At this time of year, even Londoners feel the stirrings of the season. In the gardens there’s a riot of roses and you can be blown away by a blast of jasmine — and in the wild there’s the last of the bluebells, wild roses and honeysuckle. And so it feels the right time to echo the fragrance of spring and summer in our own scent; so here are some of the loveliest floral perfumes to add to your collection.
Bluebell, £135 for 100ml eau de toilette
This is a lovely simple floral. In fact, the clean sweet scent derives from hyacinth rather than bluebells, cut with citrus and underpinned with cloves. And the bottle is adorable. Be sure to also try Highgrove Bouquet (£175): the King’s garden in a bottle.
Buy now, Penhaligon
Lily of the Valley, Seasons of the Sun, £250 for 100ml eau de parfum
The flower itself is modest but the scent has great charm. This take on one of the best loved florals is sensual, with jasmine and magnolia cut with bergamot and blackcurrant leaf with a cedarwood and musk base. As ever with Aqua di Parma the bottle and cylindrical box, in black, is very chic.
Buy now, Selfridges
Caprifoglio, Santa Maria Novella, £125 for 100ml eau de cologne
Santa Maria Novella has heavenly colognes, as you’d expect from a house that began life as a Dominican pharmacy. There are lots of lovely florals, but this take on honeysuckle – actually, jasmine – is deliciously light and uplifting, with citrussy freshness. And don’t forget the brand’s oldest scent, Acqua della Regina, made for Catherine de Medici with lavender and neroli.
Buy now, Santa Maria Novella
Damask, Ormonde Jayne, £175 for 88ml eau de parfum
It can be difficult to find a rose scent that’s not too sweet and overpowering, but this is perfect: a take on the old fashioned damask rose which is light and intriguing rather than blowsy, underpinned with amber and musk. Delicious.
Buy now, Harrods
Diorella, Christian Dior, £114 for 100ml eau de toilette
This may sound like an outlier, but in fact honeysuckle is at the heart of this 1972 classic by Edmond Routnitska, with Sicilian lemon on top. A very, very classy summer fragrance.
Buy now, Dior
Aqua Allegoria, Guerlain, Nerolia Vetiver, £118 for 125ml eau de toilette
This is an uplifting celebration of neroli from Naples - seductive orange blossom - here combined with woody vetiver. All the Aqua Allegoria sprays come in charming bottles with honeycomb gold shoulders.
Buy now, John Lewis
4711 Lilas, £26 for 100ml
4711 is a great, classic cologne, now 220 years old. The house has introduced floral versions of their original scent, including jasmine, rose and lilac. This is a fresh and inviting take on one of the headiest scents of summer, combined with rose, jasmine and musk, and like the original cologne, evanescent.
Buy now, 4711
Fortnum’s Lilas 1707, £115 for 100ml eau de parfum
Another lilac, and this is a lovely, intriguing take on quintessentially summer scent. It’s made in Grasse for Fortnum and Mason with a floral combination of iris, jasmine, orange blossom and tuberose, underpinned by sandalwood, violet, vanilla and musk. It’s sophisticated, not too sweet and, I’d say, good for both sexes. One of my favourites.
Buy now, Fortnum’s
