Hanbury

I'm pretty susceptible to perfume marketing - paint me a picture of a mediterranean villa with a garden full of mimosa and citrus trees, and I'll probably have added your fragrance to my test list before you're done talking. Add the image of a lady of leisure who dwells in this wonderful place, and the suggestion that by using this fragrance I can momentarily escape into her life, or at least a scented fantasy of it, and it's a done deal: I'm buying it right away! Or at least a sample, since I'm a lady of leisure in perfumed dreams only. So Hanbury gets high marks for marketing, at the very least. Unfortunately, once I did get the sample, I promptly proceeded to neglect it for months and months, like an idiot. When I finally remembered to use it, there was very little left, and I think the top notes had disappeared with it: I didn't get any citrus at all at first spray, just a kind of condensed version of the later development, strong mimosa with lots of musk. This missed opportunity (I'm sure that's what it is) is the first reason I'm going to put this on my want list: I want to experience that bitter orange in combination with that lovely mimosa! And that brings us to the second, most important reason: the part I did get to test out properly, the heart of the fragrance, really is great, and in a way that makes the marketing ring true: hours of creamy mimosa, honeyed and a little heady. Wonderful! With some imagination, it really can transport you to that villa, on an ideal day in spring: warm but not too hot. I'm not entirely sure about the drydown yet - all in all it's just a gradual softening of the main attraction, and so pretty nice as well. But for some reason resinous notes can sometimes turn a little sour on my skin, ever so slightly reminiscent of mayonnaise when sniffed closely, and unfortunately that's what happened with this one as well. It's not a big deal, though - it doesn't always happen, and if it does, I can just avoid sniffing my wrists too closely at that point. It's certainly not enough to keep me away from that villa - in fact, I want to visit it again soon, and often. Luckily, and appropriately, this is available in quite an affordable travel size, so I think I might!

This past weekend, I visited the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, and there were small bitter orange trees and lemon trees in bloom. I inhaled the aroma of their blossoms, ethereal, sharp, and sunny, yet indolic. When applying Hanbury, I am immediately reminded of this, but here, these trees are mingled with honeyed mimosa in bloom, and the pairing smells so cheerful and promising. Gentile also created a calycanthus accord which I can discern in its heart, from my experience examining the fragrance of these flowers. The beguiling deep maroon calycanthus (often colloquially known as "spice bush") emits notes of stewed fruit, wine, facets of allspice, even that of pineapple and tropical fruit esters, almost like bubble gum. She captures it pretty convincingly here, with the citrus florals and mimosa, tempering any candied sweetness with tartness and haze. I am almost reminded of grape flavored Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip (remember those powder pouches with the solid sugar "lik-a-stix"?). Fascinatingly enough, a reassuring, fresh laundry white musk, laced with dusty pollen and hay, is the plot twist here, extending all the precedes into the dry down. Hanbury ignites both nostalgia and optimism in me and feels mood-lifting when I wear it. It's lovely stuff.

I experience Hanbury as a tea-inflected orange blossom scent. I don't know what calycanthus smells like, but the other listed notes don't seem obviously to account for my perception. It feels like a Big White Floral with herbal inflections instead of indoles. Is this just me? Anyone else familiar with calycanthus? Mia von Trost describes it as a little herbal and almost leathery with a twist of dried apple. The only part I can smell is the little herbal. The link to the note above puts it in a green category and says it can smell like burgundy wine (not here!) or strawberry (not here!) or grapefruit (it's a stretch). I agree about the English name, but it is the name of a garden in Italy.... I adore Hanbury. It is rich but joyous, sweet but lyrical, luxuriant and a little nostalgic. I think the nostalgia is for that garden I've never seen. In Hanbury, I wish I lived there. With eyes closed and the light summer breeze just right, I can, at least for a beautiful moment. And this is one of my favorite things about excellent perfumes in general: like mediation, they pull your awareness deep into the present moment. Hanbury succeeds brilliantly by this criterion.

This is a beautiful fragrance....it is captivating without even trying. It is beauty in so simple a form it stays both profoundly innocent (but not in a little girl way), and nostalgic all at once. When I first sprayed it on, it reminded me of childhood....a sudden sweetness I remember....wait...is it the grape Otter Pop from the freezer or the grape Pixie stick or grape SweetTart I opened and smelled back then? Honestly, this memory hit me and it was really nice! Suddenly the mix of florals, honey and incredible fruit take me to a garden by the ocean. Hence, Hanbury is all around me. I am not a big 'musky' perfume lover, but no worries because this fragrance does not over do the musk, and is fairly neutral on me. Good, erotic, musical and refined. It fools one to think it will be too sweet, but the incredible citrus and benzoin pull in back, and it stays smooth and lyrical for hours. Definitely a scent that makes a lasting impression. So glad I purchased it!

