding. These are happy, sweet botanical images flitting through my head. A scented pick-me-up. ((sigh)) So lovely. Painting: Midsummer Eve, 1908, by Robert Hughes I'm 98% sure I'm going to buy the bottle of Slowdive over Bee. It's just slightly more floral and airy while Bee kind of wears me. I would guess that I'll end up layering this with something else, because I likely will tire of smelling like HONEY for much of the day. Now I'll need to try some combinations. It might be nice adding Slowdive to other scents I have that are florals with honey (but only slightly honey), such as Chanel Beige and Champs Elysees or maybe Dolce Gabbana Velvet Ginestra. Or maybe not, it's possible Slowdive is just perfect as is. It is Bee that I would want to layer. If you really love a sweet photo-realistic honey note then you ought to try both Slowdive and Bee. UPDATE: I purchased Slowdive over Bee. I decided Slowdive is MILES better. Slowdive retains it's floracy and light airy quality while Bee gets kind of heavy and woody. 2 amazing (by mistake) layering experiments: Slowdive + Seville a l’Aube, really nice. Also Kenzo Jungle Elephant + Slowdive, delicious omg.

Oh beeswax, lovely beeswax from beginning to end. When I first spritzed Slowdive, I smiled a smug and deeply contented kind of smile because it is so wonderful, and because my first blind buy ever was such a ridiculous success :o) This is not a furniture beeswax smell, and it’s not burning candles either, it is actual honeycomb, fresh out of the hive on a buzzing summer's day, still glistening with honey and powdered with pollen, there's a little bit of clean hay around the place too. Have you ever smelled and tasted the pollen granules that you can buy to boost your immune system and well being? Well, I get a load of that in here, not just the creamy sweet, softly clean, fuzzy little animal smell but also the super-fine, granular texture as the rich, tiny golden grains dissolve on your tongue. The more I wear this, the more subtle nuances I notice. The resinous honey gently sticks to the beeswax all the way through and is very much like a delicious heather honey I love from Galicia; thick and semi-crystalized, dark amber, nectarous, dense, herbal aromatic, balmy and rich. There are some heady, creamy white flowers in here too. It took me a few wearings to get on an intimate basis with the warm, deep, floral tobacco note, but I’m there now and I love it. It’s much rounder and more supple than other tobacco notes I’ve smelled, like rubbing fresh and ever so slightly dusty tobacco leaves between your hands leaving stains with a spicy, sweet, brownish green narcotic aroma. Slowdive's dry down is long and lovely, a beautiful pastoral portrait of the perfect summer's day, where nature is friendly and life is always sweet. Nectar of the gods.