I planned to do this mini-project for the first week of July, a month a name of which, as we discovered, in several Slavic languages is connected to linden. But first it was my mini-vacation, then I was too busy, then something else came up. But I still did it!
I love linden, and I wouldn’t mind wearing perfumes with this prominent note for 7 days in a row or even longer but I didn’t have enough to cover the whole week.
From my two previous Single Note Exploration posts (Take 1 and Take 2) I found only three perfumes that I like, own and wear: my two absolute favorites Jo Malone French Lime Blossom and April Aromatics Under den Linden. I also wore Tauer Perfumes Zeta, which still didn’t smell like linden to my nose but since otherwise it’s a pleasant green perfume, I will finish the bottle eventually.
In addition to these three that I wore, I tested two more linden-centric perfumes.
One of the readers shared with me a sample of Frau Tonis Parfum No. 10 Linde Berlin. Until she mentioned it, I haven’t even heard of the brand. Notes for this perfume are not too complex: green notes, honey and linden. A couple of times when I tested it, it smelled a little too sweet while on other occasions I thought it was rather bitter and acidic, which I liked more. It is not my favorite linden perfume but had I traveled to Berlin, I would have picked up at least a travel bottle of it. Maybe one day I will.
Schone Linden 05 by Krigler (seriously, what is it with all these brands and numbers?!) got to me by pure chance: a friend who was shopping at the boutique managed to get this free (!) sample for me.
Do you know of this brand? I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for that friend who introduced me to the best lavender perfume I found so far – Lieber Gustav 14.
Schone Linden is a beautiful-beautiful perfume. Despite the name though, it is not a linden perfume. Rather it smells of the whole bouquet: camellia, carnation, gardenia, lilac, linden, tuberose and violet (additional two notes mentioned vanilla and musk). I would love to give it some more skin time but unfortunately my small sample is empty.
Despite my love to Lieber Gustav and some infatuation with Schone Linden, the brand irritates me: they keep spinning that BS about perfumes for royals and stars but for me it feels like they could take some lessons in sticking their pinky out (I won’t name names). Nowadays, at $365 for 100 ml and availability for online purchase, their perfumes are hardly that exclusive or special but they carry themselves as if they were. Their samples are $20-$31 for a single 2ml plastic vial (or $105-$165 for 5 x 2 ml). Not even redeemable against a full bottle purchase.
Krigler currently has 4 stores Worldwide with 2 more opening this Fall. One of them – in San Francisco, where I plan to visit it to try Schone Linden sprayed lavishly (I guess, should go for at least $5-worth spraying spree).
In my search, I discovered one more beautiful linden perfume, thanks to Asali (The Sounds of Scent). First she sent me a “blind sample” for testing. It smelled pleasant, I liked it. But what I liked about it probably even more was that not only I recognized several notes that actually were present in it – linden and mimosa, but I guessed the brand (it reminded me of Tiare Mimosa, which I didn’t know well but smelled earlier), which is not something ordinary for me and excites me every time it happens.
As it was revealed, the sample was of Guerlain Aroma Allegoria Aromaparfum Apaisant launched in 2002 but sadly discontinued long before I got to try it. Asali was very kind and shared with me a decant from her bottle. I used it up and liked so much that I kept rummaging through eBay listings until several years later I found a partial bottle.
Aroma Allegoria Aromaparfum Apaisant’s notes: freesia, wormwood, linden, mimosa, chamomile ylang-ylang and vanilla. If you look at this perfume’s entry on Fragrantica you’ll notice how “yellow” the scent description in notes pictures looks – and this is exactly how it smells! It is an uncomplicated and indeed soothing spring/summer perfume with an unusual longevity: applied in the morning, it stayed noticeable on me until the end of the work day (in an AC’d office though). It is not a masterpiece the loss of which we should lament but it is very pleasant to wear, and I could think of other perfumes that should have rather been on a chopping block.
Have you come across any good linden perfumes recently?
Images: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
Hi Undina, lovely to read your (Linden) post(s). I am in a Linden (Linde as the word is in my language, as in lindebloesem) period and bought Unter den Linden when Tanja had a discount offering some weeks ago. Beautiful soothing Linden. I had some April Aromatics samples of Liquid Dreams, and although it is not as soliflore a Lindenblossom perfume as Unter den Linden is, it has a lovely Linden note. I will buy a 15 ml spray, it is a beautiful Linden addition. My sister in law is a beekeeper and the honey she gathers is summer is all Linden, if only a perfume could be made of the scent of that honey!
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I bet that linden honey is heavenly! I don’t remember if I’ve ever had linden honey but blossom itself is something that I don’t think can be truly recreated in perfumes. But I’ll keep looking for it.
I tried Liquid Dreams and thought it was really nice but not different enough from Under den Linden to justify the purchase at its price: not because it’s not worth it but because I like UdL more.
