arcana the darling buds

The fresh essence of the darling buds of May. Baby cucumber, strawberry, petitgrain, grapefruit, pomegranate, basil, and a splash of pink rosewater.

What better perfume to review on the first of May than Arcana's The Darling Buds?

In the bottle, The Darling Buds smells like strawberry, grapefruit, and cucumber. It's sweet, fresh, and very Springy. On skin it's less sweet and the basil, cucumber, and petitgrain are the most prominent notes - herby, green, woody and citrusy, a bit watery. The fruity pink notes of strawberry, grapefruit, pomegranate, and rosewater are almost undetectable, just providing a faint sweetness in the background.

I really love this one, and it's pretty much the definition of a Spring scent for me. It's funny, because while searching around for an image to convey this scent, the first thing that came to mind was some of the visuals from the show Pushing Daisies, which if you haven't seen you should watch immediately. In addition to being a wonderful story and well acted and all that, the visuals are just stunning. It's one of the most attractive shows I've ever seen and I will forever cherish my DVDs. So I don't know why exactly, but to me The Darling Buds smells like Pushing Daisies looks.

Pretty! Also, Lee Pace and his eyebrows. Be still my loins.

Would I buy it again?  Yes! Absolutely yes. I love this and I know I'll be wearing it a lot this Spring.

Available from: Wherever Arcana oils are sold - The Rhinestone Housewife and The Soap Box Co among other places, or you can order direct from Julia using the contact info at Arcana Soaps. Eros was part of Arcana's Valentine's release, and is still available as of this posting.