Imaginary Authors
Imaginary Authors
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A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
An immediate deluge of wet spearmint and lime zest, almost startling in its intensity, undercut by the strange sweetness of cold tea—think the condensation-soaked rim of a glass, sugar crystals dissolving. The aromatic blast is borderline medicinal, but the citrus keeps it from toppling into toothpaste territory.
As the mint recedes from nuclear to merely present, the boozy core reveals itself: gin's botanical bite softened by bourbon's caramel warmth, with lavender adding its herbal-floral ambiguity. The magnolia begins to bloom properly here, waxy petals emerging through the haze of spirits, whilst vanilla suggests itself without yet taking centre stage.
What remains is a quietly sweet skin scent—vanilla and sugar dominate now, but they're tempered by faint mint shadows and a lingering herbal dryness from the lavender. The magnolia persists as a creamy, slightly soapy whisper, the botanical elements having mostly evaporated, leaving behind something comforting and vaguely nostalgic.
Saint Julep smells like the ghost of a Southern garden party lingering in the humid air long after the guests have departed, all crushed mint sprigs and spilled cocktails on whitewashed wood. Josh Meyer's 2013 composition is a boozy, botanical stunner that refuses to play by conventional fragrance rules—it opens with an almost aggressive blast of spearmint and lime, sweetened by what genuinely reads as iced tea, complete with that peculiar tannic-saccharine quality. This isn't polite; it's wet and loud and unapologetically strange.
The gin-bourbon accord in the heart is surprisingly literal, giving off that juniper-vanilla oakiness you'd find in an actual spirits cabinet, whilst lavender threads through with its herbal, slightly camphorous edge intact. It's this intersection—between the mint's cooling menthol, the florality of both lavender and magnolia, and the warming booze—that makes Saint Julep so distinctive. The magnolia never dominates; instead, it hovers at the periphery, waxy and indolic, lending a creamy white floral softness to what could otherwise veer into novelty territory.
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4.2/5 (4.2k)