Hothouse Flower

Ineke Hothouse Flower is no doubt a gardenia soliflore. But during the first hour, along with the sweet gardenia, it's also intensely green. The greenness here does not feel dewy or humid to me, as the 'hothouse' in the name would suggest, but rather dry, volatile, and slightly powdery, more like flowers under the bright sunshine. I mostly perceive the greenness as the slightly sour and bitter sap of fig leaf, with a subtle green tea nuance. The gardenia peeks through the green foliage, and gradually takes the leading role. It's sweet with a gentle cheese-like undertone. But instead of being creamy, it inherites the volatile and slightly powdery texture, which makes it transluscent while still being intoxicating. Although it's probably the power of suggestion of 'corn silk', I can indeed relate the sweetness of the fragrance with the sweet juice left in the pot where corns were cooked. The drydown after about 5 hours is a lovely skin scent of fluffy musk and sweet gardenia. I can hardly discern any incense or woody elements throughout the development, but they probably provide a solid base for the blooming gardenia. The sillage is moderate to soft, and the longevity is around 8 hours. I find Hothouse Flower right between two categories of gardenia soliflore: it has prominent green elements, yet not dewy like Annick Goutal Un Matin d'Orage or Marc Jacobs; it's sweet and heady, yet greener than Isabey Gardenia or Fleur Nocturne, which makes it a quite unique approach. I'd definitely recommend giving it a try to those who are interested in a gardenia soliflore.

Gosh this is green. One of the most fresh, true to life green leaf smells I have encountered so far. The tea, fig and cypress work well with the gardenia. The tea provides some dryness, whilst the fig some sweetness. I dont find the gardenia strong at the start but overtime it becomes much more evident but never overwhelming. The fig also comes much more to the fore with time but never too sweet. On the opening I definitely feel like I could be in one of the greenhouses at Kew or a florists. Its all fresh green stems of a lily or similar and it only starts to lessen in power after a couple of hours. Perhaps this cloud of green vegetation fragrance that surrounds me is created by hedione or its aldehydes?! A very pretty fragrance to wear when you want to remember fresh green leaves and flowers. For me its a fragrance of early spring when everything starts to come awake once more and is all clean and like new.

Stop 3 on my search for a realistic floral that doesn’t feel ‘perfumey’, and this just might be the one. Hothouse Flower really does conjure up a whole scene rather than just a flower - you can smell the soil, the surrounding foliage, the warm damp air. This gives me a ‘biome at the Eden Project’ vibe, for anyone who’s been. HF feels realistic and green enough that the flower itself just sits perfectly balanced, wearable for people who can find florals in perfume overwhelming but like them in real life (me). Really happy with this.

Not your usual gardenia, this perfume is both creamy and freshly green. Imagine the smell of an entire flower, stem included. I love wearing it as an every day scent, mainly for spring an autumn. Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do - try before you buy, but do try, it's worth it.

This is the best gardenia fragrance I've ever experienced. It is well-balanced, green, and yet the musk keeps it from turning too sharp. Radiant and earthy, this is one of those perfumes that I instantly felt beautiful in for some reason. I see a full bottle in my future.