The Stone Princess~Perfume
A tisket, a tasket
Flowers in my basket
A Princess, a soon-to-be bride. Deeply in love with her handsome Prince, and equally entranced by the flowers that bloom in the old castle garden. Oh how she loved the gardens. She could easily spend all day roaming endlessly through the acres and acres of rolling blossomed meadows, perfectly kept gardens, old growth flower beds, and fields of wildflowers, if it wasn't for her Princess duties. She loved to get lost in the hills covered in lily of the valley and violets, roses galore to explore, fields of lavender and mint, arbors covered in honeysuckle, jasmine vining around and along the old stone walls, lilacs with more flowers than leaves, peonies just outside the shade of the trees, daffodils and hyacinths all in a row, and all of the flowers in between. Romance and adventure. Magnificent sunrises, and magical shadows cast across the gardens as the sun sets, and dusk lays it's sleepy fog over the castle grounds. A garden made of fairytale endings. But this princess bride gained more than she had bargained for in this Fairytale Garden.
The story begins with the princess, in high spirits for her upcoming wedding, she is exploring parts of the garden she's never seen, looking for precious or rarely seen flowers for her wedding arrangements and bouquets. On one of the loveliest days so far that year, the princess and her charming fiance are wandering the gardens, breathing in the hypnotic scent of perfume flowers, and the narcotic breathe of the tropical blossoms. They stumble upon a hedge, a thick shrub of elderflowers in full bloom, and while burying their noses in the plumes of flowers, they happen upon a small area of the hedge that is slightly bare, and visible is the corner of an old wooden door, and a wrought iron hinge peeking through.
Nothing less than excited they push themselves through the thick hedge, and find themselves standing in front of a huge wooden door, covered in ivy and moss, flanked by what seems to be a never ending old stone wall. The prince begins to look for a handle under the old growth vines, and finds a latch and a ring. The old iron latch finally gives after a bit of tinkering, and the prince slowly pulls back the door. The princess steps forward to enter, but the prince stops her in a protective manner, and steps forward to be sure it is safe. He motions her inside and they look around in amazement.
An overgrown garden, with fragrant flowers and twisting vines. Carpets of flowers, patches of prolific blooms, an array of never ending blossoms amongst an overgrowth of flowering herbals and trees. A slow, calm river flows and weaves through the garden.
They follow the stream, and as they climb upwards they can hear the sound of gushing water. They come to a waterfall emptying into a crystal clear lake, and in the center a small island, mostly wooded with trees from what they can see.
The sun high in the sky now, and beating down upon them, warrants a swim in the crystal clear water. They disrobe to their under garments and enter the cool, clear blue water. After swimming out just a bit from the shore, from the water they spot a row boat tied to a dock, and swim over to the tiny water beaten wooden vessel. They climb in and begin rowing to the island in the center of the lake, it's aura seemingly drawing them in. Once at the island, the prince pulls the boat ashore on the short sandy, rocky beach, and they make their way into the forest that seems to be exploding off of the island. Under a thick, lush canopy of trees, which doesn't seem to stop fragrant flowers growing everywhere, the princess grabs the princes arm as an unsettling feeling washes over her. She feels like they shouldn't be here, but doesn't express these reservations, as her curiosity takes over, and the mysterious adventure continues.
Moss covered boulders, ferns and mushrooms, the forest floor carpeted with pine needles between the array of flowers, plants and trees, create a labrynth, a maze of sorts, a natural path through this strange forest.
As they venture deeper into the forest, their excitement turns to fear. A feeling of dread takes over, as the air seems to become thicker with a fine mist, but still they continue on until they reach an area enclosed with more stone walls and a door. The design is quite similar to the first secret garden they entered, but the door has a symbol the princess has seen before. It adorns the coat of arms her royal family bares, a flower unknown to her, skewed with a stone dagger. The prince presses lightly on the door, and it swings open as if an unseen force had opened it for them. They enter hesitantly, and find an overgrown stone path before them. The prince peers around nervously, looking for traps and tricks. The trail looks untouched for ages. They continue on as if they are being pulled magnetically down the path. As they travel down the path, they notice there are no longer any flowers, just overgrown brush and trees. The stone pathway disappears, and a green, vegetal path winding through the forest continues within the walled off area. As they charge deeper into the overgrowth of plants and ferns, they begin to see beautiful stone statues of people that appear to be smelling a flower that is not there. So odd and out of place. Where did they come from?
