Bees and Butterflies: A Fragrant Fable Ikiryō

After testing several compositions from the brand Ikiryō, I would almost call them thematic fragrances.
Stories have been transformed into scents and brought to life.
This is also true for “Bees and Butterflies: A fragrant fable”.

In the fable “Bee and Butterfly”, Judith Weinshall Widerman narrates the encounter of a butterfly with a busy bee.
While the very vain butterfly flits eagerly from flower to flower only to be admired for its beauty, the diligent bee works hard and prepares; it has no time to pose, and the butterfly's mockery regarding its industriousness simply bounces off:
What does this vain, albeit beautifully painted, creature, who just sits in the way everywhere, actually want from her: She has work to do!

Ikiryō's “Bees and Butterflies: A fragrant Fable” translates this little story into scent.
While butterflies only seek flowers where they can showcase their beauty, our bees have a different perspective on the rich splendor of spring and summer.
They start early in the year, visiting the porcelain-like floral beauties of magnolias before their honey-making service peaks in summer.
Magnificent summer flowers, sun worshippers, and now ripe with plump heads await them:
Jasmine's large, single flowers with their white-edged golden faces, whose related bushes on which “jasmine clusters sway, as important as the rustling of an entire forest” (Max Dauthendey: Würzburg) kindly offer them space and the nectar of their white five-petaled flowers.
They know: The busy bees still have much to do, rarely lingering longer than the necessary moment.
For there are other summer beauties waiting for them, such as honey-scented honeysuckle; not without reason called Honeysuckle, they rejoice at this visit.
While the little worker bees visit their chosen flowers, the handsome butterfly wonders: “How can one be so foolish!” and begins to mock them.

And yet, the content of the bottle of “Bees and Butterflies: A fragrant Fable”, which smells of ripe summer, only points to the busy bee:
Thick golden honey with the aromas of spring magnolias and summer jasmine, radiant white, lush, and sensual; with ripe, juicy, and sweet peaches in their plump velvet skins and abundantly blooming honeysuckle vines, it prepares the skin for a magnificently fragrant summer.
As the scent develops, warm, rich vanilla joins in, spiced with labdanum.
This oily, aromatic resin, which the leaves and branches of the native rockroses “sweat out” under sunlight, fits perfectly as an accompaniment to summer floral scent compositions.
The story of how shepherds drive their goats through the bushes to ensure the resin sticks to their fur and can thus be more easily “harvested” is an old tale that is often told. But we do not encounter their hair in the scent, only oily spice.

“Bees and Butterflies: A fragrant Fable” tells a summer fable, in which the butterfly, the vain show-off, remains mere decoration, while as a tribute to the busy bees and to round off this scent composition, the rich aroma of fine beeswax is added:
Thus, this Ikiryō fragrance is masterfully concluded, and its splendor is enclosed:
Enclosed in a scent capsule of honey and beeswax.

Here, I find a bright and summery sunny creation from this brand, which, like the dark, possibly confusing scent figures, also has a story to tell.
This time quite different from the two fragrance artworks I have already tested and discussed.
The moral of this fable once again shows how little value mere beauty has without noteworthy content.

And yet, the sillage and longevity of the brand remain impressive; they also give time here to engage with the complex scent development.
For this is not just a sequence of well-composed scent notes; this fragrance is once again a work of art, and to understand works of art, one should take their time and devote oneself to them more often.
Ikiryō considers this in all its creations and thus grants them extraordinary longevity and richness of scent notes.

I am being completely honest: This is the weakest fragrance creation of the three that I have tested from this brand; it lacks the special, the extraordinary.
However, flowers, butterflies, and bees are, in contrast to the deep scent darkness of “Othello” and the thoughts of “tormented souls”, already doomed to stand in the shadows.
Like these two, “Bees and Butterflies: A fragrant fable” is also more of an artistic fragrance, a transformation of words into scent, than a typical perfume; but it can also be worn quite well in a special mood.
Something homely, warm, and protective envelops for a while and shuts out everyday life:
This time capsule of honey-encased floral scent closes gently.

And by the way: No worries - the butterfly flits happily from flower to flower:
It has not understood the fable!

(After a first publication of my thoughts on this composition this morning, a revision became necessary.
So please do not be surprised if this text seems familiar.)