As many wonderful and captivating scents as there are in the world, Jo Malone London has always tried just as hard to encapsulate them in a bottle so they can be ours to wear and whiff whenever we fancy. And as many scents as it has in its fragrance library, which is rumoured to verge on over 150 different ones, what sets the fragrance house apart from the rest is its use of organic singular scents to create an experience on the olfactory like no other.
In recent years, its marrying of floral and fruity scents to widen their versatility have become among its most popular, largely due the scents becoming more wearable for various occasion on any time of day. Case in point: The English Pear & Freesia, a ripe fruity journey on the nose that dances off into a crisp floral melody.
The much favourited cologne was first released as late as September 2010 but has since climbed the ranks to become one of the house’s most iconic.
Prior to it, the house had focused more on fruity scents, seen with the successes of Grapefruit, Wild Fig & Cassis and Lime Basil & Mandarin. The English Pear & Freesia was a breakthrough in being one of the first to marry fruity and floral – and at once speaking to fans of both scent profiles.
An Ode to Autumn
In creating the English Pear & Freesia, Jo Malone London Global Director of Fragrance Celine Roux was inspired by John Keats’ poem ‘To Autumn’. The poem published in 1820 sees Keats visualising the season of Autumn as a woman who is a “close bosom-friend of the maturing sun”.
To create the ripeness of the sun that is lush on the nose and crisp on the skin, Roux looked to the King William Pear – the quintessentially English fruit. Its trees were said to once line the streets of London, fragrancing the air all around with its sweet ripeness. So important is the scent profile in Jo Malone London’s fragrance arsenal that the fragrance house has since planted a whole orchard of it so as to never run out of the fruit’s sweet fragrance.
Softening the powerful juiciness of the pear is the freesia flower, a symbol of innocence of purity, with a scent as delicate to match. Together, fruit and flower make for an elegant, timeless cologne that is relevant anywhere in the world. It is classic, yet not old fashioned; versatile, yet not boring.
The true beauty of it, as anyone who has had a whiff will be able to testify, is its duality in clarity that makes it somewhat of a chameleon of scents. It transforms with whatever it is paired with.
Wear it with something fruity and its fruity notes are amplified; similarly, layer it with another floral scent and it its floral notes become more apparent.
This makes it extremely wearable through any season and occasion – perhaps even all year long. It is after all, one of the most timeless and freshest of Jo Malone London’s scents, well balanced with a pretty floral tail.
Beginning September 2021, there will be a re-release of a limited-edition Jo Malone London English Pear & Freesia collection, including a Limited-Edition Cologne 30ml, Limited-Edition Cologne 50ml, Limited-Edition Cologne 100ml, Limited-Edition Body & Hand Wash 500ml $340, Limited-Edition Home Candle, Cologne Collection and Layering Collection.
Log on to the official website here to learn more.
(Photos: Jo Malone London)