Heady and suave, orange blossom is an utterly bewitching scent. Flittering floral facets recall notes of jasmine—honeyed and sweet. Its citrus twist melts seamlessly in floral accords and adds a sparkle to fruity notes like apricot.
The fragrant, hesperidic note of orange blossom derives from the bitter orange tree (Citrus aurantium), which grows in the sunny climates of Tunisia, Morocco, Italy and Egypt through the month of April. This ingredient is particularly expensive due to its tedious production: you’ll need to pick one ton of orange blossom flowers to produce one and a half kilograms of the coveted absolute. Once picked, the essence is extracted through the use of solvents—resulting in the suave, honeyed scent we’ve come to love.
A truly royal scent, the fragrant delights of orange blossom have wafted through places of prominence for centuries—from Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors to Princess Anna Maria de La Trémoill’s bathwater. Louis XIV was exceptionally fond of orange blossom: it was said to be the only scent that did not afflict his notoriously troublesome headaches. And Versailles’ love for orange blossom continued with Marie Antoinette, who enjoyed orange blossom tonic for her nerves, and fancied the ingredient in her beauty products.
Giorgio Berverly Hills stages orange blossom, one of the oldest raw materials used until then in rich floral bouquets. Here, it is the center of this identifiable and monolithic fragrance which was a success in the 1980s, especially in the United States, where it translates opulence and the display of personal success.
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