I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight…— A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Eva Luna was released in late June of this year, which was perfect timing since this fragrance was inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Indie brand Providence Perfume Co describes Eva Luna as “a spring green floral…a walk in a moonlit garden”; its composition includes top notes of Russian carrot, fresh mint leaf, French mimosa, and bois de rose; heart notes of tuberose, plumeria, rose de Mai, jasmine, and violet leaf; and base notes of Oman frankincense, ambrette, and orris.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies, a fantastic roundabout of characters falling in and out of love over the course of one moonlit night, in a plot driven by magic potions, mistaken identities, and plays-within-plays. The comedy’s setting, an enchanted forest inhabited by an assortment of fairies, is the perfect analogy for an all-natural perfume. As Angela recently wrote, natural fragrances do have an allure and romance all their own, and it’s always a pleasure to encounter a natural perfume that delivers on its promise.
Eva Luna opens with a decidedly vegetal phase: the violet leaf is a grassy green note, and the carrot’s stalks and leaves smell rootier and almost seed-y (seed-like, that is, not sleazy or dissolute!). All this earthy leafiness is dominant idea for the first half-hour or so. The later development of the composition surprises me a bit, partly because I notice the ambrette and orris before the tuberose and other white florals, rather than the other way around. The natural tuberose note is creamy and gentle, not dramatic in a Fracas-like way, and it emerges softly through the slight mossiness of the fragrance’s heart.
I enjoy this transformation from foliage to florals in Eva Luna. It feels like walking from a garden (a vegetable garden!) into a forest of moss-hung trees, and then encountering a single white (magical?) flower growing in a dusky clearing. Sometimes the rose note also makes a supporting appearance; at other times, I don’t detect it. Eva Luna has low sillage, but its staying power is above average for a botanical perfume: six hours after applying it, I can still find distinct traces of tuberose on my skin. It’s a nicely crafted fragrance and, thanks to its literary references, an apt reminder that all perfumes are temporary enchantments.
Providence Perfume Co Eva Luna Eau de Parfum is available in a 30 ml atomizer ($115) and a 6 ml travel atomizer ($26), via the Providence Perfume Co website; samples ($9) are also offered.
Note: image is Arthur Rackham’s A Fairy Song (from a 1908 edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream), via Wikimedia Commons.
10 Comments
Read more about commenting at Now Smell This.
Wasn’t there a whole series of Midsummer Night perfumes from the all-naturals lines? A lot of those sounded really appealing to me.
Yes, there was!
You’re right! I had too many other non-perfume things going on last summer, so I wasn’t too tuned in to that project at the time.
I adore Eva Luna. I often have a bit of difficulty with natural perfumes as they tend to have a bit of a skankiness to them. Such is not the case with Providence Perfumes (except of course for Indolice, but that’s sort of the point!). I am so impressed with the few PPs I’ve tried. I’m glad you’re enjoying it too
It’s a bit unusual and a bit sophisticated! I’m looking forward to trying others. I have a sample of Rose Boheme waiting for me to open it!
“Rose Boheme” is one of those rich, boozy rose blends with a sexy, patch undertone. The patchouli has a musky, damp suede quality to it, which is really unexpected. I think its lovely, but it’s definitely not a sheer or crisp scent — it’s heady and carnal.
I really love “Eva Luna”. I just love how varied and nuanced its vegetal notes are — as in, multiple vegetal notes. There isn’t just this vague, wash of green, as a neutral background to the florals, the greens seem special and isolated, like botanical drawings where each curl of a fern is detailed, where multiple green leaves and mosses contrast eachother and show variations in depth, texture and shades of green.
It’s also such an interesting take on tuberose because it reminds me of how perfumes with “exotic” floral notes would be brought to places where such notes were not naturally found, only grown in hothouses — like a tuberose in Shakespeare’s England or updated to the Victorian era, for the most recent film version of the play — and in “Eva Luna”, there is that kind of interesting combination of unexpected notes, which suggests domesticity, curation, in a “wild wood”, natural setting. It’s a very storytelling blend.
I completely agree with your thoughts on the tuberose… it’s such a delightful surprise, after “walking” through the garden/woods phases of the fragrance, because it’s a lovely contrast.
TOTALLY OFF SUBJECT, however you may find this interesting. There’s a great catalog – web site named Victorian Trading Co. based out of Kansas City. They have beautiful reproduction French perfume lable stickers item # STK17 200/$29.00 and PST17 8/$2.95. These would be lovely on the outside of your holiday envelopes. I have NO connections with this company; just a fan.
Oh, I used to get their catalog! Lovely stuff. A nice collection of sweet greeting cards for every occasion. I have more of an appreciation for the Victorian era now than I used to. As long as I’m not subjected to a close, crowded, entirely Victorian-decorated sitting room. I get very claustrophobic.
Oh, you remembered my remark that I was writing my Christmas/holiday cards! Thank you so much. I will certainly check this out.