Natalie Wood

Perfume Chat Room, July 26
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Perfume Chat Room, July 26

Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.

Today is Friday, July 26, the last Friday in July and the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris. Where has this month gone?? I’m watching the opening ceremonies as I finish this post, and they are AMAZING! I think Paris has truly outdone itself, with the boat parade down the Seine and the many performances along the way. Gotta say, I teared up when they rang the cathedral bells of Notre Dame for the first time since the fire that devastated it five years ago.

View of the Eiffel Tower and the Paris Olympics 2024 logo
Paris Olympics 2024

My garden looks as hot and tired as I feel this week; this is the period when the early summer blooms have faded and the late summer blooms haven’t really started. I do have one flowerbed that is still blooming with plants that appeal to pollinators and hummingbirds. They’re not particularly fragrant, though. The most fragrant plant in bloom in my area right now is gardenia. Heaven! Mine isn’t yet in bloom but there are many blossoming throughout our neighborhood, and the scent carries on the little breeze we’ve been getting.

I don’t have many gardenia-centered scents, but I do have a few, including Elizabeth Taylor’s Gardenia. My SOTD is Natalie, the gardenia fragrance created by Natalie Wood’s daughters, Cortney and Natasha Warner, to honor their late mother whose favorite fragrance was the original Jungle Gardenia. It’s very fresh and pretty, and it compares well to the scent of the actual flower. The structure is: top notes of Neroli, Bitter Orange, Freesia and Rose Oil; middle notes of Orange Blossom, Gardenia, Jasmine, Narcissus and Hyacinth; base notes of Woody Notes, Musk and Vanilla. The neroli top note adds the touch of bitter green that is true to the scent of the flower, underpinned by bitter orange and freesia with a hint of rose. The white flowers follow quickly, with the gardenia playing the leading role with a supporting cast of orange flower, jasmine, narcissus and hyacinth; these particular ones are some of my favorite floral notes. The base is pleasant but unremarkable, mostly white musk and a light vanilla, very suitable for a soft, light white floral. It’s a bit soapy, but I don’t mind that in the current heat and humidity — it’s very refreshing after a cool bath or shower.

What scents will you be wearing and/or what sports will you be watching this weekend?

Fragrance Friday: Natalie Wood
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Fragrance Friday: Natalie Wood

The New York Times recently published an intriguing article about the actress Natalie Wood’s daughter, Natasha Gregson Warner, her memories of her mother who died in a tragic accident when she was eleven, and the perfume she has designed: A Mother’s Death, A Daughter’s Life.

Scent matters to Ms. Gregson Wagner, 45. It’s an emotional trigger and conjurer of memory. In every home that she has lived in as an adult, she says she has planted a gardenia bush, because the smell of gardenias reminds her of her mother. “The smell is what I remember, the comfort of the smell,” she said as she sat on a banquette in her kitchen, wearing jeans and a flowered, billowy blouse. “I knew when she was home because I would smell her perfume. She would waft through the house.”

Ms. Gregson Warner will release a gardenia-based fragrance in honor of her mother, called Natalie. It is a modern take on the original Jungle Gardenia, which was Natalie Wood’s favorite perfume and was worn by a number of Hollywood stars (not the Coty version under the same name, which apparently was a completely different scent).

In one moving part of the article, Ms. Gregson Warner describes her emotions after she and her little sister were told that their mother had died:

As any daughter would be, she was devastated and scared. “Her bed and her sheets smelled like her,” said Ms. Gregson Wagner, who is petite at 5-foot-2 and with almond-shaped brown eyes, bears more than a passing resemblance to her mother. “I slept there for a lot of nights. Especially with one of her pillows, it just smelled like her in the days after.”

The power of fragrance. I wish this lovely lady the best of luck with her new perfume.

Natasha Gregson Warner, Natalie Wood's daughter

Natasha Gregson Warner. Photo: Elizabeth Weinberg for The New York Times