Hummingbird – floral and gently sweet and woody

Photo: perfumeniche

The last time I was in Paris was in May. May is my favourite month to be in Paris. April in Paris is when spring begins, but by May, spring is in full-bloom: flowers are everywhere, their fragrance filling the air, the markets smell of herbs and young vegetables and the temperature is perfect for sitting outside at a café and taking it all in.

So here I am in the place where great perfumes are born and yet I’m wearing Hummingbird from Canadian niche line Zoologist Perfumes.

I had bought a bottle of Hummingbird with me as a gift for a friend from London whom I’m meeting up with here. She had read about it on the Zoologist Perfumes site and was intrigued by its description: “An insatiable desire for sweetness propels the hummingbird as it floats from flower to flower, sampling the nectar with a gentle touch of its delicate tongue. Retreating to its lichen and moss-lined nest, it settles into the cozy cocoon and dreams of sweet ambrosia.”

Hummingbirds are the smallest living bird species, weighing 2 to 20 grams. Small and active, they live on nectar with a high sugar content, and can visit 1,000-2,000 flowers in a single day.

Imagine the scent of the nectar from a thousand fragrant flowers in one place? That’s what I smell when I sniff Hummingbird on my skin.

It opens light and fruity with crisp apple, tart cherry, succulent plum and bright citrus notes. The fruit notes aren’t deep or bold but springtime tender. Then the flowers come along: lilac (a favourite note – I remember plucking the flowers as a child and sucking that one drop of sweet nectar from it), lily of the valley and rose (plush and lush it adds depth to the other flowers). The fruity/florals are tempered by metallic-tinged violet leaf, which gives it a fresh, spring-green border. As it blooms, it gets sweetened by honey, true-smelling, not saccharine sweet, before more flowers appear: I smell honey and jasmine-faceted honeysuckle – sweet, soft mimosa, fresh, rose-tinged peony, citrus-scented tulip and a note of rich, fruity-toned ylang-ylang. That ylang-ylang really adds oomph to the mix for me. At the base, the sweetness fades into clean wood notes (sandalwood and white woods) warmed by amber. I smell freshly mown hay (coumarin) and dry moss, and it calls to mind a bird’s nest that fell from an apple tree in our garden years ago. A note of cream gives the dry woods a richness they need while musk warms and smoothens the blend.

Hummingbird is the heady smell of a gorgeous garden in full bloom with a woody aromatic, drydown that sits close to the skin. It is perfectly balanced so that the sweetness never becomes cloying or dominating, but hums in the background.

My friend loved her bottle of Hummingbird. And why not? It never disappoints.

Check out Hummingbird in our Shop.