A Spring Shower with Jo Malone

On a seasonably-warm-for-California Sunday morning, my roommate, C, and I stopped by Southcoast Plaza, a shopping mall located in the heart of Irvine.

As we entered the air conditioner-cooled interior, a discreet little shop caught our eye. Through the crystal clarity of the large display windows, we could see a myriad of square glass perfume bottles arranged neatly on white shelves and holding translucent fragrances. They emanated an incandescent glow that drew me.

I lifted my head to read the sign. Jo Malone: London was written in a clean script across white paneling.

C and I walked in. The bottles, stoppered with silvered caps, promised a feast for the senses because they looked so… clean. Fresh. The sales associate, lips curved in a wide smile, approached us.

“Welcome to Jo Malone,” she said. “May I help you with anything?”

We were, of course, just browsing. She didn’t turn her nose up at that. Instead, she gestured towards a large countertop to our left. It held the testers of all Jo Malone perfumes, arranged in a neat row from the spicy, the citrus, the fruity to the light green floral, the floral, and the woody.

Taking a testing strip of paper, she picked up the nectarine blossom and honey fragrance. “This is my favorite,” she explained as she spritzed the elixir.

I watched the tiny, glimmering droplets rush out of the bottle. Suspended in the air, they shimmered in a golden kaleidoscope of fragrance. Then, one by one, they evaporated, disappeared forever, their only legacy the scented tester strip on which some settled and the ghostly hint of the released bouquet that reached my nose.

She issued a strip to me and one to C. Although I had hungrily sniffed the air in a vain hope to absorb the evaporating droplets, I did not truly experience the scent until I brought the strip to my nose.

I was in a nectarine orchard. It smelled so fresh, so real, so edible. I saw in my mind the dew-misted nectarines, warmed by the sun, bowing the tree branches under their weight. Bees buzz around them, hungrily suckling up the nectar from the delicate nectarine blossoms that have yet to fruit. I wanted to reach out, trace the creamy petals with my finger, tug on the fruit until it would rest in my hand I could bring it to my mouth and bite into its juice-laden center.

“That smells so good,” said either C or I—I can’t quite remember.

The sales associate picked up the next bottle. “Try this,” she said. White Jasmine and Mint, Vintage Gardenia, French Lime Blossom, and Red Roses made their way to the tester strips and imbedded themselves in my olfactory memory.

“They’re great for layering! You can wear them on their own or spray them over each other for a truly personalized fragrance.”

She handed us a brochure explaining the proper procedures of layering fragrance with some suggestions to try out. Packed up for us eight perfume samples—including the coveted nectarine blossom and honey. Completed the gift with her business card and left us forever in love with Jo Malone fragrances.

I think what I love most about them is that they smell of purity. They are like spring showers—clean and refreshing, they bring with them the scent of nature. Alas, like spring showers, they come to an end rather quickly as well. Jo Malone fragrances do not have much staying power—at least that’s what I found with the colognes, the most diluted of fragrances.Although a bit disappointing at first, I’ve come to like this fact more and more.

Their ephemeral properties allow you to experience the newness of spring again and again.