what bodies of water wear
looking for a perfume that smells like hydrangeas
november 2025
november 2025
in the context of me letting my hydrangea die,
i have been on a quest to
1) make it live again next spring and
2) find what hydrangeas smell like.
i never even attempted to smell oneand now feel a kind of nostalgia about never being able to smell my one.
i have been on a quest to
1) make it live again next spring and
2) find what hydrangeas smell like.
i never even attempted to smell oneand now feel a kind of nostalgia about never being able to smell my one.
so i decided to do what i do best and wander around department shops, researching and smelling things to figure out what it could smell like.
i know how stupid this sounds, but i haven’t seen any hydrangeas lately, so i went to my smell-crazy friend madeleine and we did a fragrantica distalization.
hydrangeas are made of:
acid
aluminium
fertile flowers
sepals
i just realised i did see some hydrangeas on marylebone high street at the beginning of fall that i should have smelled. it was a dark one
too. exactly how i imagine i’d want to smell.
floral, sweet, baby-ish cologne type smell with a disturbing twist.
baby cologne with tobacco undertones, carrie bradshaw speaking with
big ex-wife about a children’s book with magic cigarettes.
penhaligon has a perfume that fragrantica suggested,
and i know creed´s eladaria could also work, but i don’t
know -
it’s too spring, too light.
it was missing raw aluminium, a january wedding, a sort of texture feeling to the floral. i’m still on a hunt, but i did smell non-perfumy stuff that combined could make the perfect hydrangea smell.
i read a substack some months ago about how someone learned how to smell by going to waitrose, and i couldn’t relate to that more as someone who loves to browse supermarkets. i especially love the ones inside
department shops. and funny enough, i found some food that smelled like part of hydrangeas:
lemon = acid
in clothing shops.
so hydrangeas are very linked to fashion,
at least in my brain. when i applied to fashion school,
i did a big piece about a missoni show looking like a hydrangea.
this is all to say: i’m open to recommendations of perfumes that smell like hydrangeas.
jacquemus lemons
acid
aluminium
fertile flowers
sepals
i just realised i did see some hydrangeas on marylebone high street at the beginning of fall that i should have smelled. it was a dark one
too. exactly how i imagine i’d want to smell.
floral, sweet, baby-ish cologne type smell with a disturbing twist.
baby cologne with tobacco undertones, carrie bradshaw speaking with
big ex-wife about a children’s book with magic cigarettes.
penhaligon has a perfume that fragrantica suggested,
and i know creed´s eladaria could also work, but i don’t
know -
it’s too spring, too light.
it was missing raw aluminium, a january wedding, a sort of texture feeling to the floral. i’m still on a hunt, but i did smell non-perfumy stuff that combined could make the perfect hydrangea smell.
i read a substack some months ago about how someone learned how to smell by going to waitrose, and i couldn’t relate to that more as someone who loves to browse supermarkets. i especially love the ones inside
department shops. and funny enough, i found some food that smelled like part of hydrangeas:
lemon = acid
in clothing shops.
so hydrangeas are very linked to fashion,
at least in my brain. when i applied to fashion school,
i did a big piece about a missoni show looking like a hydrangea.
this is all to say: i’m open to recommendations of perfumes that smell like hydrangeas.
jacquemus lemons
alexander mcqueen 2000s phones
beijing dumpling floral tea
(perfect place for a post window shopping meal)
(perfect place for a post window shopping meal)
coat i saw while smelling santa maria novella’s perfumes