Meadow & Fir Phoenix Botanicals 2013

Gummy bear sweetness, dry flowers, hay, a hint of conifer. Huh? Thoughts are slowly sorting themselves out. Is perhaps a conifer honey meant? I express this conceptually quite generally, as the candy-like fruity sweetness doesn’t quite fit. In addition, there’s a bitter note that hints at something medicinal - myrrh?

I think from a distance of ‘The Holy Mountain’ by Apoteker Tepe or ‘Wald’ by Euphorium Brooklyn. Spontaneous associations that I can no longer verify, as the mentioned ones have long since moved on. But in any case, both had a cough syrup quality, which I fundamentally (not twin-like!) also find in ‘Meadow and Fir’.

Today, cough syrup becomes cough syrup syrup. This means: The sweetness pushes me away from the pharmacy, towards a shelf with over-the-counter medicines, which in turn transitions into the display with home remedies, where, for example, fennel honey is found. This serves merely as an image for me; it doesn’t smell of fennel here. I mean the presence of an intense sweetness surrounding a hopefully healing substance that is all glued together.

So: Conifer honey in the style of fennel honey. A few more modest plants from the herb corner can still join in. Linden is also fine, surprisingly distinct even, once traced back.

From late morning onwards, a retreat is generally in order, but fragments remain perceptible for a long time and manage to maintain their qualitative content in a typical natural scent way despite all the silence.

According to the description, the scent is supposed to remind one of a meadow near a forest. That would then be a rather cute-fantastical area. Rabbits blink at me with their long-lashed eyes before they sniff at sugary flowers and delightfully nibble away. A clumsy specimen gets a load of pollen in its face; its sneezing causes absurd laughter among the colony companions.

In the nearby forest, sweet sap runs down from firs and lindens in thick drops, which are caught mid-flight by happily smiling bees in cute little pots. A clumsy specimen gets a load of the sticky liquid on its head; its subsequent nosedive along with a crash landing generates absurd laughter among the swarm companions.

Everyone can probably imagine the accompanying music now. And this is just the corresponding smell.

Conclusion: Difficult. I quite like ‘Meadow and Fir’ despite the somewhat excessive sweetness. I simply appreciate the scents used per se. Others might find it much harder and probably declare it a room fragrance directly.

I thank Fluxit for the sample.