"Here’s your sweet lavender, sixteen sprigs a penny...

franky242

...that you’ll find my ladies will smell as sweet as any." Lavender Sellers’s Cry, London England CA 1900

Welcome to another installment of my becoming-slightly-more-regular-blogs about some of the more unusual essential oils I'm using in my perfumes these days! Now, I know what you're thinking: lavender isn't weird or unusual. In fact, it's probably one of the most commonly used essential oils around. And rightly so; it's good for everything - insomnia, insect bites, minor burns, sunburn, menstrual cramps, anxiety...The list goes on. If there's one product I insist on having in the bathroom cabinet at home, it's a bottle of lavender essential oil.

So it's not unusual, right? It's not zanthoxylum or ruby gromwell (don't worry, I'll get to those). It's just lavender.

But there are so many different varieties of lavender, and when it comes to perfume-making, those variations can make a huge difference to a scent. I'm a long-time lavender lover so I've been slowly collecting different types of oil since I started this whole wacky perfume journey. So let me tell you a little about my current crop...

French Lavender

This is a Mediterranean variety with that classic herbaceous scent people tend to associate with lavender. To me, there's a briney tint to lavender and I notice that especially with this variant. I love that, because I love the sea and anything that reminds me of it makes me happy. But it makes me understand why some people don't like lavender - it's a strong, lingering scent and it's not as mellow or sweet as other floral oils. It is extremely versatile, blending well with everything from rose to clary sage (take Black Agnes as an example), and lending something different to every blend. If you visit my shop and see simply "lavender" listed in a perfume, I always mean French lavender.

Honey Lavender Absolute

Another French-origin material, but very different to your standard French lavender. Honey lavender absolute is produced from honey taken from hives planted near lavender fields, resulting in a syrupy honey absolute with a beautiful lavender tang. It's mellow, golden, and ever-so-slightly foodie. To me it's a pure autumnal scent and works perfectly with woodsy oils. This is one of those materials I just want to shove in everyone's faces and make them smell it, but the thick viscosity of the absolute means it's a little tricky to work with, which is probably the only reason there aren't a million honey lavender-based perfumes in the shop right now...There is September Bride, however, which showcases it perfectly, mixing it with gentle notes of hay and peach, amongst others. This is definitely an oil to convince doubters that lavender isn't just for old ladies.

Bulgarian Lavender

More floral and fresh than French lavender, this just feels like a luxury oil. Bulgaria is actually the world's biggest lavender producer - the climate and soil conditions just lend themselves perfectly to good growth for the plant. Like French lavender, Bulgarian lends itself to most perfume combinations you can imagine, and I've got a couple of works-in-progress that involve chocolate, apple blossom, and water, among other things. At the moment you can find it in Vespertine.

Sweetie Dalmation Lavender

This is a new one for me and, according to some sources, not a true lavender plant but a hybrid. It grows along the Dalmation coast and, "true" or not, it's beautiful! Lavender oils can have a slightly camphorous edge, which is definitely not present here. It's all uplifting, sunny, sweet and intense. I haven't got round to trying it in a perfume yet (that's how new it is to my), but I had to snap it up when it became available and I really think it will offer a different dimension to lavender-based blends, as it leans away from herbal. I can see it going really well with citrus oils, grapefruit especially.

I'm really just scratching the surface here too - there are numerous varieties of lavender essential oil available - Kashmir, Russian, English, Stoechas, spike...Personally I can't get enough of the stuff, so you can probably expect to see all these varieties appear in my perfume catalogue at some point. So no, it's not that weird, but it's definitely interesting and I hope, if you're not already a fan, you might be tempted to try some lavender perfumes in the future.

And if not, maybe some lavender chocolate truffles instead?

Evgeni Dinev