Azahares

Azahares: The Perfect Neroli Candle

Azahares is the Arabic word for orange blossom. For centuries, the term has also been used in Spanish to name orange blossoms and the famous Agua de Azahares.

 One of the most popular raw materials in perfumery, orange blossoms once perfumed the fabled Orangerie at Versailles, the spectacular garden of orange trees that delighted Louis XIV, Le Roi Soleil.

The Inspiration Behind Azahares

 The cultural influence of Spain and the Arabic world all over the Americas inspired our rendition of this beautiful scent. The decadence of the Orangerie, imagined on a warm summer evening alight with a thousand lanterns reflecting light on its impossibly beautiful cast silver pots, suddenly invades our dwellings with its narcotic ecstasy. The Levant and everything that had to do with precious spices was a constant source of awe for the court of Louis XIV, so for him, having an entire garden of orange trees must have been a dream come true. 

The Creation Of The Fragrance

For this scent, I took inspiration from the harvest time of orange blossoms, when the flowers are collected in sacks of jute and leather and loaded on horseback. Combined with precious saffron and fresh pink peppercorn, I blended a heart of Neroli absolute and Neroli oil with roses and tuberose and decorated it with vanilla, davana, and plum. At the base, a warming blend of aged patchouli and mysterious oud is enhanced by civet, myrrh, and musk, supporting the exotic result of this decadent and extravagant blend. 

In luxury home fragrance, there are many iterations of the perfume of orange blossoms or Neroli, the oil produced when distilling them. However, the use of authentic Neroli oil or absolute oil is prohibitive for some due to its cost and the relative challenges of working with natural materials. When you see a Neroli candle at a convenient price, it may contain an accord recreating the fragrance, not the actual materials. 

When I embarked on creating Azahares, I researched materials. I invested in the most luxurious I could find to create a spectacular fragrance depicting what I smelled in the real orange blossoms growing in my grandmother's orchards. I wanted my luxury candles and luxury diffusers, with the fragrance of Azahares to paint an olfactory journey that would be different from the generic orange blossom fragrances out in the market. Of course, I used real Neroli from Egypt and real Neroli absolute from Morocco. 

Azahares is a heady, indolic fragrance best enjoyed at sunset. A warm concoction instantly evokes Sevilla, the Alhambra, and the Souk.

RHR