Gardenias, Chanel & Me

I adore gardenias, as you might have noticed. My heirloom plant is currently blooming and I’ve been giving flowers to the older ladies who sit across the street from my house and watch the neighbourhood. One of the things I love about gardenias, aside from their creamy white flowers, is their peppery scent. While I love the peonies I’ve been getting, I often find their scent to be cloyingly sweet. The gardenia is much more complex.

I received an e-mail from Chanel today, announcing their GARDÉNIA perfume, in which fresh gardenias and dewy greens combine for an intoxicating scent. and this is what they had to say about it:

Sweet and voluptuous, an intense fragrance of absolute femininity. Created by CHANEL Master Perfumer Ernest Beaux in 1925, GARDÉNIA is an olfactive ode to Mademoiselle Chanel's favorite flower. A vanilla base rises to meet a heart of sweet fruit and creamy gardenia petals, accented with coconut. Sending the scent aloft: the crisp greens of the flower's morning leaves.

At $200 for 6.8 oz. I think I will just enjoy the scent of my own gardenias.