I was a little bit angry with my wife, when I came back home. But when I opened the door, and saw her I felt instantly reasonable, comprensive and lovely. I found the trick! This perfume give you a real positive mood, something sparkling and propositive. When the citrus and mimosa are gone, you are able to relax whit honey and musk.. A real trap! Only I don't understand the english name, cause for me, it's very very italic. I felt like to be in a summer center-italy garden, nearby the buxus maze, out of a villa and ready to leave for a journey on a little town feast.

Hanbury has the power to put me in a good mood, it's such an uplifting, optymistic fragrance. It's Reminiscence of the summer heat, lazy, beautiful afternoon in the villa garden. You can inhale the scent of flowers growing in the garden and enjoy the luxury of taking it slowly. Love the bitter orange openining, the light sweetness of honey and linden blossom and the sea breeze. Adorable and the most feminine creation of MCG I discovered so far.

I have been wearing this nearly every day for Spring 2025! Soft enough to wear to work, yet strong enough to lift my spirits, be noticeable and get compliments, It's like Spring flowers, warm sunshine and sparkling citrus. I love layering this with other scents, it did beautifully layered with an amber based perfume yesterday.

A perfume that I always grab during hot gloomy days. Definitely spark spirit and mood. Always make me remember of my oranges tree behind my childhood house

Most of you will agree with me that these are trying times we’re experiencing at the moment. To escape the never-ending flow of (mainly) negative news, occasional bouts of anxiety as well as the drag of isolation, I’ve found great comfort in long walks on footpaths along fields, in forests and parks. They’ve had a therapeutic effect on me and helped me unwind, get all the troubles and worries out of my head and, most importantly, stay sane. My collection of perfume samples has assisted Mother Nature in this effort and the extra free time I’ve had on my hands lately has enabled me to rediscover a couple of interesting scents in my collection. Enter “Hanbury” by Maria Candida Gentile. Let’s go on a short trip, shall we? The ambition behind “Hanbury” is to evoke an aroma of a garden, more specifically the Giardini Botanici Hanbury in La Mortola, Italy. The gardens themselves have a rich history dating back to 1867. Perhaps the person they owe their present state and esteem to the most is Lady Dorothy Hanbury, another muse for the eponymous fragrance. Unfortunately, I have never been to the botanical gardens, but from what I’ve seen in the photos, they look like a place right up my alley: a green oasis, a sanctuary for regaining the inner peace and balance. And thanks to Ms Candida Gentile’s talent as a perfumer, I now have some idea what the gardens smell like. The air is permeated with a soft melange of citruses that marries an aroma of white flowers (dominated by what to this reviewer seems to be jasmine) in full bloom, sprinkled with a few drops of honey. The base contains white musk, one of my least favourite notes in perfumery. Though it is true that instead of detergent-like freshness my nose hankers after a dirtier, earthier smell to round off this aromatic excursion, the presence of the dreaded note does not spoil the overall result. Being a sweetish, white flower-centred fragrance, it's undeniable “Hanbury” leans feminine. Yet the more I wear it, the stronger I’m convinced that it could actually serve as an interesting (and longer-lasting) alternative to the traditional eau de cologne. All you daydreamers out there (female and male), give “Hanbury” a sniff, will you?

I was interested to test Hanbury since both my husband and I enjoy citrus scents. My husband was also willing to be a guinea pig and test it as well. On me, Hanbury opened with a bright citrus note that rounded out with that slightly sour bitter orange. The honey and benzoin notes seem to amplify the floral aspect in a warm, vaguely sweet way. It almost has a powdery feel to it as it dries down, which I think is due to the musk. I can see the comparison to a sort of bubblegum scent, and it does have a little spice to it. Hanbury is a very cheerful, sunny sort of scent that stays close to the body. It does have a great unisex sort of appeal on the right chemistry. On my husband, within a short time after spraying on Hanbury, it smelled very strongly of the lime and bitter orange. I think his body chemistry amplified the notes and made it very unappealing. The best description I could give the scent on him was warm, rancid baby wipes or orange cleaning wipes. It wasn't pleasant at all, and he washed it off very quickly. This is one I would definitely test before buying to find out if it works on your chemistry.

This takes me right into those warm gardens with light filtered through citrus, pollen and mimosas. Sitting, sipping jasmine tea sweetened with blond honey with fresh laundry hanging around to dry. It has a vintage, slightly medicinal sweetness that heals stress and thoughts, makes my eyes narrow and calms my nerves. Clear.

It's mainly just mimosa. A realistic mimosa. Very summery, though :)

One for the ladies, not for me.

