Moon Bloom – full and opulent and realistic

Photo: perfumeniche

In the summertime, when it was too hot to sleep indoors, we kids were allowed to sleep outside. Sleeping bags and pillows were spread out on the back deck, flashlights were at hand, and we were good to go. Too excited to sleep, we’d lay on our backs, look up at the night sky and imagine what life on the Moon would be like. My sister thought it was full of Barbies, I thought the candy would be free, and my brother imagined fish could play hockey. Whatever it was, we’d end up giggling and laughing until we tired ourselves out and fell asleep.

As I grew older, I became captivated by the lore of the Moon, its role in history, art, and literature, and its effect on our physical lives: the ocean’s tides, the calendar, and night-blooming flowers like tuberose.

During its blooming cycle, tuberose flowers release a sweet, rich aroma at dusk to attract the nocturnal moths that pollinate them. This scent is so intoxicating that it has given tuberose a reputation for being narcotic and arousing. In the morning, the fragrance changes to a fresh, green, floral scent.

Despite its name, tuberose isn’t part of the rose family – it’s part of the Amaryllidaceae family of plants and is related to narcissus and jonquil. It’s a native of Central America but was brought to Europe by Conquistadors and, over time, was cultivated in Grasse, where tuberose absolute started to be produced.

I remember sitting out on moonlit nights in the south of France, under a summer sky full of twinkling stars set against a bleu nuit backdrop, a cool drink at my hand, and a soft breeze stirring the sweet, rich fragrance of tuberose my way. This was when my interest in night-blooming flowers became a love for tuberose-centric fragrances, leading me to Moon Bloom by Hiram Green.

Hiram Green is a self-taught Canadian niche perfumer based in the Netherlands who works exclusively with natural ingredients. In 2013, he launched his first fragrance, the highly acclaimed Moon Bloom.

Moon Bloom is one of those fragrances that doesn’t go through set stages. Instead, it reveals itself slowly over time. On me, it opens with a gentle green note before the sweet, floral tuberose comes forward. There is a moment where I get a whiff of its mentholated aspect, and that makes me like it more. As it warms on my skin, it gets lushly tropical – I smell coconut, jasmine and banana from ylang-ylang.  There’s a spiciness to it, too, a quality of pure tuberose absolute that adds depth to the fragrance. The base is rich, warm and resinous.

Moon Bloom dries down to a full, opulent, rich, and elegant fragrance and it is the most realistic tuberose scent I know and one of the best.

It’s so beautifully crafted that it sparks thoughts of tropical climates, hot nights, and sweet, sexy (furtive) encounters – ahh, the tuberose effect!

Check out Moon Bloom in our Shop.