ORTIR Apothecari tulip

MAKING SCENTS OF BURIED TREASURE

Growing and distilling key perfume ingredients for our beautiful niche fragrances we understand the value of what goes into a bottle of scent. And there is one perfume ingredient that is well documented to have once been worth its weight in gold.

Poised for their annual debut, having lay dormant underground, tulips are standing tall in pots and borders across the land.

I’ve been smitten by these regal blooms since reading The Tulip by Anna Pavord. Her enthusiasm, so obvious through her storytelling, was infectious as she charted the rise of tulipmania during the 17th century from wildflower to fashionable stock market commodity (and if you can get your hands on a copy it is well worth a read).

Amongst the thousands of cultivars to choose from, there are just a handful that boast fragrance and when they do you encounter slightly citrus almost honeyed notes. The essential oil, retrieved through steam distillation, captures this delicate perfume ingredient.

A riot of colour, gorgeous shapely forms and a charming scent.

A king’s ransom.

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