Happy 5776, y’all! It’s the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. You might be familiar with the best-known Rosh Hashanah tradition, eating apples dipped in honey for a sweet new year. (Less popular customs include eating fish heads. Perfume blog material right there!) As much as I know you were hoping for a list of fish head fragrances, you’ll have to settle for my favorite honey perfumes instead.
Capturing the bright sweetness of honey as a perfume note is tricker than you might expect. Perfume Shrine reports, “Phenylacetic acid is perceived as golden and honeyed in minute amounts, urinous in higher concentrations.” Yes, you read that right: urinous. An unbalanced honey note is a one-way ticket to cat pee territory. (Apparently it’s Gross Animal Byproduct Monday here at Scents of Self!)
If you’re still feeling brave enough, start 5776 off right with these delicious-and-totally-not-urinous-I-promise honey scents!
Honey and white florals sing a crystal-clear soprano duet. Honey at its most delicate and tender.
A glorious M.A.C limited edition, from back when M.A.C actually made fragrances instead of endless Miley Cyrus collections. It’s worth hunting down for its darker, richer honey note, like those $15.99 jars you see at organic grocery stores.
Heavy-hitting honey! A highly concentrated honey note and powerhouses like incense, cumin, and resins make Absolue Pour Le Soir potent, capital P perfumery.
Voluptuously thick honey drizzled over sweetly almond-flavored pipe tobacco. Back to Black was obviously named for Amy Winehouse, but I’ve always associated it with a rather different British beauty: this devastatingly sultry photo of Nigella Lawson.
CB I Hate Perfume Wildflower Honey
The description I wrote for Arielle Shoshana says, “A honey fragrance so shockingly realistic that we’re convinced it belongs in a bear-shaped squeezy bottle.” Nothing further to add!
Do you have a favorite fragrance with a honey note? Any other Rosh Hashanah-inspired recommendations? Please feel free to share with us in the comments!
Disclaimer: This post does not contain affiliate links. Wildflower Honey image source: http://intothegloss.com/2013/10/honey-skin-face-care/.
SCENTS OF SELF 
Happy New Year!
I do have two honey favorites, both from indie/natural perfumers, interestingly: Aftelier’s Honey Blossom and Sweet Pea & Velvet’s Honey.
I remember that MAC limited edition. They used to do some really great affordable scents. Darn them.
MAC MV3 rivaled any niche leather fragrance. I would weep with joy if they brought it back!
I’ve only ever tried Aftelier’s Shiso, but Honey Blossom does sound divine. Is it very orange blossom-y? I do not care for orange blossom.
I notice a linden-like note, almost a sweet grassy note under the honey — but it’s not an OB scent!
I can’t add anything because you’ve already named all my favorite honey perfumes. I’m a big honey lover in perfume and in my tea. I won’t even discuss the amount of honey I go through. Cooking, cocktails, perfumes, I love it everywhere. I need all the sweetness I can get.
So say we all! Honey in tea is one of life’s great pleasures. In fact, that should be the next CBIHP!
oh- That makes me want to watch BSG (while eating honey of course!)
I really need to try Botrytis. My current favorite Honey perfume is Victoria Minya Hedonist (does that count as a honey perfume? – it could be more peachy than honey-ey but I do want to drink it). I’ve also been liking Velvet and Sweet Pea’s Honey though it is very nice and woody on my skin and I keep forgetting to notice the honey. Will test again tonight.