Author Archives: Alan Ilagan

It was on this charming trip to New York last fall that I discovered the gorgeousness that is ‘Magnetic Wood’ by The Harmonist. I wasn’t even on the hunt for a new fragrance when I quite deliberately stepped into Bergdorf Goodman and found my way to their bustling fragrance counter. I was just seeking out confirmation that ‘Promise’ by Frederic Malle would be my holiday cologne, but the salesperson eyed me up and set up The Harmonist – a brand I hadn’t discovered until that moment. He sprayed some on a sample card and waved it in the air before presenting it to me. 

Immediately, I noticed the sweetness of mimosa and the freshness of something like bergamot or citrus, and my initial instinct was to politely back off. It was fall, and I was in the mood for something darker and spicier, and this was not it. I slipped the card into my pocket and went back on the ‘Promise’ prowl. Apparently he was pushing The Harmonist, so he showed me ‘Hypnotizing Fire’ but that wasn’t quite my jam, so I thanked him for his help and made my way back down Fifth Avenue. 

As I did so, I pulled the scented card out of my pocket and tried it again, knowing how perfume changes and evolves and becomes something quite different the longer it wears. I brought it to my nose and it felt like a rush of warm air suddenly broke through the cool fall air of October. ‘Spring’ it whispered, and the bright yellow blooms of mimosa filled my head with their sweetness. My introduction to the scent was from a bouquet that a friend had brought to another friend’s party – I kept smiling something delicious in the air, and circled about until I realized it was coming from the little yellow sprays of mimosa flowers. From that moment on, I loved the scent, even as it bordered on being too sweet for my decidedly drier tastes. 

That said, a little mimosa goes a long way, particularly when one is easy agitated by sweeter florals that border on cloying. The small bottle of Jo Malone’s ‘Mimosa & Cardamom’ I have on hand is almost all entirely still accounted for because I can only take it in small doses on those rare days when I’m feeling uncharacteristically soft and sweet. The card I suddenly couldn’t stop smelling was giving me a different vibe, and my nose was drawn back to it over and over again, haunted by its harmonious combination of the mimosa with something green and woody. At that moment, on some cold concrete corner of New York, I stopped and inhaled ‘Magnetic Wood’, and knew it to be my next spring fragrance.

It opens with those bergamot and green mandarin notes – fresh and crisp in the citrusy way that smells much too fine to last – and then the heart of mimosa and iris opens up into the main attraction. If you enjoy mimosa, this is a gift from the heavens for you. After that, it begins settling down into something with tinges of sandalwood and cedar – just enough to keep the sweetness from becoming sickly. I get a few aquatic waves from this too, which gives it some extra freshness and mellows the sweeter aspects. It’s a precariously fine balance, one which it manages to sustain in part by fading away right before it becomes too smug. Knowing when to pull back is the hat trick of the more challenging perfumes I’ve tried – and the mark of something that’s not going to annoy the wearer, especially in the warmer months.