In Bloom

Spring is approaching and although it would be cliche to say that flowers are in this season, they are in, worn unignorably bold yet with restraint.

Valentino is especially good at this, featuring the flower on shoes and bags, interpreted creatively and construed in textiles or leather.

The theme continues with spring fragrance which is also all about the floral. It’s irresistibly fresh, it’s sweet yet versatile, and if it’s what you like then the Jo Malone counter is one of your first stops this spring.

“Floral is always right,” said Chris De Gery, Jo Malone Product Specialist at Nordstrom, San Jose. “It’s fresh, light, always young, especially the way Jo does them,” he said. “Even her Red Rose is a blend of seven different types of English roses, with just the right hint of lemon and a touch of spearmint to uplift the rose scent, so it is not a dry powdery rose, it’s a fresh fresh rose.”

Beauty Shall Save the World’s new favorite Jo Malone spring fragrance, inspired by the Japanese Kohdo incense-burning ceremony, is Lotus Blossom and Water Lily.

Camille Flaherty, Cosmetics and Fragrance Specialist at Saks Fifth Avenue, San Francisco describes the scent: “Lotus Blossom & Water Lily is a fresh, floral, aquatic with top notes of mandarin, grapefruit, and bergamot, a floral heart with honeysuckle, freesia, water lily and lotus and a base of warm woods, amber and incense.”

“The fragrance was designed to awaken the senses and energize the soul,” she said.

In the Japanese ritual from which it is inspired, incense and fragrant woods are burned morning and night. “The point is to see what emotions and thoughts are conjured via the power of scent,” said De Gery.

The concept of the deeply-reflective ceremony has given birth to the Lotus Blossom and Water Lily scent, which is a special edition and limited edition fragrance as part of the Kohdo Wood Collection, which includes the Dark Amber and Ginger Lily, a spicy oriental floral.

The Lotus Blossom and Water Lily smells great with citrus fragrances, Flaherty added, “like the Grapefruit. Or you can mix it with French Lime Blossom. Or Verbena de Provence makes it a little woodier. Beautiful.”