Agonist, the luxury Swedish Perfume House founded by the creative couple Christine and Niclas Lydeen, officially launched in 2008 with one perfume that was housed in a Kosta Boda crystal bottle, so unique and expensive that their first client was a museum.
I had the opportunity to meet them a couple of weeks ago when Intertrade Group organised an event at the Shop at Bluebird with them and the dynamic duo that is Olfiction, Nick Gilbert and Pia Long. Through discussion and storytelling we had an opportunity to hear about their inspiration which derives from the beauty of Scandinavian nature and culture, their life at their home in a remote island in Sweden close to the elements of nature and of course fragrance as an art form. Their backgrounds in fashion and design respectively have affected their perspective and so their artistic expression is quite unique.
We had an opportunity to smell all of the scents and the one that most drew my attention, being spring with the Chelsea Flower Show in full bloom, was Floralust.
Floralust was launched in 2016. Top notes are pink pepper, bergamot and freesia; middle notes are rose, magnolia and ylang-ylang; base notes are jasmine, cardamom and musk.
It’s an ethereal scent, yet wild and spicy, it opens fresh and floral, bergamot and freesia spiced up by sparkling pink pepper, while the floral heart soon reveals itself, rose and ylang holding hands while jasmine and magnolia dance around them in circles. All the flowers are blooming and fresh and as the scent dries down the rose becomes more prominent swirled with cardamom and laid on a fluffy musk cloud. It’s very long lasting and it gives you the impression of a floral bouquet where you can smell all the flowers together but also separately if you decide to focus on one of them.
The Shop at Bluebird has a beautiful installation of all their perfumes and if you’d like to visit it yourselves you have until the 8th of June, so hurry!
I will review more of their perfumes and share more stories in posts to come, so stay tuned!