Anya's Garden perfumes: Fairchild and more
Natural ingredients from flowers, seeds, fruits, roots, woods and in some cases from the sea and cruelty-free animal products combine their forces in the perfumes composed by Anya Mc Coy, a former landscape architect and urban designer and now creative head and owner of Anya's Garden Perfumes.
Anya’s name is not an oxymoron as she uses the real deal, ingredients with a firm grip in nature. She has been dabbling with natural essences for a long time and after years of training in the French methods of perfumery and lots of experimentation she has created 3 unique and original hand-made scents: Pan, Fairchild and Riverside.
The perfumes all come in Eau de parfum concentration, which means that they are quite lasting and at the prices of natural ingredients what they are they are good value for money, I’d say.
One main difference is that they are not intrusive, there is no big sillage like department store frags, nor is there the initial sting of the top notes the latter produce upon initial spray.
Anya’s perfumes also take on many nuances, sometimes changing with the weather in their expansion/volume, not regarding temperature as much as humidity in the atmosphere. The explanation of that has to do with the core of the craft iteself, as Anya explains in her introductory page.
Let’s see them up close one by one…
Fairchild:
Named after the homonymous Tropical Botanic Garden at Coral Gables in Florida, this is a lush and challenging fragrance for anyone seeking something different.
The initial hesperidic, tart top with some “kick” is completely mesmerising. The opening "peppery" note comes from pandanus, rarely used in perfumery per Anya, taking one on a flight to unknown shores and buried pirate treasures.
The salty marine note to come next is miles away from the aluminum-canned variety that is zombie-ing its way in all those Aqua di Gios (all full of calone and dihydromercenol) in Sephora aisles, devouring millions of unsuspecting youths who were sadly never given a chance to know better.
Perhaps due to the completely new to me Choya Nakh (a smoky essence coming from toasted/roasted seashells, no less, crushed into sandalwood) and because of ambergris tincture as well (which acts as fixative) the composition makes me think of a summer holiday by the beach; white hard rock and turquoise; wet hair clinging possessively on warm skin; tropical flowers caught into the thorny shell of a sea urchin, its deep orange flesh sprinkled with citrus having been eaten raw and discarded by hungry child-divers, bare feet with dead seaweed stuck on soles; nails scraping on a juicy mandarin.
The big jasmine heart of not one but three varieties, coming from the bush emanating its fragrant sweet heat when the dusk sets, has a tart smell along with the opulence resting on an animalic base.
On the whole it has the challenging and weird character that Caron’s Alpona, that citrusy juice-drinking in the open crisp air of the countryside, also possesses. Here trodden upon leaves and roots on the floor of a cut-down tree alley along the shore substitute the French countryside.
The inclusion of crushed, dried hedychium root is also a novel element that I have never come across in another perfume. The root is supposed to be very aromatic with a somewhat pungent smell similar to the extremely costly and delicate orris root, but even more powerful. Galangal root also makes an appearance with its magical properties, which I will let you get to know by yourself...
A very, very interesting perfume. Would love to wear this.
Official Notes: Pimento berry, ambergris, champaca gold and white, Choya Nakh, Clementine, galangal root, green oakmoss, hedycium root, jasmine grandiflorum, jasmine sambac, orange peel wax, pandanus, pink grapefruit, seaweed focus, ylang ylang
Anya's description: fiercely floral, narcotic, hot, oceanic, rootsy
To see the range of perfumes click here.
To get samples to try her intriguing perfumes or contact Anya click here
Next post will be about Pan.
Pic is Dune by Isolano/Flickr
seven commentsHelg, what a beautiful review! The way you wrote about Anya’s Fairchild really conjured up the scent for me. This one and Pan are marvellous – I can’t wait to read what you have to say about Pan. It’s easier to wear in my opinion, while Fairchild is really complex and unusual. The pandanus and citrus and animalic notes really pulsate with tremendous amount of energy that is almost overwhelming!
Ayala () - 11 09 06
Marvelous review. I could almost smell this just reading it. I will have to explore Anya’s website. Thank you.
JenT () - 11 09 06
Ayala,
thank you for the compliment. I am glad it was vivid for you. Indeed it is a wonderful, complex perfume and it is my favourite from the bunch, I think. It’s challengng and completely original.
perfumeshrine - 12 09 06
Jen,
thanks. It is worth exploring, I can tell you that! Good luck.
perfumeshrine - 12 09 06
beauty without ugliness is boring. For instance, grown-up versions of the kitty poster are the paintings of fire-lit cottages strung with wisteria that you see in malls.cheap perfume is more abstract than figurative painting. Still, the idea of creating beauty through imperfection is valid as ever.
cheap perfume () - 28 09 06
You have a gift my dear. It’s impossible to read your reviews without wanting to try the fragrances you so eloquently conjure.
Snarkattack - 22 11 06
Oh, miss G, thanks so much *blushing…..
perfumeshrine - 22 11 06
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