Jo Malone London Nectarine Blossom & Honey Perfume Review

Mainstream Monday – Sniffing a Popular Perfume

Being a perfume lover comes with its (un)fair share of heartbreaks. When you take up this “hobby”, you risk falling in love with a perfume that will be discontinued without an explanation or reformulated without an announcement. You also risk falling for something that costs as much as a monthly lease payment on a luxury car. Who knew that 50 ml of some invisible stuff diluted in alcohol could be so complicated? Today, I’m discussing a few of the risks of being a perfume lover. Basically, I like Jo Malone London Nectarine Blossom & Honey because it reminds me of a cheap perfume that I can no longer buy.

When I first started EauMG (10 years ago!), I was into solid perfumes because I could sneak them into my scent-free work environment. I was also paying off student loans and working my first “professional” job…I was broke and solids were cheaper. I ended up buying and wearing a lot of solid perfumes from a now discontinued French brand, Crazylibellue & The Poppies. These perfumes weren’t exceptional, but they were really satisfying for their price ($15-ish). Most of them were simple, something that I could easily replace if I wanted to (i.e. an incense-centric or white musk perfume); however, there was one that I absolutely loved and was also available as a cologne spray, 26 Juin Île d’Yeu. This was an aldehydic fruity floral that really did remind me of late June. It also reminds me of a pleasant time in my life, one of those times where I look back and everything was “right”. Anyway, the perfume doesn’t exist anymore and I’ve been looking for a replacement. Of course, that replacement smells and wears the same and costs much more. This is the risks we Fumeheads take.

Nectarine Blossom & Honey opens as blackcurrant and crushed greens with a sweet apricot. It starts to wear like a summer breeze over ripe stone fruit trees. It’s a mix of warm ozone, peaches, plums and a bramble of berries. There’s a greenness throughout the fragrance from vetiver, “crushed leaves” and a green neroli. Sometimes I pick up on a rose, but I often wonder if the green-peach is playing tricks on me. Being a short-lived cologne, there’s not really a dry-down to Nectarine Blossom & Honey. It is what it is, until it isn’t. It’s a aldehydic green, (unripe) fruity fragrance that evaporates into nothing.

Nectarine Blossom & Honey smells synthetic and isn’t as “good” as the cheaper one I’m trying to replace. However, it’ll do. It reminds me of mid-summer and I can wear it in the sticky, hot summer without feeling overwhelmed.

Notes listed include green notes, blackcurrant, petitgrain, nectarine, black locust, vetiver, peach and plum. Launched in 2005.

Give Nectarine Blossom & Honey a try if you like fruity-florals or peach-centric perfumes. Or perfumes like CREED Spring Flower, Burberry Summer for Her, Annick Goutal Petite Cherie, Rosie Jane Leila Lou and/orBurberry Weekend for Her. And that Crazylibellule & The Poppies that I went into too much detail with in this review.

Like so many of the Jo Malone London fragrances, projection and longevity are below average. But, they’re colognes, so it’s average, really.

Nectarine Blossom & Honey comes in a few sizes with the 3.4 oz retailing for $135 at Nordstrom and Sephora. Smaller sizes and a bath/body products are also available.

Victoria’s Final EauPINION – A mid-summer fruity-floral: peaches, stones fruits and berries. Isn’t it fun to try to find a replacement for something cheap only to find a decent replacement cost like 5x more?

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