Eau de Parfum “It appears that the loss of the scent of Monkeyflower was first noticed in Britain in 1909, when a well-known nurseryman asked: 'Is there such a thing now as a common Musk with the old Musk perfume?” – THE LOST FRAGRANCE OF MUSK, letter published in the journal Nature, 1934 What a curious perfume Monkeyflower is, but one would expect nothing less from innovative Swedish perfume collective, Stora Skuggan. Each of their fragrances to date has been fascinating and beautiful, with carefully delineated structures and unique ingredients. In essence Monkeyflower is homage to a flower that mysteriously lost its scent. Coltsfoot, with its bright yellow flowers, was also known as Tussilago and often used in herbal concoctions, but under extreme caution due to dangerous alkaloids lurking in its innocent looking foliage. It had an earthy, meadow sweet muskiness with a dry herbaceous aura. An intriguing sunscreen note opens the perfume with the xanthous Coltsfoot, adding a warm creamy solar indolence to proceedings. These two notes set a moreish scene for further yellow sunny materials like buttercup, chamomile and the always strange Goldenberry or Physalis as it is more commonly named. The base is a field of hay, ready for harvest, gilded and tinged with an ephemeral tobacco leaf vibe. Monkeyflower on the skin is subtle but quietly sensational, a slowburn of musky desiccation laced with honey and smears of wild blossom pollen. There is a sense of nostalgia too, a hint of something lost, fitting for a perfume honouring a vanished aroma. Composition: Tussilago, Sunscreen Fig Buttercup, Chamomile Goldberry Musk, Hay inci list: alcohol denat., parfum, aqua, hydroxycitronellal, alpha-isomethyl ionone, limonene, benzyl salicylate, linalool, citronellol, eugenol, geraniol
