Moon Garden by Alexandra Balahoutis for Strange Invisible Perfumes 2006

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

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Post by Maya

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Hi APJ,

It’s become too cold for me. I love warm days and warm nights. I want a fragrance that makes me think of warmth and lovely places.

There is a waterfall in Hawaii that I love. It is not especially dramatic and I have seen others that are more beautiful, but I love it. It can be seen from very high up in a botanic garden and is in the jungle. I mentioned to a man in the garden how much I loved this waterfall.

Waterfall MayaPhoto taken by Maya

As my daughter and I were leaving, this man was at the exit gate – we were the last to leave – and he asked if I wanted to go to the falls. Of course I said yes. I discovered that he was the owner of the botanic garden and of the land the falls are on. He had closed off the area of the falls to the public and unless you knew where to go, you wouldn’t find them. He told me where to drive and where to park and told me to go to a stone wall, climb over it and walk the path to the falls. It was in the late afternoon when we walked this path. It was surrounded by jungle growth making it semi-dark. The light that did come through seemed to almost shimmer. It was a bit spooky, so quiet and so still. While walking, I was getting constant and delicate whiffs of pikake, Hawaiian jasmine.

Moon Garden by Strange Invisible Perfumes 2006

Moon Garden Strange Invisible Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Jasmine, tuberose, African resins

Moon Garden opens with an awful note of kerosene. It hits you with a blast and lasts a very long minute or two. I think it must be the African resins – definitely not pleasant. I’m not sure whether this scent will work for me. Then, thankfully, the kerosene starts to weaken for the next 5 minutes or so. It is during this time that the pikake jasmine appears, but the kerosene note still overwhelms it. The kerosene finally quiets down, still popping out here and there, but it’s become friendly with the pikake jasmine. After about 10 minutes, it’s all but gone and the beauty of the pikake jasmine can show itself. This pikake jasmine is not the ethereal, first opening of the blossom, nor is it the last stage of the bloom when the decay has started. Moon Garden is a clean, not soapy, pikake jasmine in full bloom, at it’s pinnacle and takes me to the path to the waterfall.

Starry SkyPhoto Stolen Danny Thompson  Flickr

I wish it lasted longer than 4 hours on me, but it’s worth it to reapply and go through the opening to get to it’s beauty. It stays close and wafts wonderfully around you.

Further reading: Perfume Posse and Deborah Lawson
Strange Invisible Perfumes has $160/50ml EdP and $255/7.5ml Parfum
Surrender To Chance starts at $4/.5ml EdP

Do you have fragrances that remind you of beautiful places and special times?

Mayaxx

11 thoughts on “Moon Garden by Alexandra Balahoutis for Strange Invisible Perfumes 2006”

  1. Scents seem to have the power to take you instantly to another place, many florals take me to Asia.
    I wonder if the kerosene note in Moon Garden is from solvent extraction of the jasmine…I have bought the absolute from various sources and always have to get over the beginning.

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    • Hi Jackie. Isn’t it lovely, the many things scents can do? As to the kerosene note – I really don’t know. I assumed it was the African resins in Moon Garden, but if you’ve noticed it in absolutes, perhaps it is the extraction. Now I’m really curious!

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  2. Hi Maya,
    I have many fragrances that remind me of special places and times. My favorite, Fidji, is one example. Another is L’Eau d’ Monteil. That one reminds me of the damp garden I loved so much as a child in Florida many years ago. By the way, where is the garden in your photo? I really like visiting a botanical garden near Hilo but this looks like a very different place.
    Azar xx

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  3. I remember going to see an old cathedral years ago. It was huge and reminded me of a castle. Inside the sunlight was shining through the stained glass windows at just the right angle and you could see the beams of colored light on the floor. There was the smell of incense in the air and a mix of fragrances of the ladies saying prayers and lighting candles. It was beautiful and peaceful. Heeley Cardinal reminds me of that.

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  4. Hey there Maya,
    I love this fragrance and have the parfum. I don’t get the kerosene start but it is a full on and fabulous journey. One day I am going to decant a couple of ml and spritz it, that should make it bloom even brighter.
    It’s a great summer scent too.
    Lovely post BTW and whenever I wear Shalimar it’s like my Mum and her friends are in the room with me.
    Portia xx

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