Mother’s Day is the perfect time to show your mother how much she means to you, and what better way to do so than with an enchanting new fragrance? Allow Les Senteurs to guide you to a special scent that will show her how much you appreciate her. First of all, define in your own head the kind of personality your mother is; after all you may well be the person who knows her best. Is she the sort of adventurous woman who likes a surprise, a novelty? Or would she be happier with a bottle of her favourite signature scent. Might in fact a Gift Card be best, so that she can decide for herself, uninhibited by the ideas of others? Again, do consider whether she is the sort of mum who may be perturbed, even distressed by the idea of your spending what she considers to be too much on her. In which case, perhaps choose a delicious hair mist or a scented body cream from our Bath and Body collection; or even a deliciously perfumed candle from the Home collection.

Then to go a stage further: say you have decided to give her a surprise and to pick out something new and different - a little adventure. If you choose to come into our boutique to make the selection, we will of course provide you with all the assistance we can, but please do a little preparation in advance. If you’re browsing on our online store, consider using the Senteur System to aid your decision; is your mother more a wearer of Floral or Green scents, Oriental or Woody? Think over what scents your mother has worn in the past (and perhaps even more important what she isn't so fond of – so we know what oils and ingredients to avoid). It helps a lot to know what her favourite colours are, how she dresses and also WHY she wears scent at all (and perhaps even more importantly what scents have never seen the light of day again!). If you truly have no idea about any of the above, or if you know that your mother is a woman of very specific taste, perhaps the best gift for her might be a private consultation in the boutique, where she may enjoy her own journey of discovery as she finds her perfect fragrance.

Select a perfume whose ingredients will chime with what you emotion you wish to produce – a rose scent for instance; rose representing pure love and the pearl of womanhood. The violet is for unselfishness love; peppermint for warm feelings; juniper (recently fashionable in perfume) denotes protection; the lily, purity; and jasmine for elegance and grace.

Because of their universality, and due to their scent, delicacy, beauty, richness and colour, roses have accumulated a great body of lore and cult significance. The rose is the symbol of maternal love as well as of carnal passion. It represents altruistic suffering (the flowers sprang from the blood of Christ); or wounded rejected love (the thorns which injured baby Cupid). The goddess Aphrodite - "foam-born" - was blown ashore in a cloud of rose petals on the sands of antique Cyprus, the birthplace of perfumery. Roses are the emblem of the Queen of Heaven whether she be personified by Juno, Isis or the Blessed Virgin - "The Mystic Rose". Mary appears in countless medieval paintings crowned with roses, or sitting with the Christ Child in bowers and arbours; even enthroned among the stamens of one vast Cosmic Rose, with angels swarming overhead like exotic insects attracted by the Divine Sweetness and Odour of Sanctity.

No wonder with all this tremendous back story we all think we know what a rose smells like; or what it should smell like. One of my favourite perfume legends is the rumour that Nahema, Guerlain's gorgeous hymn to the Flower of Flowers does not contain a drop of rose oil: all is magnificent illusion, a dance of pink and crimson veils. What a stroke of genius that might be! Every perfumer longs to create the definitive rose scent, as he does the sheerest and most glittering of colognes. But in perfume terms, what is the scent of a rose? Should it be a beautiful template on which to project our olfactory desires and perceptions? Science now allows molecules to be identified, isolated and manipulated to the nth degree: yet a rose fragrance still remains one of the most controversial of creations. Consequently, Les Senteurs have cultivated an extensive nursery of roses on the shelves, including Portrait of a Lady by Frederic Malle, Roisin Dubh by Cloon Keen, and By Any Other Name by ALTAIA.

 Almonds and their flowers are loaded with appropriate symbolism - hope, fertility, the sweetness and bitterness of life. Perhaps, then James Heeley's L'Amandiere might be the perfect choice this year. This scent is an enchanting visualisation of a perfect spring day. An orchard of almond blossom spreads a pink and white canopy over a carpet of hyacinths and bluebells while a note of linden florets suggests the imminence of summer while evoking the sweet green lushness of new grass Maybe to emphasise the intensity of spring.

So, with a little ingenuity you can make up a ciphered olfactory bouquet that goes straight to the heart as well as the nose. Discover further inspiration in our Mother’s Day Gift collection, or visit our Elizabeth Street boutique and allow our team to assist you in finding the perfect scent.