Beauty Bible Loves... Floris London Honey Oud Bodycare
Photo: © Jo Fairley – taken at Floris London’s perfumer’s organ, behind their Jermyn Street store
Oh, but these are lovely things to drizzle in your bath and anoint your body with, as the nights draw in. From Floris London – one of the most cherished heritage fragrance houses in the UK (nine generations, anyone?), they wrap you in honeyed warmth and a slightly smoky opulence.
Jo was able to explore these the other day at the sort of event which makes us feel incredibly lucky and privileged to do the job that we do. Hosted by Sarah Wyndham Lewis, of Bermondsey Street Bees, perfume writers were taken through a honey tasting of different varieties whose flavours ranged from floral to leathery, and some of which were like a fragrance in themselves.
Honey Oud is a fragrance launched by Floris London into their portfolio a couple of years back. Wonderfully cocooning, there’s a flash of bergamot to lighten the honey, while the heart is an opulent yet wearable blend of rose, oud and a touch of patchouli. Overall, it is amber-y, slightly sweet with vanilla, a touch of musk and some smoky labdanum, a fascinating resin that is something of a note du jour in perfumery right now.
Think there are lots of reasons to give yourself some perfumed TLC, layering on scented body treats. Of course, you are fragrancing yourself – and when scent is applied to the body, it is somehow time-released and you get little wafts of it as the day wears on. But also, fragrance itself loves to cling to oil. It dissipates fast from dehydrated skin.
NB The textures of these are wonderfully lavish – the Floris London Honey Oud Enriched Body Moisturiser is a particularly welcome formula for skin that’s about to be assaulted by central heating, featuring moisture-attracting glycerine, vitamin E and sweet almond oil, to leave skin velvety.
So: you can either layer on the Floris London Honey Oud scent itself, or be a bit of a mixologist and try something else over the top. Ambery scents would be our suggested go-to, but also vanilla-y or rosy or oud-y scents, because this is actually quite shareable.
It’s fun to play with scent combining. We’re sure Floris London won’t mind at all – and we’re certainly not about to report you to the ‘Perfume Police’.
Happy layering.
Floris London Honey Oud Bath & Shower Gel/£32 for 250ml – buy here
Floris London Honey Oud Enriched Body Moisturiser/£35 for 250ml – buy here
Floris London Honey Oud Eau de Parfum/£30 for 10ml – buy here
PS Jo also got to visit the astonishing Floris archives, with ledgers for this Royal Warrant-holding perfume house featuring orders from everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Winston Churchill. And she took the main photo for this feature at the perfumer’s ‘organ’, where their in-house perfumers create special, individual blends for customers. For more on bespoke fragrance creation, click here
