Magpie & Puredistance WHITE | Illustration by The Perfume Magpie

White clouds are moving fast across the endless blue sky, the seasons are rapidly changing day by day. The fields are now dotted with crimson poppies, alkanets, and bee orchids surrounded by the abundance of white wildflowers. Now I can see the signs of fast approaching summer everywhere.  As I watched the swallows crisscrossing the sky, I found myself reflecting on the ephemerality of life and everlasting memories we create along the way. Every single moment we lived through has been stored somewhere inside of us, even though we don’t recall them in our busy daily lives.

I got into this somewhat pensive state just after I tried the newly released fragrance WHITE by Puredistance.

Puredistance WHITE | Photo by The Perfume Magpie

A sample of Puredistance WHITE arrived in a beautiful white presentation box on one beautiful morning. Inside the box, I found a white satin sachet and a little white flower next to it. Enclosed card said “The main idea behind the creation of Puredistance WHITE Perfume has been to create a perfume so beautiful and positive that it gives the wearer an instant flow of happiness.” How beautiful is that? I like the idea of “happy perfume”. I gave a little sniff to the sample vial and sprayed it on my wrist.

The breath of spring. That was my first impression I got. Luminous rose and sparkling bergamot, completely in harmony with each other, rose up and enveloped me. The next were buttery orris and sweet tonka, I could smell them emerging from the background.  It’s so smooth, soft, blight, and luxurious, like a piece of beautiful silk scarf. Then, something told me to stop analysing it and just experience the wholeness of this fragrance. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

The images of the flowering fields, the sunshine through the spring haze, and the dandelion parachutes dancing in the breeze filled my mind. A gentle, happy spring afternoon. Pure joy.

Flowering Field | Photo by The Perfume Magpie

And then, those images changed and shifted.  I saw the flashes of our wedding on the red rock, two of us lazing around on the beach, visiting the ancient temples, hiking up the volcanoes, watching the sunset together… Memories from the past flooded through me, and with the memories came the intense feelings of happiness. I was seeing other places and times, and above all, smiles. I was happy, we were so happy, and my heart ached… I opened my eyes with tears rolling down on my cheeks. WHITE had opened a floodgate of emotions that have been waiting to be released.

I’ve never experienced or expected to have such multitude of emotional reactions from a fragrance. All the memories were joyful, beautiful and full of love; just like this exquisite Puredistance WHITE.

I went out for a walk to mull over what had happened. The sense of happiness and aches in my heart were still there.  The sun was now going behind the blue shadows of the mountains. The breeze rose, the wildflowers swaying in the rosy evening light and I caught a whiff of warm musky scent of WHITE. Everything around me was breathtakingly beautiful. I allowed myself to surrender to the intense beauty of the moment. I wondered if this beautiful moment too would be stored somewhere inside me as a memory, and one day, it would spring up in an unexpected moment in the future.

Life is ephemeral; it literally comes and goes in the blink of an eye. I told myself to remember to live for the day and, most importantly, appreciate its subtle splendour every single day.

* I wrote this blog post several weeks ago but I couldn’t bring myself to publish it for unknown reasons. – Yukiko

Nose: Antoine Lie

Notes: Rose de Mai from France, Tonka bean absolute from Venezuela, Orris absolute from Italy, Sandalwood from Mysore, Bergamot from Italy, Musk, Vetyver from Haiti and Patchouli from Indonesia

It is available in 17.5ml Perfume Extrait, €155.00 from Puredistance.

Read what others are saying about Puredistance WHITE.
Bonkers about Perfume, Kafkaesque, Perfume Posse, Chemist in the Bottle, CaFleureBon, The Scented Hound, Colognoisseur, Eiderdown Press

Disclosure: Review is based on a sample I received from Puredistance.