They soon reach a clearing, and before them, the most beautiful flowers they'd ever laid eyes on, with a fragrance so lovely it seems to draws them in. The princess immediately realizes it's the same flower on the door, and on her family's coat of arms. The Princess lights up with joy, smiling wide, the perfect flower to adorn her wedding arrangements and bouquets! A magnificent flower it is, glowing a sheer blue that is almost purple. Petals as soft as a rose, it's shape like a hybrid between a lucious, fleshy tuberose and a fully petalled gardenia, the stamens as golden as the sun covered in a gilded dust. She steps closer, and the prince gently pulls her back, sensing danger. But the princess determined, escapes his grasp, and continues closer to breathe in the divine scent, and take in the magnetic appearance of the flowers. The prince calls out for her to stop, and she knows he is right, but argues with herself in her mind, what harm could this irresistible flower cause? She buries her nose between the petals and draws in deeply, and like a gush of wind rolling down her body, she turns to cool, slick stone. The prince watches in disbelief as his one and only love is lost to the quest for the perfect flower.
Frantically he looks around for hope. But nothing tells of any way on how to reverse this curse. He harnesses his emotions and his racing thoughts, and he begins to remember his mother telling him fairytales as young boy, curses can be undone with true loves kiss. With no other options, he presses his warm lips against the cold stone lips of the princess. He slowly opens his eyes to find that nothing has changed. He begins to weep, his tears rolling down the statue of his love. And as they make their way down the statue, the princess begins to glow, and the cold stone shatters, revealing the princess, warm flesh, blood and bone, alive and breathing. They embrace, the emotion too much for them both, they collapse into each other's arms. They gain their composure and flee the garden, determined to never return again.
The Perfume.......
Journey through the Princesses Fairytale Garden with my enfleurage that was laid with a multitude of flowers throughout the growing season; First the sweet lull of angel musk jasmine kissed upon the enfleurage, then the Miss Kim Lilacs, kept on their stems to prolong their life upon the enfleurage, lent their magical fragrance to the pomade. Every Peony that bloomed from the precious old growth peonies given to me by my mother, graced the surface of this enfleurage, and their fragrance is most noted. As soon as I'd lifted the last peony blossom from the enfleurage, the honeysuckle began to bloom prolifically, and I laid them onto the enfleurage. Next came the roses, and they permeated the enfleurage with their pure romance. Finally, I decided to lay the enfleurage with gardenia flowers, to add a honeyed floral that balances the powdery scent of the other flowers. All of the Fairytale Garden Perfume flowers dancing together.
Once the enfleurage pomade was saturated with fragrance, I extracted it via organic, food grade alcohol, blended it with a tincture of orris root, and evaporated the alcohol to create an extrait for use in an oil base.
Like the princes' tears that roll down the cool stone statue of the princess, I composed a wet stone accord of; lichen absolute created from resinous Oakmoss and Cedarmoss, harvested from our forest, dried and extracted to create an absolute. My handcrafted Cedarwood Absolute, Rose Geranium, Oak Leaf Geranium, and Ghost Pipe Flower Absolutes, present a fragrance that matches the cool green tone of rain, and the brisk burst adds the perfect note to the accord, chilling the sweet powdery notes of the florals.
This is a perfume that will transports you to the Stone Princesses Fairytale Garden, just after the rain. When first applied, it seems so very soft and whispy. The whimsical floral notes begin to get stronger as your body temperature allows the creamy solid perfume to melt into your skin. The perfume is like a story, each note, a different page, a different flower emerging from the enfleurage base. And then, as if you are in the garden, the sun warming the flowers and helping them perfume the air, has now disappeared behind smokey gray clouds, a gentle, warm summer rain begins to sprinkle your skin, and the thunder roars. The rain beats down on the earth, the stone, the garden. And then, as quickly as it appeared, the storm rolls out, and the sun beams down it's rays. The earth begins to warm again, and a hazy mist begins to rise, the vapors carrying the scent of pollen, petals, fossils, stone, soil, and clay. The scent of the enfleuraged flowers, never disappears, but is balanced in perfect harmony with the wet stone accord. The sweet scent of pine, fern, and moss weaving through the blooming floral fragrance. Within the melange I smell the recently cooled air, reminding me of the scent radiating off the old colonial granite stone walls that line our property, and the clay and soil of the earth perfuming the air. A clean, vegetal freshness that can only be experienced after the rain.
I imagine this is how the Princess smelled after running through the forest, brushing against and basking in fragrant flowers, turning to stone, and then a rejoining of spiritual to physical, the sweet musk of skin. I can see the Stone Princess and the Prince playfully chasing each other through the garden, young love, true love. A Fairytale Garden captured in a bottle. The many flowers extracted together, forming a whole new fragrance, sweet, powdery, pollen musk, a distinct dew tipped white flower fragrance, like the unknown flower the Princess discovered. A melange of all the best perfume flowers coming together to create a pure floral ambrosia, sweet, powdery, alluring, and irresistible.