This crisp, fresh floral is perfumer Sandrine Videault’s interpretation of the magnolia.
Travelling from France to Sydney to work with Saskia Havekes on this fragrance, Sandrine arrived at a hotel filled with magnificent magnolias saturating the room with their glorious scent – and so the magnolia fragrance journey began.
Sandrine worked to interpret Saskia’s perception of magnolias as a florist, describing the scent as “a symphony of chords”. Sadly, Sandrine passed away the same year that she created this masterpiece, leaving us one last parting gift.
This bright and effervescent fragrance paints a vignette of magnolias first thing in the morning as the sun rises, dew drops on their petals and leaves. A scent of joy and optimism of what the beautiful day ahead may bring.
NOTES
Top: Bergamot, Grapefruit, Pepper
Middle: Magnolia petal, Moss, Dry woody notes
Base: Marine accord, Musk
PERFUMER
Sandrine Videault
HOW IT WEARS
This fragrance opens with a bubbly, tart blast of grapefruit, enlivened by bergamot and pepper. As the fragrance settles, the pure magnolia blooms in the heart. Made more realistic by green, earthy moss but lifted by the marine accord, this scent is not ever too heavy, rather light like the scent of fresh magnolias caught by a sea breeze. This fragrance is an Eau de Parfum and the longevity with Grandiflora is generally about 6 – 8 hours, however we really get around 6 hours with this particular scent. Quite fresh and tart, this sits as quite a unique aquatic floral.
LORE LOVES
This is the first bloom of the Magnolia flower. Crisp morning sea air blows, and just as the sun is rising, the Magnolia bud slowly opens itself up to the world. We love how uplifting, crisp and green Sandrine is. It is the scent of new beginnings, even though it was sadly Sandrine’s final creation. But what a beautiful and sentimental gift to leave the world!
ABOUT THE BRAND
“I cannot do without flowers. They are my muse, my passion, my world.”
– Grandiflora founder, Saskia Havekes.
In 1995, Saskia opened her flower shop, Grandiflora, in Potts Point, Sydney. The name draws its inspiration from the Magnolia grandiflora, Saskia’s favourite flower. Magnolias have existed for tens of millions of years, making them representative of the immense beauty and power of nature. The Grandiflora fragrance collection is born from Saskia’s love for flowers and want to capture and distil the rarity of transient scented flowers. Complex, subtle and vivid, the enigma of these flowers has yielded six distinct and original fragrances.
Saskia’s first fragrance mission was to create an ode to her beloved Magnolia grandiflora. This resulted in the birth of Magnolia Grandiflora – Sandrine and Magnolia Grandiflora – Michel, the former inspired by a magnolia at the beginning of its life cycle, the latter at the end.
Then came Madagascan Jasmine, a fragrance with great subtlety and a spiritual integrity that captures the glory and intensity of the stunning white flower. Next was Boronia, an elegy to Australian native flowers, inspired by Saskia’s bush childhood. Using another “impossible” flower, Grandiflora then developed the mystical Queen of the Night, an homage to the enigmatic cactus flower that blooms only once a year in the heart of the night.
Finally, in celebration of 25 years of Grandiflora, Saskia launched her namesake fragrance. Saskia is an ambitious evocation; its layered beauty of contrasts reaches for both the scents and the sensibility of one of the world’s most intriguing little flower shops. This fragrance was the 2022 Art and Olfaction Awards winner for an Independent fragrance.
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