Daffodil Season

Amble along the windswept dunes beside the gently lapping Mediterranean Sea and as banks of warm sand give way underfoot, you may spy a small white flower gazing out to sea. Under open skies of endless blue, temperatures soar gloriously in late summer – perfect conditions for this little sunworshipper, as it opens its petals in the heat of the afternoon to bask in the rays and drink up the salt spray.
 

This is the sea daffodil. While it looks undeniably like its non-marine counterpart, they are not in fact related. It is instead a close cousin of the narcissus, diminutive and pale, despite its penchant for soaking up the sun. This seafarer does not care to play by the books – for example, why be pollinated by bees when you could be pollinated by hawkmoths? And why not sometimes go by ‘lily of the sands’ even though you’re not a lily? Life is too short to always follow the rules.

To say sea daffodils are long-term residents of this part of the world would not be understating things. They were found in frescoes dating back nearly three thousand years on the walls of the House of the Ladies in Akrotiri: a prehistoric city on the island of Santorini. A volcanic eruption around 1627 BCE buried the city,

ensuring the elegant portraits were delicately preserved. Sea daffodils are also associated with Persephone, one of nature’s great goddesses. As they flower just before autumn, they remind us that destruction only makes way for new creation in the mysterious and magical cycle of life.

Like fresh sea air, we’ve paired the sea daffodil’s almost aqueous quality with the brightness of ylang ylang and mandarin,the warmth of sandalwood and vanilla, sparkling pink pepper and some vetiver for depth in our Sea Daffodil Cologne. The essence of daydreaming in the dunes captured in a bottle of luminous, sensual never-ending sunshine.