Dearest Friends
So many of you wrote in to The Perfumed Dandy last week with a liking for my humble images of a weekend away, that I thought I would share my pictures of today’s perambulations around Fair London Town.
This morning the sun shone brightly and so so The Dandy did what dandies do and made for a promenade in the Park…
But which Park might this be?
And which fragrances would go best with which photographs?
All will be revealed over the course of the week ahead… but in the meantime The Dandy would love to hear your splendid suggestions!
1. Green Leaves
2. Daffodils
3. Fountains
4. Statue
5. Tulips and Hyacinths
6. Swan
7. Green Grass
8. Folly
9. Conifer
10. Tea House
11. Trunk and Tree
12. Blossom and Children
13. Orangery
14. Palm
15. Rosebuds
16. White Narcissus
17. Electric Green
18. Topiary
19. Round Pond
20. More Leaves
21. Memorial
22. Magnolias
23. Moss Bridge and Water
24. Exotic Flowers
25. Hollow and Water
My Goodness, didn’t The Dandy get awfully snap happy?
So now he has to come up with 25 scents, five each day ‘twixt now and Friday, to go with those scenes…
Lordy! Any help by way of suggestions would be most appreciated dear brethren.
Until we meet again do enjoy whatever remains of the weekend.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy.
The Perfumed Dandy. 
I can barely remember but something is saying… Kensington Gardens??? Thank you for this, it’s Spring, where there really is a Spring!
Dearest Vicky
It is Kensington Gardens!!
I nearly threw in the Peter Pan statue, but I thought that the Palace would be enough and so it would seem.
For all the unpleasantness of living in a country with a winter, you are right, the compensations of a true Spring are more than worth it.
The whole city is like a soul reawakening at the moment.
It makes one happy to be alive.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Vickie beat me to the punch! Yes Kensington Gardens and the “Monument” is to the beloved of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert. It looks like he is getting a face lift!
P.S. Tea in the Orangery is so much fun!
Dear Mr Lanier
I knew you would get this on account of the special place that Peter Pan holds in your heart.
Indeed, Albert’s magnificently over the top memorial is being renovated once again and the cost of all the gold leaf is causing quite a stir!!
But what perfumes would you wear to commune with Prince’s Regent and boys that never grow up?
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Youth Dew!!
Touche Mr Lanier!
Perhaps that should be Ever-Youth Dew!?!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Touche e enchante!
What lovely photos! Let’s see…for green leaves something by CdG. For green grass, Balmain Vent Vert. For daffodil, L’Artisan Fleur de Narcisse. For hyacinth (and tulip), Chamade. For a swan, Vanderbilt. For a teahouse, Bulgari Mon Jasmin Noir L’Eau Exquise (a new favorite of mine). Those are off the top of my head. I will post more if I get any bright ideas.
Dearest Lily
Our minds(great as they are) think alike… two of these are on The Dandy’s list too!
I will reveal all my suggestion as the week progresses, but any more bright ideas would be welcomed most gratefully.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Oh, how perfectly lovely. I live in high-desert New Mexico, and we have landscapes of rare beauty but they are not lush. Thanks! For some reason the photo of the white narcissus makes me think of Houbigant Oranger en Fleurs, and the orange tree photo reminds me of SL Fleurs de Oranger. The moss bridge makes me long for real oakmoss. Photo 5 makes me realize that I haven’t yet smelled a frag with a true, sustained hyacinth note. I keep buying samples, and they lose the hyacinth note Ridley or are something else to begin with. I look forward to seeing your fragrance list.
Dear Wild One
These are excellent suggestions… I am particularly enamoured of the Houbigant and suggested the Lutens as a perfect orange blossom scent myself just recently.
Hyacinth as you say is quite a hunt and I’m not sure I will be able to come up with much beyond a highly crafted perfumer’s concoction!
New Mexico though…. that is quite a landscape.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
I can offer one of my “highly crafted perfumer’s concoctions” for hyacinth – Persian Prince – it was inspired by blue hyacinths rather than white, but close.
Crowdsource is an option for narcissus too, but those are easier to come by.
Dear Mr Bartlett
What exciting suggestions!
If they are anywhere near as good as those of wares I’ve tried to date: Green Carnation sticks particularly in my mind.
As always, the names of Pell Wall Perfumes intrigue me… might those daffodils of yours be crowd sourced on account of their tendency to stick together?
