Bee Here Now: Sweet honey perfumes are a feast for the senses

                               Honeybee illustration, © Roxana Villa

Honey is a prized delicacy for humans (and animals) all over the world. Wherever there are honeybees, there is honey in some form, and humans learned long ago that they could tame the honeybees’ wild urges and keep them  around by building cozy hives for them to live in and providing a reliable food source in the form of fields of flowering crops, and in return the bees provided enough extra honey for people to harvest without having to go out and look for wild bee colonies. This reduced hazards for both bees and people, and created a symbiotic relationship that gives both of them what they want. We get to harvest honey and beeswax and the bees get plentiful forage for their own needs and a safe place to live. It’s a win-win situation, and life is sweet. We have come to depend on bees so much during our long association that many of our favored food crops such as apples and cherries that will not bear fruit without the help of the bees are imperiled if the bee population suffers a collapse, as seems to be happening now, and bee specialists around the world are working feverishly to find the cause.

We brought bees into our lives and now we can’t seem to live without them. We eat their honey, make candles from beeswax and make cosmetic products with both, from soothing balms to moisturizing creams to soaps. Perfumers have made their elixirs with the bounty of natural ingredients available to them throughout all of recorded civilization, and in modern times they have also been able to capture the essence of honey in their creations. Honey lovers know that it can be light and delicate or dark and earthy, and perfumers also know that all honey is not created equal, and their scents reflect that; they are as varied as the honey itself, since each flower visited by a bee affects the flavor and color of the honey that results.

Have you ever eaten a robust, dark unfiltered raw honey made from buckwheat flowers? It’s a favorite of mine, and a perfume that celebrates this aspect of honey is Serge Lutens’ Miel de Bois. It is really strong, and it’s a love it or hate it scent, since many people find it too sweet and powerful. Of course I love it! It is made with ebony, gaiac, oak wood, honey, beeswax, iris, and hawthorn. Note that the hawthorn flower has a honey-like scent itself, and you have a honey overload overlaid with dark woods and the unctuous aroma of beeswax. This is the gold standard for honeyed perfume, and it’s magnificent. Serge Lutens makes several other perfumes with honey and beeswax, but this one is the queen bee, so to speak.

Much different in style is Botrytis by Ginestet, a perfume that is meant to evoke the intensity of sweet dessert wines of the late harvest style, when they have been touched by the Botrytis fungus, which shrivels the fruit on the vine and concentrates the sugar. Honey, candied fruits, quince, pain d’epice (a French specialty similar to a light gingerbread) and white flowers create a perfume that is similar to an orange blossom honey to my nose, lighter and fruitier than a dark buckwheat or unfiltered clover honey. This fragrance is a true delight, as it also has an aromatic grape-like quality, as if you are walking in the countryside on a crisp fall day and the breeze is bringing you the scent of fallen leaves and the slightly musky grapes as they ripen on the vine.

Another one I love is called simply Honey, by niche perfumer Ava Luxe, and that’s just what it is – it’s like wearing pure dark honey on your skin, with no other distractions. Ava Luxe also makes a scent called Madeline that has a distinct honey character. I love to wear that one in cold weather; it’s as comforting as a warm blanket in front of a fireplace. These would be excellent choices for people who prefer their fragrances based on more natural ingredients.

Another recent release, Africanimal by M.A.C. Cosmetics, is also honey-themed, enlivened with the spicy notes of pepper and woods. I have not yet tried this limited edition fragrance, but it sounds delicious.

Today’s column is part of "Bee Here Now",  a special collaboration among several members of the online perfume community who are also featuring bees, honey and honey perfumes, including all-natural products, led by artist and natural perfumer Roxana Villa, so please take time to check them out!

Roxana’s Illuminated Perfume
Scent Hive
Perfume Shrine
The Non-Blonde
Cleveland Fragrance Examiner

Serge Lutens perfumes are available online at Luckyscent and finer perfume shops, including Portland’s Perfume House, and Ginestet fragrances are also at Luckyscent. Find Ava Luxe perfumes online  and Africanimal at the M.A.C  Cosmetics  counters of major department stores.