By Redo: Green

Green describes a whole family or genre of perfume but to my knowledge no one has ever been as direct as to call a perfume Green.

But By Redo have a fragrance called just that.

I think it’s a great name but to me it’s one that could be hard to live up to- as I kind of ultimate green scent. To me when I think of green like everyone else I think of grass fresh with dew, of leaves and of vegetal freshness.

Scent wise I think of the same I suppose, everything in the garden that isn’t a flower and some of the things in the kitchen that are green too! In a more abstract sense I suppose I think of spring or summer days, red hair (I think that comes from, would love to have red hair and wear a green dress), tennis or cricket matches and picnics, of crisp white shirts with matt gold or silver jewellery, of a light tan, of summer dresses and leather sandals or pumps.

In the bottled sense my favourite greens are vent vert (I have never smelt the original), Chanel 19 (I know this is a debatable green), Un Jardin Sur le Nil (also debateable perhaps), Miller Harris Jasmine Vert and... well the list could go on. There is a whole other sub section of the darker, more bewitching scents that are green chypres but I think they are for a different post.

When green scents are good they are divine but I think they can be tricky, perfume lovers often prefer the heavier orientals and chypres and non lovers often go for the more citrus or floral safer options in my experience. The poor greens can get a little left out I think because people don’t understand their particular beauty! Especially now that there are so many linen and fresh scents possible stealing their thunder in the summer, when they are best to me.

So to By Redo Green. On initial spritz it is unsurprisingly very green! But it’s not a sharp green and never becomes one. There is quite a vegetal tone to this which stops it from being generic. It dries down and settles quickly to a very green but also quite a soft scent. Almond is listed in the dry down notes and it is indeed present and gives the scent a comforting, more- ish aspect. I also initially mistook what is quite a strong honeysuckle note for lily of the valley, together with this there is a soapy freshness and still a little grass keeping this on the green and fresh page.

This is unexpectedly good I have to say. Yes I am partly charmed by it’s rarity I’m sure but this is a perfume you would wear a lot once it was in your scent wardrobe; one you would fine you reached for throughout the summer because it worked but also because it has a slightly left of centre aspect that keeps it interesting and it is very moreish for a green scent.

More By Redo to follow soon!

By Redo is available from Les Sentuers www.lessenteurs.co.uk in London and online and www.colette.fr in Paris and online. (Picture from the Colette website)