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Our landscape is remarkable, and conduces to leathers and chypres and things like that, but my home is in the narrow green belt along the Rio Grande river, and florals seem very right here in the spring. I wonder how much our locale influences our perfume choices. And I am going to try to hunt down a dab of Persian Prince, because since my hyacinths bloomed I can’t stop thinking about that scent.
Dear Wild One
Oh, The Dandy is convinced that topography, climate and culture are all major influences on our perfume choices.
It seems to me that they interplay to create an olfactory equivalent the French concept of ‘terroir’: that unique sense of place that our Gallic friends believe plays such an important role in the cultivation and consumption of fine food and wine.
I must say though that the words ‘narrow green belt along the Rio Grande’ sound so poetic to this perfumed gent’s ears.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Mr. Bartlett, I learned online that you are the maker of Persian Prince, but I can’t find a source for it in the US or how to get a sample, and your blog is not permitting me to leave a comment right now. So forgive me for tracking you through somebody else’s blog, but could you email me at wooddogs3 at gmail (dotcom and let me know where to find your scent?
Looks like our emails to each-other crossed in the ether: it’s a strange place this InterWeb . . .
Thanks both for your kind remarks. Persian Prince comes about because Hyacinth is one the ‘Seven S’s’ of the traditional Persian new year celebration (hyacinth is Sonbol in Persian).
Crowdsource was mainly inspired by the Wordsworth poem, but I was trying to be all modern and original at the same time as harking back to the famous lines.
My other Spring Flower Collection entry is Deep Purple which is a muscular, heavy metal, interpretation of violets that (I hope) avoids the sugar-candy effect.
Dearest Mr Bartlett
What wonderful reasons.
I had thought perhaps there was a Wordsworth connection… but I like the update.
As for Persian Prince and Deep Purple…. both perfectly divine!
Oh, and I’m so pleased you two have managed to make contact… I do like the idea of The Dandy’s as somewhere where people can meet and get to know one and other.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
How lovely. I really enjoy looking at these….they don’t need scents, they really don’t. Just fresh air and England…
or rather, Britain…
…or, indeed, in this case…. London!!
Dear Ginza
This is true… but there were scents around many of them (and The Dandy isn’t talking about the Diorissimo he was wearing at the time).
The grass, much of it recently mown, was particularly fragrant.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
The thought of you in Diorissimo in these surroundings is truly delightful.
those pictures are stunning! I agree with the Black Narcissus…no perfume required at this time!
Dearest Brie
The more The Dandy thinks about it… you may both be right.
Indeed, I wasn’t wearing Diorissimo, that was later in the day. These were taken before breakfast and I was wearing nothing but residues of the lavender water I had worn to bed.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
You must have some wonderful smelling bedsheets!
Oh Brie
I blush, because The Dandy is rather particular in that department… nothing but white cotton will do and I do scent them with linen water… though I also always apply perfume myself in preparation for bed.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
I think some of the older Annick Gotuals would suit some of those photos, if you can still find them: Eau de Camille for a green, brambly, hollow. And maybe Grand Amour in Chamade’s group. Eau de Ciel might fit somewhere.
Dearest Lily
I think you’re right.
You know, I am forever forgetting Annick, not for any good reason (apart from perhaps a little lack of constancy in their back catalogue).
I will go hunt again this week.
Foravril too I think might fit in here somewhere too.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Great pictures! Thank you for sharing them and your mood. As always, I’m not good at matching perfumes to anything 🙂 But I will be curious to see your matches.
I wonder what are those red flowers in front on the “Magnolias” picture?
Dearest Undina
Why thank you!
I do hope at least some of my matches will excite some interest…
Those red blooms are quite brilliant aren’t they? Our Royal Parks are entirely unlabelled and yet wonderfully well stocked, so on occasion I am left stumped at to what a flower or planyt might be.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Those are rhododendron flowers, but I’m afraid I can’t identify the species and variety from the picture.
Dearest Mr Bartlett
Why thank you!
I should love to have a companion for a walk one day who was well versed in all things botanical.
I do hope I have identified the magnolia in the background just coming into bud correctly…
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Oh yes indeed those are magnolia flowers opening – Magnolia Ă— soulangeana – I’m fairly sure.
I’m im London later in May and would be delighted to take a walk in one of the parks with you: St James’s is particularly lovely in the Spring I think.
Dearest Chris
That would be splendid… and yes St James’s is divine this time of year (and may well feature here).
I do hope we can hook up before The dandy packs his bags and heads across The Pond to the New World for a few weeks…
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
I’ve popped you an email with details . . .