hfm BEAUTY
VIOLET AND ITS
FRAGRANT FOLKLORE
If you dream of violets, you’ll soon receive
a fortune. Or does it mean you’ll marry
someone younger than you? They smell sweet
and powdery, but February’s birth flower is
steeped in superstition and legend. It’s the
flower of fertility and, apparently, its heart-
shaped leaves, when used to make tea, can
mend a broken heart. Violets feature in
Greek mythology – they even became the
emblem of Athens. The Romans thought
drinking wine made from its blossoms would
stop them getting drunk – but they also wore
wreaths of violet flowers the morning after,
to alleviate hangovers. And they wereNapoleon’s favourite flower, too – in fact,
while he was in exile you could ascertain
someone’s political allegiance by asking, ‘Do
you like violets?’. Penhaligon’s new Eau de
Parfum, The Favourite, comes with a backstory
of its own. Inspired by the enigmatic Sarah
Duchess of Marlborough, an 18th-century
English courtier who had the ear of Queen
Anne, warm violet notes intertwine with
mimosa and mandarin. While in Gucci Guilty
Love Edition Pour Femme, violet petals are
dampened by the juice of grapefruit and
raspberry. A rootier, earthier violet features in
Linari’s ode to vetiver, Drago Nero. And violet
finds itself in good floral company with rose
and jasmine in Bdk Parfum’s French Bouquet.Rose, the ‘queen
of flowers’,
never goes
out of fashion
RIGHT Delicate
violet notes crop
up in some of
spring's most
romantic scentsHELLOFASHION.COM 93
hfm BEAUTY
VIOLET AND ITS
FRAGRANT FOLKLORE
If you dream of violets, you’ll soon receive
a fortune. Or does it mean you’ll marry
someone younger than you? They smell sweet
and powdery, but February’s birth flower is
steeped in superstition and legend. It’s the
flower of fertility and, apparently, its heart-
shaped leaves, when used to make tea, can
mend a broken heart. Violets feature in
Greek mythology – they even became the
emblem of Athens. The Romans thought
drinking wine made from its blossoms would
stop them getting drunk – but they also wore
wreaths of violet flowers the morning after,
to alleviate hangovers. And they wereNapoleon’s favourite flower, too – in fact,
while he was in exile you could ascertain
someone’s political allegiance by asking, ‘Do
you like violets?’. Penhaligon’s new Eau de
Parfum, The Favourite, comes with a backstory
of its own. Inspired by the enigmatic Sarah
Duchess of Marlborough, an 18th-century
English courtier who had the ear of Queen
Anne, warm violet notes intertwine with
mimosa and mandarin. While in Gucci Guilty
Love Edition Pour Femme, violet petals are
dampened by the juice of grapefruit and
raspberry. A rootier, earthier violet features in
Linari’s ode to vetiver, Drago Nero. And violet
finds itself in good floral company with rose
and jasmine in Bdk Parfum’s French Bouquet.Rose, the ‘queen
of flowers’,
never goes
out of fashion
RIGHT Delicate
violet notes crop
up in some of
spring's most
romantic scents
HELLOFASHION.COM 93