Monkeyflower

Blissful countryside musk; feels nostalgic of sweet, vague, & not-quite-reachable childhood summer memories. This is a complex perfume, or at least one that pings off a disparate array of scent-references for me. Yes, the opening is definitely tussilago and/or buttercups and/or old-school sun cream, as per the notes, magically finding the overlap in that unexpected Venn diagram, but there is also a bit of sweet almond-marzipan to my nose, which makes it quite a cakey, thick-feeling scent initially. As the sunscreen notes take over and the scent veers airier, it also reminds me of a supermarket hand-cream my mum used to keep in the kitchen when I was little, it came in a plastic tub, pale yellow-green with a stylised yellow and white chamomile-flower in the centre? As the perfume develops, that cosmetic vibe continues to coexist with a 'day in nature' impression and the whole thing slowly turns into a tender, golden-hazy musk.I can sort of see why 'fig' comes up, but as a bona fide fig fanatic, this to me does not smell fig-like (and not remotely like Philosykos), being both too cosmetic and too airy-vegetal (unlike the dense astringent & sappy green of fig leaves, or the rich juiciness of the fruit). Instead as the perfume dries down the tussilago/buttercup, sunscreen & marzipan seem to skip the listed fruit notes and just gradually morph into the aforementioned fuzzy, faintly salty floral musk, that smells vividly like sun-warmed sun-creamed skin after an afternoon in the fields. The connection people are making with Dandelion Butter makes sense for sure, but that perfume has a proper figgy green note, is much more definite and photorealistic, and is more stable as well in terms of the notes, i.e. more modest in its development. Monkeyflower is weird and compelling most of the way through, not in the sense of jarring or dramatic but hard to pin down and understand, as well as smelling just lovely on skin. On me, longevity is good; projection mid.

Liquid sunshine. Ever-changing and dynamic but always whimsically joyful. And true to the story: a floral musk rather than a musky floral. Fuzzy on top and silky smooth underneath. Tussilago flowers shine throughout the opening and middle, though they play only a supporting role in the latter. And their scent is marvelously spot on. On my skin, I don't smell the sunscreen much (fortunately for me), and thus get to enjoy the musky-green-sunshine perfection that is tussilago for the top ten minutes or so. The first drydown reveals beautifully photorealistic chamomile with undertones of soft buttercuppy musk that remind me of Gucci's Mémoire d’une Odeur for a pleasant while. Then the physalis colors the composition a bit sour-juicy-caramel-golden, the fig adds a little purple sweetness, and I get a couple hours' worth of delicately balanced, sunny-meadow bliss of these notes flickering in and out of focus. After the second drydown, clean musk and hay take over. As if I've just made my bed, freshly starched linens and all, in a hayloft. The floral quality somehow manages to peek through even here. Simple yet lovely. PS: Yes! Thank you! I've wished someone would capture the scent of tussilago flowers for ages. And for it to be my beloved Stora Skuggan? Just...chef's kiss. I, for one, appreciate the Octobre drop, seeing as I could use me some extra sun just about now, and the fragrance performs well in autumn weather. And the Monkeyflower mystery is a treat, as always. PPS: Having spent a week with this scent, I have to say I'm well and truly smitten. I've worn it every single day, craving it first thing in the morning. I tried wearing something else once and my Monkeyflower addiction got the better of me that same afternoon. It's a great daily companion for all occasions. I'm also impressed by the depth it offers on clothes (even on the third day after spraying) or in different weather conditions. Definitely my next full bottle and a new favourite.

Stora Skuggan Monkeyflower reminds me of plucking flowers from the grass. Rising to your nose is the scent of the stem breaking off midway, since it's never a clean pluck from the roots, with some grass blades breaking off as well. That is what Monkeyflower is to me in the opening. It is truly a floral green fragrance. I get a bit of green fig as well, until it dries down to a sort of distant coconut for the next hour. That might actually be a slightly sweet-chewy fig creating that illusion and maybe that sunscreen note, with floral greenness and herbal touches now coming from a musky chamomile. The musk maybe coming from the Tussilago farfara with its scent described as a sweet musky scent. I'm not familiar with the flowers, Tussilago farfara, Buttercup, and Goldenberry, but I do know the smell of chamomile very well and that's what really made me fall for this. I get chamomile, sweetened by fruity fig, so strongly for the remainder of the wear. After looking for a calm chamomile scent since falling in love with the opening of Dries Van Noten Camomille Satin, before it became a sweet cookie vanilla in the dry-down, and the dry-down of Gucci Mémoire d’une Odeur, that disappeared in under 2 hours, I've found my perfect one. There have also been so many great figs, to the point it was hard to choose one. Now I don't have to because Monkeyflower knocks two birds with one stone. Although the projection becomes low moderate at times after 2 hours, I get at least 7 hours out of this. $180 for a 30 mL though is...idk, but I've decided Monkeyflower is worth it with a discount. My only critique is the early 20th century cartoon depicted on the bottle. I really wish they went a different direction, but the cartoon monkey's face is reminiscent of the inside of actual monkeyflower floral.

This is a really natural meadow of a fragrance. On first spray I picked up Chamomile and Buttercup and Hay. It’s not light to me, I find the initial sprays a little heady, with a beautiful natural musk that is perceptible from the off but emerges to prominence after a while. This is a warm fragrance and classed as green because it does not fall into the traditional olfactory field (no pun intended) as yellow floral. It is reminiscent of a long summer evening and for us in the northern hemisphere, heading into winter, it’s a delightful evocation of a memory, walking down hedge line lanes or sitting on a hay bale on a warm summers evening. We land finally at a soft musk that I don’t recognise from any other fragrance I have. I think I will grow to love it as it’s totally novel to me and in that respect isn’t like the majority of musk representations easily found in many modern fragrances. I am a huge appreciator of this perfume house and I have bought several of their fragrances on release over the last few years. I find they are always a surprise, always feel hugely contemporary yet are contextualised by some imaginative concepts linked to the natural world. They are weirdly wonderful and worth exploring if you enjoy unusual fragrances but they are still accessible to anyone who appreciates well orchestrated fragrance. Not everyone will love everything but there’s a very good chance you will find something because they vary so much.

Unfortunately this is the best thing I've ever smelled, the disfortune only because it costs $180 per 30ml. I have been poring through every floral that reviewers have compared to a flower field or meadow and found that they all just smelled like ...roses, which does not at all smell like the wild fields I grew up in at the base of the Sierra Nevadas. I got a handful of samples of various perfumes I kept hearing about, solely to indulge in the atmospheric experiences everyone was describing, and did not expect Monkeyflower to be the wildflower meadow I'd been looking for. In the package were both this and Dandelion Butter by Clue, so I had a direct comparison. They both evoke the same image perfectly: laying in a field of flowery weeds, laughing with friends, the sunlight peeking through branches above you, pulling apart stems to make sappy flower crowns. Monkeyflower, however, is delicate and creamy where Dandelion Butter is thick and fatty. It smells significantly more floral. The opening on both are very green, but Monkeyflower is more flower nectar than DB's bitter stem. The "sunscreen" note smells more like the gentle butter I hoped to get from Dandelion Butter. Overall the experience is visceral, but gentle and beautiful. This is absolutely my next full bottle purchase, $180 be damned.