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With the imminent launch of Jo Malone’s first Jo Loves boutique at 42 Elizabeth Street, London what a perfect time for the brand to launch three fresh, florally fabulous fragrances. The location of the new store is special as 42 Elizabeth Street was originally a flower shop where Jo worked as a girl, therefore this trio of scents are aptly part of ‘The Flower Shop Collection‘.
I’ll be reviewing the other two fragrances in good time, but where better to start than with the flagship fragrance of the collection, ‘No. 42 The Flower Shop’. For reference and to titillate, the other two fragrances are ‘A Shot ™ of Fresh Sweet Peas‘ and ‘A Shot ™ of Muguet & Cedar‘.
Jo recalls going to the Covent Garden Flower Market early each morning to return back to 42 Elizabeth Street with boxes of fresh flowers to sell in the store. She’d be surrounded by subtle scents of tuberose, chrysanthemum, freesias and roses interweaved among the smell of twine and brown paper.
The scent is a bouquet, quite literally, of top notes of crushed green leaves, mandarin juice, peonies; a warm heart of muguet, freesia, jasmine, narcisse and finally a base of iris, white musk, moss, patchouli.
No. 42 The Flower Shop isn’t a quintessentially male fragrance, but I’ve been wearing and enjoying it over the last few weeks. When you get to a certain level with fragrance, it doesn’t become a case of For Men and For Women as these are all just marketing tactics; it’s about what you love and what appeals to you. No. 42 The Flower Shop definitely appeals to me.
The top notes seem the most prominent, particularly the green leaves. It unsurprisingly reminds me of unwrapping and snipping the ends of a freshly bought flower arrangement – oh yes, even as a Northerner I’m partial to a bit of flower arranging.
The use of Narcisse (same family as the daffodil) peonies and patchouli make this a very British fragrance. It doesn’t waft, breeze or drift; it stands to ceremony, demanding etiquette and properness. Through the day to the evening, No. 42 The Flower Shop keeps calm and carries on.
Launching this Autumn, No. 42 The Flower Shop will be priced at £45 for 30ml and £95 for 100ml. For the rest of the fabulous Jo Loves collection (Orange Tulle is my favourite!) check out the Jo Loves website where you’ll find them all available to order. For more insight into the brand, be sure to check out my interview with Jo Malone from earlier this year.
I must also give a quick thanks to The Posy Bowl in Huddersfield for allowing me to use their store as my photo location for this piece.
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