Winds of Ostara

Bloom Perfumery Part 2

Winds of Ostara (Anna Zworykina)

I’ve been pondering this limited-edition fragrance, exclusive to Bloom Perfumery, for days. Should I write about it? If such a question seems hard to decide, the answer will likely be yes.

I have admired Zworykina’s work for some time. Most of her creations have been intense and atmospheric. This one is no exception, but it goes further in a direction I usually find tiresome, yet succeeds brilliantly.

To make my customary musical analogy, there is a type of perfume, usually made of natural materials, that approximates a musical genre popular at the turn of the 20th century, the one-movement Symphonic Poem. That particular musical beast has no big-slow-fast movements, though it may have different sections within. It is usually of the swirling variety, with waves of often relatively shapeless music intended to show off skill in orchestration. In its heyday, it answered a hankering for musical plenitude and abstraction, but has gone out of style. At its worst, it is either formless noodling or schlock. At its best—for example, Albéric Magnard’s Hymne à Vénus—it achieves an odd mixture of menace and peace.