Angela Flanders’ springtime Breath of Hope
An uplifting snowdrop scent with a cool mystery and spiritual edge
It is a match made in olfactory heaven. Take the skills of independent perfumer Angela Flanders and the expertise of fragrance critic and poet Vicci Bentley, and a delightful new perfume is created: Breath of Hope.
While the snowdrop-inspired scent is noteworthy on its own, Breath of Hope (£95 for 50ml) also has a magical British story behind it. For, as Bentley notes, most perfumers seek inspiration in far-flung lands, from the Amazon rainforest to the Yangtze River. However, it was a Leicestershire graveyard ramble that inspired a poem she entitled Breath of Hope, and led to the creation of the scent.
“Snowdrops were my mother’s favourite flower and she would always like to go and see them in February,” Bentley explains. “I was wandering around a churchyard filled with snowdrops on a freezing-cold day, and I got down on my knees to smell the flowers to find out what they smell like, because it is always said that snowdrops don’t have a scent.” She found that they do, a fleeting aroma similar to lily-of-the-valley. As poetic inspiration struck, she found herself writing some verses about these magical snowdrops and dedicating them to Angela.
“I could see Angela watching me smell the snowdrops and wrote what I thought might be the basic formula in the poem,” Bentley continues. “I gave the poem to her and, because every spring she makes a limited-edition perfume, so ‘project snowdrop’ was born.”
Pale rays barely melt hoary hedgerows, yet
This green-craving month has a new light. Here
In the churchyard, mothered by shushing yews,
February’s flowers. Amongst silent stones
Flocked with lichen and lifelines, their brightness
Transcends leafmould. Still, a perfumer must
Kneel close to catch this fleeting formula.
There should be urgent, sappy galbanum,She notes. Myrrh’s cool stealth. Sweet, carnal lily(Youth’s shameless imperative) and the smooth,Final cradle of dark, resinous woods…
A keen, north-born gust leafs her pocket book;
Reminder of ice, this not-yet-spring day.
She stiffens, craves a more forgiving drift
...a breath of hope? A swathe of white heads nod.
A year after the poem was written, 50 limited-edition bottles of Breath of Hope – derived from the old English name for the snowdrop – have arrived. It has an uplifting aroma, with lily of the valley and galbanum lending a fresh, vibrant accord. Frankincense and myrrh speak of calmness and oak moss gives a grounding earthiness to an uplifting floral with a cool mystery and spiritual edge.
From snowdrop to poem to scent, Breath of Hope is a British classic, no trip to the Amazon or Yangtze River ever required.