Of all the major beauty brands, Jo Malone London certainly produces some of the most innovative and interesting scent collections on the market. They’ve definitely got me and quite a few of my closest friends obsessed — I’ve amassed an enormous collection since discovering the brand in 2011! Somehow each new scent they produce feels more entrancing than the last… you might even use the phrase “magical”.
Because their scents really are.
Year after year they continue to enchant me, producing shimmering collection after shimmering collection of truly remarkable, memorable scents I never thought I’d be drawn to in the first place.
Weird combinations like Red Currant & Cream (a limited edition from 2013) and my perennial favorite Wood Sage & Sea Salt.
And as if the scents themselves weren’t interesting enough, Jo Malone champions the idea of ‘fragrance combining’, encouraging you to mix and layer their scents for a truly unique result. Playing around with combining their colognes feels a lot like being a chemist in some sort of alchemic workshop…
Again, the phrase “magical” comes to mind.
I absolutely love experimenting with cologne combinations (read my favorite cologne recipes in this post) — it’s like I can perfectly tailor my scent to evoke my adventures each day.
But the thing I like most about the brand is that, unlike most large beauty companies, their cologne still feels genuine to me, telling me a story and taking me on a truly unique journey as opposed to the same remixed, overused scent combinations we’ve seen time and time again.
Because let’s admit it… continually finding fresh ideas for scents is a hard thing to achieve!
So how apropos is it that this spring’s limited edition collection is all about the freshness of the British herb garden?
Generally I fall in love with ALL of Jo Malone’s limited edition collections (with the exception of 2014’s London Rain collection — I liked the scents but I didn’t really LOVE any of them).
But after the success of last year’s Rock the Ages collection, I was worried this year’s limited editions wouldn’t fuel my obsession quite as much.
Wow, was I ever wrong!
Hubby loves to grow his own herbs (remember when I used his homemade spearmint extract for last year’s Shamrock Shake recipe?) and having an enormous herb garden in our living room has really made me appreciate their remarkable fragrances.
So as soon as this year’s Herb Garden collection hit stores, I immediately investigated!
The Herb Garden collection is composed of five crazy unique scents: Wild Strawberry & Parsley, Nasturtium & Clover, Carrot Blossom & Fennel, Sorrel & Lemon Thyme, and Lavender & Coriander. 
None of these scents are predictable or over-played, as their bizarre names promise. Of the five, I ended up taking home three!
The two I didn’t purchase were Sorrel & Lemon Thyme and Lavender & Coriander:
Sorrel & Lemon Thyme is a herbacious scent with a serious lemon zing. Since I have a few scents very similar, I didn’t take this home but my good friend and fellow Jo Malone-lover Jill did and she said it mixes spectacularly with Wild Strawberry & Parsley.
Lavender & Coriander is honestly one of the most interesting lavender scents I’ve ever smelt. I’m not usually drawn to lavender at all and yet I loved this earthy take. Sadly, this scent had no longevity on my skin — within half an hour it was gone from my wrist! So I left it behind (but hopefully someday Jo Malone will bring this back as a limited edition candle like they did with White Lilac & Rhubarb last summer).
Now on to the scents I DID purchase…
Here they are — aren’t the bottles stunning? I love the pressed flower embossing on the back and how each green bottle has a slightly different hue.
Jo Malone’s Herb Garden
Carrot Blossom & Fennel
This is such a fresh, sweet scent crafted with an intoxicating infusion of earthy fennel. More complex than Orange Blossom but similar in profile, the addiction of the fennel feels rustic without any heavy licorice notes. I love the light sweetness of this if only because it will be a lot of fun to mix into more masculine scents for a truly complex finish!
So far I’ve only paired it with a few scents but I love it with Wood Sage & Sea Salt, a mineral-heavy scent (previous reviewed here) that brings a necessary masculine note to the sweetness in the Carrot Blossom profile.
It also pairs well with tart Blackberry & Bay, balancing out the spicy fruitiness by infusing it with fresh herbiness.
Wild Strawberry & Parsley
My very favorite in the collection!
This is as enchanting of a cologne as Jo Malone has ever produced — tart strawberry mingling with herbacious parsley create the sort of scent I’d only have thought possible after a day spent in the garden. The bite of the berry mingles with the earthiness of the parsley in a way that almost evokes Alice in Wonderland (just like my beloved White Lilac & Rhubarb). This is the scent of fairy tales — one spray transports you away from your troubles to a beautiful garden of magic. Ok, that may be my bias talking but of all the scents in the Herb Garden collection, this one feels the most memorable to me.
So far this scent pairs well with everything I’ve matched it with (except perhaps my retired coffee scent) but perhaps that’s only because I love it so? In truth, I wear this scent on its own the most of any in the collection — it feels complete and magical all on its own.
Nasturtium & Clover
Easily the most sophisticated scent from the Herb Garden, this combination also happens to be the freshest profile in the entire collection. So fresh you almost feel like you’re actually in a herb garden. Like you rolled around among the plants for an hour… but without the dirt… and the bugs. It’s earthy but in a way that feels so refined. I love the juxtaposition!
So far I’ve loved pairing this scent with Wild Strawberry & Parsley as well as Orange Blossom. But really almost any scent can benefit from such a herbacious infusion! Of all the Herb Garden scents, this is the one I’m most looking forward to playing around with to create new scent combinations. It seems to infuse anything with a brightness that leaves me nostalgic for spring in February.
Like this entire collection.
Of the five, which of the Herb Garden scents sound the most interesting to you?
