Synaesthesia is when information that is supposed to stimulate one of your senses ends up ‘speaking’ to you in different ways. Or, as the Scientific American puts it, “Synesthetes hear colors, feel sounds and taste shapes.” So maybe the number five might always feel ‘round’ to you;’ but the sound of rain tapping on a window is ‘blue’.
For perfumers, thinking in sound, colour or shape has often been a way of unlocking what is a highly abstract art form. After all, perfumes - like music - are made up of ‘notes.’ And when we started discussing that we’d like a really ‘green’ fragrance in our line up, we wondered how to describe that. And then we thought: we don’t need to. We can just brief some of our favourite perfumers to meditate on what ‘green’ smells like to them.
We narrowed our selection down to two truly standout scents - each quite different; each very ‘green’ and put them in a special Scent Edit so you can try them both, and vote for your favourite as part of our Beauty Pie ‘Insiders’ programme.
Labotanista 001 is understated, clean and elegantly herbaceous. It’s a little bit ‘intellectual’. It’s the ‘green’ that ferns look after a heavy rainshower - deep, but also glossy. It is neither fresh and cucumbery, nor bitter and earthy; it’s just a perfect leafy green, devoid of any accompanying floral sweetness or citrussy freshness. Just leafy, and a little bit mossy.
It feels natural and outdoorsy, but not in an old-fashioned ‘chocolate box’ kind of way; more like a hidden urban oasis - a sleek, modern kind of ‘green’ that’s a little bit unexpected, too. As it dries down, it gets hazier. If it were a painting, it would be a watercolour, a whole spectrum of deep leafy greens melding into one.
Top Notes
Tomato Leaves & Essential Oils of Shiso, Hops & Buchu Leaves
Heart Notes
Oakwood, Rosemary & Geranium Essential Oils
Base Notes
Papyrus & Patchouli Essential Oils & Moss
Labotanista 002 is a different story. It’s watery-bright, not sunny exactly, but absolutely wide-awake, like an early spring morning. It’s a green so fresh it almost fizzes, and never quite seems to settle - instead, it’s mercurial, constantly shape-shifting; like the riot of greens you’d see in a flower market.
At the centre, though, it’s shot through with a Hyacinth note that gives the whole thing serenity and poise. It’s a green you just have to look at, and it makes you happy. It smells of green, but also of optimism.
Top Notes
Eucalyptus & Bergamot Essential Oil
Heart Notes
Hyacinth & Galbanum Essential Oil
Base Notes
Cedarwood & Musk
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