In the Climatron at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, you never know what you will find in bloom at any point. And even then, the scent of a flower can change depending on its stage in the cycle. Recently, I had the pleasure to visit a variety of gardenia from Mexico throughout the stages of its lifecycle.

As time passed, the almost gourmand sweetness found underneath swelled to a crescendo just before the flowers withered and died.

It made me recall the word “envoi,” which is a statement of purpose, a summation, a denouement before the end of a poem. Joyce Kilmer wrote that “I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.” However, this gardenia could be seen as a poem of life, and throughout nature, in the autumnal season, beauty and splendor are often at its height, at its most sweet, right before it concedes to the winter season.

Autumn is the envoi of nature’s poem. And with that in mind, I developed Envoi Eau de Toilette for Chatillon Lux.

Notes: Gardenia, bitter almond, spice, patchouli, cedar wood

Find out how I made it here