A word of caution: I think these natural perfumes do not keep too good, so try not to hoard what you’ve got for longer than a couple of years.
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Yay, a new post!
I’m not that much into linden but the only perfumes that have this note as their key ingredient that I know are Tauer Zeta and April Aromatics Unter den Linden. Zeta however was too sharp on my skin.
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I suggest not to count Zeta as a linden scent :)
I’m positive that once you find good representation of this note, you’ll like it. Or maybe one day you’ll create one? :)
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I was looking for a linden perfume and thanks to your earlier posts I decided that JM’s French Lime Blossom would be just right and I managed to snag a bottle. I really like it, it’s perfect for wearing in the heatwave we’ve been experiencing.
As the name of our new house is inspired by two lime trees in the garden, I felt I “needed” to get a home fragrance to echo their scent and discovered Angela Flanders’ Lime Flowers in diffuser and hand soap; this is very pretty. I notice there is also a “Living Mist” for spraying the house and your body – I will see if I can get a sample for you!
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I’m not familiar with this brand but I’m open to trying almost anything linden.
Jo Malone so far is the best representation of this note for me, and I’m sad it got discontinued. But maybe an even better perfume will be created tomorrow?
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I didn’t care for JM French Lime Blossom, there is something in it that smells « masculine » like a men’s cologne to my nose. Tauer Zeta is my only linden scent, and it’s not a big love either.
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It’s interesting: I’m usually very sensitive to “masculine” vibe in perfumes since I prefer perfumes leaning feminine but French Lime Blossom doesn’t give me that feeling.
I had such high hopes for Zeta but it seems that Andy works much better with roses. Oh, well.
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French Lime Blossom is the only linden I know and own. Am boarding the last 2 ml of my 100 ml bottle.
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Let’s hope someone comes up with a new great linden perfume, and we’ll all love it :)
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Nice to hear from you again, Undina! Wow, those Krieger sample prices are a bit crazy! Way out of my buget, at least. I was wondering, didn’t you mention previously you liked the Daphne Antica Farmacista scent? I have never smelled linden or daphne “in the wild”. Can you describe the difference? I get the impression they are both white floral/green. Is that correct?
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It’s nice to be back: I missed my blog. I’ll try not to disappear for too long but we’ll see how it goes.
I don’t think either Daphne or Linden might be characterized as white florals. If anything, they both are rather green/yellow with strong lemon-y component. It’s interesting, I was just thinking about both blossoms recently but have never tried them side by side – I should try them in parallel in the next couple of days.
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I love Onder de Linde by Baruti. A very unusual linden scent with lots of creaminess. It seems to be quite a polarizing scent (based on Fragrantica reviews) but I love the bright linden at the start and how it dries down with a soft creamy woody sandalwood. Definitely worth a test.
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That sounds very interesting! I see that a couple of stores have samples for this perfume, so I might be tempted – thanks for the suggestion.
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Hey there Undina,
Late to the party as always.
Linden has never been a huge love of mine, I have tried a couple but they don’t really sing on me. One day a linden fragrance will grab me by the nose hopefully.
I do love the idea of doing weeks that have themes though, it makes me pull out things that often sit unloved and forlorn.
Portia xx
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You’re never late: party is where you are! ;)
I’ve been chronically busy recently, so doing an in advance planning based on the note or any other approach works really well for me taking away the necessity to decide what to wear every day.
If you come across any linden perfume that you like, let me know.
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I have not come across linden perfumes, Undina, but will look out for them in the future. Enjoyed your comments about the numbers and royals. Ha! Ha!
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Thank you, Richard.
I wonder: do you have linden trees where you live?
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Hello Undina, I am going to have to do more research on this one. Certainly, not in abundance. And I’ve never heard anyone mention linden trees. The next time I am at a nursery I will have to ask some questions.
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If you ever plan a trip to Europe, you should do it in June: Paris, London, Vienna and Berlin are definitely places where you can smell linden blossom at that time. Most likely, there are more places, these are just those that come to mind first.
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Thanks for the travel tip, Undina.
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I like themed weeks. I ended up with an unplanned Chanel week 2 weeks ago … Once I wore Chanel 2 days in a row, it was easy enough to just keep going.
Have you tried Vero Profumo Naja? I’m happy to send you some :-). ( and the PdE travel spray is still missing in action). Bah!
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I haven’t tried Naja and would love to but only if it’s a sample that you can share (I can even send it back after trying). But if you have a bottle, I think you should hold onto it: it doesn’t make sense to “waste” it on making samples since it’s not in production any longer, and we’re not sure if it’ll ever be.
I’m sure the PdE spray will be found when you don’t expect, and though it’ll be hard, I might even wear some of my perfumes more than once… a year, but I should be fine until then :)))
I like the idea of Chanel week but it’ll be hard to decide on just 7 perfumes ;)
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