Fleur du Matin by Miller Harris was a misunderstood fragrance that eventually got discontinued (a couple of years ago). My guess is that the idea of morning flower made Miller Harris customers hope for a delicate, feminine and dewy scent; perhaps like flowers picked in a cottage garden and lovingly arranged in a white vase placed in a window framed by lace curtains. What we got instead was a prickly green little thing with bracing citrus notes and only a hint of flowers, mostly honeysuckle.
The initial burst of lemon and grapefruit (I also smell lime) is all sunshine. It walks a line between a slightly sweetened breakfast juice and a traditional eau de cologne. Things get much more interesting once the various green notes come into the picture and display the many facets of "green" from tender herbs to bitter galbanum and slightly dark, cool and conifery pine.
The development of Fleur du Matin is quite fun. Sweet honeysuckle is pierced by galbanum; neroli jolts you awake while pine tree is calming. This Miller Harris fragrance is pretty but not too much to make it a true feminine perfume. Perhaps that's part of the reason Fleur du Matin never made it big. It's definitely a unisex scent but men don't necessarily stand in line to buy something named fleur-anything, while the fragrance was certain to disappoint those looking for a purple hedge of morning glory. It's too bad, really. Fleur du Matin had quite a lot to offer to the light summer citrus arena.
Notes: pine tree, marjoram, honeysuckle, jasmine, neroli, galbanum, basil, grapefruit and Amalfi lemon.
Image: fashion photo from Vogue circa 1960, via myvintagevogue.com.
It really is too bad this was discontinued. I've only had the chance to experience it in shower gel and body lotion formats and I enjoy its slightly bitter greenness. My little containers were made for the Fairmont Hotels chain which used this for room amenities. They are now providing Le Labo Rose 31 bath and body products.
ReplyDelete-- Lindaloo
I am so sad this was discontinued. I have been looking for it for hours. I picked some up at a hotel in Arizona last year and just used the last of my tiny little bottle of Fleur de matin body lotion. Does any one know if there is anything else like it?
ReplyDeleteThis is my favourite and it's coming back in the New Year (so I was told the other day when in a MH store). I hadn't actually realised it was discontinued.
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