Bootney Lee

Australian perfume company MetaScent has recently launched a trio of perfumes under its Hanadayori Collection. This is a collaboration between MetaScent and the Melbourne Ikebana Festival to celebrate this year's theme named Hanadayori: Ikebana by Request 2023. Hanadayori is a Japanese word that means the flowers you have been waiting for have bloomed.

I am flirting with the cool-spicy scent of Un Jardin Après la Mousson d'Hermès for the upcoming expected-to-be-really-hot summer, a fragrance which is neither salty nor oceanic, but which gives instead the limpid feeling of rain very convincingly; it's named after the monsoons in India, after all. The thought is refreshing, if considered from a distance; the reality of living through a monsoon is probably another matter.

After being disappointed with the L'Eau Collection, and even with some of Les Eaux de Politesse, I had absolutely no interest in Serge Lutens' new experiments. The Matin Lutens Collection was not something I wanted to try as soon as possible, because I didn't expect anything from them at all. But when I tried them I was suddenly captivated, although not as strongly as with those dense and complex fragrances for which I love Serge Lutens, however the Matins struck me with their beauty and depth.