Oh sweet Linden tree, how you so deceptively hide your green flowers among your foliage, emitting your delicious perfume in disguise while we all seek out what exotic and colorful bloom is the cause of such sweetness in the air! For many years, I half-heartedly sought out a linden tree fragrance, as cloying as it could sometimes be when a grove of them scented the warm air, but I never came across anything worthy of note until a recent weekend in NY.
After perusing the Creed line for a summer fragrance at Bergdorf Goodman (and getting nowhere) the perfume rep off-handedly pulled a bottle of Tilia by Marc-Antoine Barrois. Before smelling it, I wondered if it was related to the scientific name for the Linden tree of these parts (Tilia cordata or Tilia americana) and once the rep sprayed a little on a sample card, the scent of summer immediately filled the air. The universe sometimes has a way of rewarding those who are patient, and often when it’s least expected.
This is not entirely a natural linden fragrance – it carries a few synthetic aspects that may not fool some people into thinking it’s the real thing, but it’s certainly close enough, and has enough charm to kindle the elusive aura of almost-summer. A most tender perfume for this most tender time.
Layers of honeyed florals – linden, heliotrope, jasmine and broom ñ somehow don’t combine into something atrociously cloying, though this is a sweet floral, fit mostly for those who love the linden. It also tends to go quiet rather quickly, shyly retreating after its initial burst of summery sweetness – which is part of early summer’s charm, and welcome when the height of mid-day heat would render it a burden.
Still, there is a sparkling richness to this perfume, a creamy confection that shimmers in the summer sun, and shines in the summer rain.