Sir Thomas Hanbury bought the land in Italy in 1867 several miles away from Ventimiglia and over decades built the beautiful garden with a help of his brother, a designer and German botanical geographer and scientists. By the time Sir Thomas Hanbury passed away the garden included quite a significant number of plants and increased in numbers by the subsequent work of his daughter-in-law Lady Dorothy Hanbury. During the 2nd World War the garden was severely destroyed and she sold it to the State of Italy. Since then the garden underwent more transformations and is now on the list of most beautiful gardens in Italy. I am not familiar with the Calycanthus flower smell and even though I knew it, I will not guess which species of Calycanthus was planted in this garden. Calycanthus family has a variety from the United States, Asia and quite ancient type from Australia, each of them smell differently. We do not know which one was brought by the German geographer, planted, and adopted in the garden. The only reference I have is from Maria Candida Gentile official site: "...Calycanthus is also part of the formula, it is so unique that it defines the bouquet of the whole Hanbury fragrance. It is a very romantic tree which blooms in February with very tiny white flowers." I will not describe each of the ingredients I smell, but rather I express it as the entire experience. To me this perfume if very feminine and one of a kind. I reach for it often when I feel I need my space. The longevity of the perfume varies depending on the season or my physical state (skin chemistry changes depending on many factors). Some days I feel it all day long and some days my skin absorbs it to the skin scent. Still I always feel a gentle aura of it around me. I can close my eyes and transport myself to the beautiful garden I never been before, and experience whiffs of flowers brought from the garden by the sea breeze. Very romantic!

This perfume put me over the edge. It's so beautiful. I brings to mind a quote from the movie American Beauty, "Sometimes, there's so much beauty in the world - I feel like I can't take it, like my heart is just going to cave in." This is the 4th fragrance I have tried from this line and this one sealed my fate. I am not just smitten, not just infatuated; I am in love. All of the ones I've tried have a sensual breezy quality to them that is like walking through a field of flowers at dusk. This one is inspired by Villa Hanbury on the coast of Italy. It has the essence of a flower that grows in Italy in the winter called Calycanthus Proxus. I've never smelled it, but other reviews compare it to Une Fleur de Cassie by FM, which I agree. This is primarily a mimosa scent. One Fleur de Cassie would be my evening date scent for a balmy evening in the Spring, and this one would be my daytime in the garden scent. This is the perfect combination of the mimosa note in Oscar de la Renta Volupte, the warm honey note of Viktoria Minya Hedonist, and the cassie/calycanthus note in Une Fleur de Cassie all over a warm, windblown, in-the-meadow notes of bitter citrus. The effect is like staying at an Italian villa, and opening the shutters to smell the flowers. If anyone has seen the movie Under the Tuscan sun with Diane Lane, the final scene where she has everything she wants - the baby, the house, the friends - that is what this perfume reminds me of - finally finding beauty and happiness. I should mention that on me the florals; the mimosa and white florals come forward and it's kind of perfumey, but on E. my male perfume buddy with warmer skin, it has a LOT more honey and is more balmy.

I had a decant of this one specifically and it kept me wondering all the time: is this how this combination of notes smells on me? Or was the juice mislabelled? I got it from a trustworthy source, and since the colour from the Fragram Photos resembled my decant, I believe I can pick the first answer. I mention it, because it's one of rare instances where a perfume felt bitter on my skin. Not sour, not expired, but simply bitter on purpose and quite herbaceous. I don't know the smell of calycanthus, so I guess this ingredient may be partially to blame. This and citruses probably. I wasn't able to distinguish any honeyed note. Of course, I wasn't particularly delighted, since bitterness is not a favourite sensation for most people, but I admit, this makes the scent an option for very hot days or inside stuffy rooms. It's also a funny thing from time to time to experience an olfactory failure during one's journey.

@leathermountain... Being from the south eastern US, I am very familiar with calycanthus as it is a plant that grows here naturally. (The plant was originally exported to England from South Carolina) My grandmother had a garden surrounded by the plant also known as "spice bush" or "sweet bush." My cousin and I always called it the bubblegum bush because that is about as close as I could describe it. It smells edible sweet but not in a vanilla type fashion. Think sugary sweet like honey, pink bubble gum or even cotton candy. Sadly, I have become more accustomed to seeing the plant in pot purr more so than frags as the flowers lend themselves very well to drying and smell wonderful. With that being said I am curious to get my nose on this frag purely because of the note associated with my childhood. Hope this helped.

Genuinely beautiful, naive and fragile, yellow version of Apres l'Ondee. An abstract floral - I am smelling something resembling orange blossom and musk and that's it - the rest I cannot decipher precisely, so I rather leave it to my senses and my mind to enjoy it as it is - a heavenly compound of dreamy candy dew, watercolor freshness, pastel crayons waxy aroma, classicist beauty ideal, transparent veil of fairy dust... Such a shame it's so soft and ephemeral!

I got the most lemony-citrus LOTV lift. Within minutes this started to become a green, crunchy jasmine, stems and all and settled into mimosa. This is absolutely lovely and beats the heat, takes me back to Nice. None of these notes are ones I typically like (the listed ones I like better). This is breezy, astringent without any piney qualities, and not some Atelier citrus air freshener.

Orange pith and pollen and honey, that’s what I smell. Hanbury also has that sort of clean bitter neroli smell, just not in the neroli way. A rare citrus fragrance that I can tolerate! Feels nostalgic the way a lot of MCG scents do, and this one is quite relaxed and easygoing. I’m tempted to upsize my dabbler sample.