I’ve mentioned in the past that I live near a lavender farm. For over a year I have been missing my ability to go walk through the fields of lavender. One of the things I have learned about lavender is it survives winter surprisingly well. As soon as spring hits the lavender is ready and waiting. When I’ve been out on the farm during the early days of spring was when I first really began to understand the herbal quality of lavender. It has made me more cognizant of it when I encounter it in a fragrance. If I were to describe the scents of one of these days, it reminds me of a hybrid of rosemary and sage with just a hint of the floral. When I received my sample of Marie Jeanne Tonka Lavande I was whisked back to these days on the farm.
Georges Maubert
Marie Jeanne is a new to me brand. Gerorges Maubert founded the brand in 2017. He is a fifth-generation descendant of the family that runs Robertet. The concept is to focus on the best materials which the collection, Matieres Premieres is named after. The name of each perfume indicates the ingredients to be featured. M. Maubert collaborates with perfumer Sidonie Lancesseur for Tonka Lavande.
Sidonie Lancesseur
This begins with a sturdy set of herbs in rosemary and sage. These are used to give a significant green shading to the lavender at the heart. They form that early spring scent of the lavender fields. A slightly green woody cedar completes the early accord. It has that slightly mentholated profile of cut raw wood. This is a much greener herbal lavender than I normally experience in perfume. The tonka arrives to add warmth through the coumarin inherent in it. I experience coumarin as hay-like which is how it blends in here. There is an appealing dried sweet grass underneath which only further reinforces my feeling of being at the farm.
Tonka Lavande has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.
Once the farm is open to visitors again, I know as soon as I am vaccinated it will be one of my first destinations. I don’t expect that to happen until the middle of summer. At least Tonka Lavande will allow me to imagine what spring would smell like back on the farm.
Disclosure: this review is based on a sample provided by Marie Jeanne.
–Mark Behnke
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