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.

Got this in the mail recently- so far I love it, it smells great and lasted an entire evening of much running around/being out. As perviously mentioned here, I as well am not a fan of florals- so I was apprehensive, but it sat well on me. I'll keep it!

I cant even describe how much I loveeeee this perfume. It was love at first sniff. So fresh, bubbly, citrusy but also the perfect floral that doesn't feel childish. Bury me with this perfume so I can smell it in the afterlife.

Hothouse Flowers is the best gardenia fragrance I have ever seen. Amazing opening, fresh and rich heart, delicious and milky drydown. This is a gardrenia in the heaven!

The temperature controlled conservatory of a botanical garden. Fog machine, waterfall, wet moss on stone. Deep green and bright purple.

A very green, fresh, peppery floral which becomes more leafy and herbal into drydown for me. It does remind me of a hothouse aroma, specifically the cactus house in Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens, though this is more floral It has a soapy edge and it's quite strong for the first hour or so. The drydown is where I notice fig-leaf - a slightly dry dusty leafiness that vaguely reminds me of L'Artisan's Caligna but not so fresh (Caligna contains clary sage, fig, mandarin leaf and pine needles so there are similarities). In fact in dry down there's definitely something L'Artisan-like,a bit like Premier Figuer too, a good thing if you like L'Artisan perfumes! The creamy floral quality is more evident for the first hour or so then it's less floral, more green, quite natural. It's a good choice for spring but if you feel like an uplifting green, peppery floral Baiser Vole is probably a more easy-to-wear pretty perfume. Hothouse Flower is less mainstream in style, also less sweet, if that's any help. Sillage strong for two hours then quite light. I really like it in drydown, and this stage would definitely suit summer as much as spring. As Stelladiverflyn (below) mentions - the gardenia peaks out from behind the foliage (though we have an opposite experience from floral to green or green then floral) it's pretty, and unusual. I like it

Nice. Equal parts green notes, gardenia, and fig. The greens help to balance gardenia’s tendency to be over-lush, so this is actually one of the more mild, restrained and user friendly gardenias I’ve smelled. And the creaminess of the gardenia smoothes out some of what can be strident green notes (especially the galbanum) so the green part ends up being a sweet, fresh, and dewy walk in a cool morning garden. The tea just adds the slightest bitterness to this picture, making the experience of this garden feel almost 3-d and circular. As to the fig, its fruitiness and lactonic nature echoes the gardenia a bit, and its green side again helps to balance the equation between all the notes. Olibanum reinforces and strengthens the fig and makes it an equal player in this feedback loop of notes. To my sense the base notes are just there for support and longevity, although the corn perhaps reinforces a certain fruitiness and sweetness. This is very pleasant and easy to wear and creates a moderate scent bubble.

As you can tell from the reviews.. your experience May differ. Infact everyone's account of this scent is correct if you are looking for it, and it's very chemistry dependent. I instantly get the gardenia floral with a vegetal spicy note. A soapy translatable Lily of the valley aspect but it's not a traditional lov note. The Cypress and galbanum keeps this bouyant greenish and fresh interpretation of gardenia and the traditional aspects of a mushroomy decay part of the gardenia is turned way down. It's a bit clever in it's way as it never relies on Tuberose or another white floral to give the gardenia it's brightness. The oilbanum plays wonderfully with the cyprus. I really wasn't into giving this a play by play but HF blooms rather beautiful on my skin. I don't think this is for inexperienced noses as more mature noses to the fragrance experience will probably appreciate this more. For someone that wants a fresh experience with their gardenia.. it's worth a try.

On me this is lush, creamy, and dare i say tropical. It is milky feeling but still fresh and wet, just delicious. Gardenia and naturally sweet corn silk, cypress + green notes are the most obvious by far. The humid, green, lush floral environment of a hothouse in the summer is appropriate imagery for the name. Love! P.S. No THC containing substances. At all. On my skin =)

Hothouse flower reminds me of Diane von Furstenburgh Tatiana. A very green slightly fruity gardenia. Very pretty. Easy dumb reach for any gardenia lover, especially in the hotter months. If you like Elizabeth Taylor gardenia, or Chanel gardenia you will like this as well.

Natural and atmospheric. Many comments I agree with regarding smelling the whole flower with earth and surrounding humid air. But not long lasting on me. I consider this similar to Zara Elegantly Tokyo but the Zara is better.

Elegant floral composition with delicate green notes and soft effluvia of gardenia. Extremely feminine and very versatile. Suitable for summer evenings along the beach. It is very nice to the people around you. To try.

This smells much more like hyacinths than gardenia! Its humid green florality is reminiscent of Annick Goutal Matin d'Orage-

If you could smell a gardenia flower, every aspect of it from the blossom to the stem, leaves, roots, and damp soil it grows in, then that's what this perfume smells like. You even get a touch of humid air. Very realistic "tropical biome" scent. Sadly, it also gives me a headache and accompanying nausea so it's a scrubber. Unfortunate as I really love After My Own Heart from the same fragrance house.

In honor of the arrival of Spring, my boyfriend folded up a bright pink origami paper flower for me, and I sprayed it with my beautiful sample of Hothouse Flower from Ineke. I also applied some to my wrists. This Gardenia is sparkly, green and creamy. The fig gives it a fruity, earthy bitter-sweetness. The gardenia is done very well. It is warm and sweet, but the bright green leaves and earthiness keep it from becoming too heavy or cloying. As it develops on my skin, the green notes lose their sharpness but retain their freshness, the fig gives faint hints of raw earth with sweet creamy coconut, and the notes meld together with my body heat to produce a truly alluring, nectar -like aroma. I am looking around to make sure I am not about to be attacked by humming birds. Projection is moderate, and longevity is good. Hothouse Flower smells like Spring erupting on all sides. It's Spring on steroids. It is extremely uplifting and soothing. I could see this being very complimentary to the aroma of a morning cup of coffee. It's like natural anti-depressants. If you like gardenia, but dislike those heavy, sneeze-inducing, overpowering florals, this variation on a true to life green gardenia should help you begin your day on the right foot.

Another gardenia-lovers-only perfume, this one from Ineke, Hothouse Flower offers a greenish, somewhat woody take on the gargantuan gardenia. This is a big fat white flower perfume, to be sure, but there is a competing greenish facet which makes the composition stand out from the creamy and powdery gardenia crowd. I do not think that this smells much like a hothouse, but to my nose that's a good thing, since hothouses tend to have a humid and suffocating quality to them. The scent of this creation is truly concentrated, but the humidity aspect is missing. I find this to be a good gardenia, but not my favorite. I'd place it in the middle of the range--it's much better than the lower-tier run-for-a-scrub gardenias, but not as appealing to me as the original Marc Jacobs or the gardenia entry in the Van Cleef & Arpels Collection Extraordinaire. As usual, I recommend testing before purchase unless you already know that you are a gardenia fanatic. This is big, declarative gardenia with an accompaniment of woods and greens. It seems to me well-made, as Ineke perfumes always are, but you must love both gardenia and floral greens to be able to wear this creation. For the record, I do not detect any fig here at all.