There’s a vivid olfactive memory imprinted in my mind: the aroma of mimosas that spread throughout the entire living room of our house in Italy growing up. I remember the bright yellow bunches my dad brought home – mimosa was my mom’s favorite flower – their inebriating scent filling my nostrils.
For me mimosa isn’t just a flower or a beautiful fragrance note, but a sunny state of mind and enduring life memories. I remember the flowering mimosa trees in Ostia and other towns of the Roman coast; the intense scent of the golden puffball flowers adorning and warming the early spring days.
Mimosa is the iconic flower of International Women’s Day (March 8th) in Italy. Even a cake named Torta Mimosa was created by a woman chef in Rome to celebrate this day. Mimosa resonates as a perfect choice to symbolize the bright warmth of women since I associate it so strongly with my mom.
I also enjoy mimosa’s evocative power in poetry and art, along with its symbolic uses and meanings. It is the featured subject in poems by Giovanni Pascoli and Giuseppe Ungaretti, and is beautifully depicted in paintings by Auguste Renoir, Pierre Bonnard, Moise Kisling, and Henri Matisse. I can almost smell the spring mimosa blooms as I enjoy the vivid images in these works.
The mimosa species that is cultivated in France is originally from Australia, while other species live in Africa, Central and South America, and Southern India. In perfumery, the scent profile of mimosa is vibrant with lightly verdant, almondy, and powdery facets.
Created by master perfumer Jean Claude Ellena and part of Les Parfumes de Grasse collection by Perris Monte Carlo, Mimosa Tanneron is a tribute to the beautiful mimosa plants that embellish the town of Tanneron in Provence, France. Despite having tried several good fragrances that feature mimosa, I find this to be the most realistic and suggestive representation of the plant and flower aroma.
Delicate and solar, Mimosa Tanneron dreamily evokes the fluffy pompoms basking in the warm March sun. Experiencing it is like catching whiffs from mimosa trees while strolling on a breezy day or putting my nose in a freshly picked mimosa bouquet.
An impalpable and transparent fragrant cloud of mimosas envelops you at first sniff. A pollen-rich aroma reminds me of the yellow floral disc in daisies, bumble bees buzzing in and out.
I detect the typically sweet almond-like nuances conferred both by the mimosa absolu and the gently honeyed hawthorn, along with herbal and earthy hints. The rose’s soft presence remains in the background, and a dusty white musk base gives the composition the same warmth as the spring sun.
The fragrance is cottony, suave, and radiant, and I’m especially enjoying it during these spring days as a complement to the increasing daylight as we head into summer.
Mimosa Tanneron’s notes are listed as they appear on the Perris Monte Carlo website:
Head: Mimosa Absolu
Heart: Rose, Hawthorn
Base: White Musk
The fragrance is available in 100 ml and 50 ml bottles in select store.
I reviewed Mimosa Tanneron from my own 100 ml bottle.
Photo by Sarah.
