The first fragrance I tried from the Strangelove NYC line was Silence the Sea: I got lost and fell in love. Irreversibly.
I realized then that nomen est omen: yes, perfumes that the trio Gaynes-Laudamiel-Christensen offers ARE strange, and you might fall in love with all of them. It made perfect sense.
It so happened recently that I won a 15 ml Lost in Flowers bottle in an IG giveaway organized by Strangelove NYC, and this is my review!
Elisabeth Gaynes, the founder of the brand, and Helena Christensen, the creative director of the brand work closely with Master perfumer Christophe Laudamiel to create unique, top quality, challenging, and artisan perfumes: the amount of naturals used is high, so give them your patience and enjoy your journey! One element unites them all, and that’s the use of oud as a signature element.
The newest addition to the collection is Fall Into Stars, and the other 4 perfumes are Dead of Night, Melt My Heart, Silence the Sea, and Lost in Flowers.
Shapeshifters…they are, and the way oud is used can only make you appreciate its role in a perfume.
“lostinflowers evokes the thrill of new love, capturing that electric moment of discovery when two destined wanderers finally collide: lost in time, lost in romance, lostinflowers. “
Lost in Flowers is a strange creature indeed…nothing is as it’s supposed to be, nothing is as you would expect it to be, suppose it might be like, yet everything makes perfect sense and just IS. And it is wonderful!
This perfume is an oddity, a twist in my sobriety, a double loop Rittberger figure-skating performance of immensely strong florals gliding upon a myriad of petals, all hovering with ease above a smooth metallic surface that’s covering up something decaying, a peek into a parallel, deep and alluring parallel Universe with notes of oud spreading around its alien tentacles that lift the whole composition above and below the floral paradigm, moving it in the direction of vintage flower bouquets, and never letting it sink into ordinariness.
Strange…and I hear Grace Jones singing lyrics of a tango somewhere late at night in Paris, I see images of Greek flower goddesses and a myriad of nymphs and satyrs running around idyllic imaginary forests, shedding flower petals behind them in a trance, leaving me addicted to that garden of twisted and distorted, yet heavenly – indolic provenance.
The best part is that this garden really exists, it IS real – on my skin. It moves, it breathes, it is alive… I’ve known and smelt, yet never seen these flowers unfold before me like this, and now I’m lost in them.
Strange…and one of the most original floral-themed niche fragrances I’ve come across!
If you feel more comfortable with a description involving perceived notes, Lost in Flowers is an opulent floral fragrance so smoothly blended that you cannot easily discern individual ones, and as it develops on your skin you can experience layers and layers of intoxicating and heartbreakingly romantic floral episodes – with a twist of metallic tones and decaying innocence surfacing later, so sultry and vulnerably erotic.
Do not expect an attempt to create a grand white-floral perfume, especially if you shy away from most of them (like Iike me). Expect perfume as an art form – on your skin.
The key material used in Lost in Flowers is Indian Champaca, a dense and potent ingredient that’s surrounded by intense white flowers, giving it an overall feeling of being transported right into a secret botanical garden with gardenias, jasmine, and unknown flowers in full bloom. And as these flowers bloom innocently, the presence of oud adds a new dimension and yet it is so smooth, musky, and velvety in the drydown.
Notes (as officially listed by the brand): jasmine, Indian champaca, gardenia, saffron, oud.
Lost in flowers is available on the Strangelove NYC website as perfume and perfume oil. Do test before you buy!
Note to myself: this is your next birthday present, from you to yourself:
The Plum Girl
Elena Cvjetkovic
Photos: Elena Cvjetkovic, strangelove NYC
I won a 15 ml Lost in flowers bottle in an IG giveaway organized by Strangelove NYC, for which I’m grateful. Opinions are – as always – are of my own.
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