Roxana Illuminated Perfume is a line of artisanal perfumes that are hand-crafted using natural ingredients in a base of organic grape and grain alcohol. Inspired by English ivy, Hedera Helix is described as “Spiraling into a sweet pasture of verdant ivy, on a mossy bed of flowers.” And it is. Hedera Helix is a wonderfully complex chypre with layers.
Hedera Helix is a green. If Hedera Helix were a color, it’d be a deep emerald green, like the shade of ivy. Hedera Helix is a bitter, green galbadumn with a meditative clary sage mixed with astringent brewed tea. Overall, Hedera Helix smells like freshly crushed, living, green leaves and woody twigs. Most green perfumes remind me of spring or summer, Hedera Helix reminds me of early fall or early spring because of its layers. It starts with fresh, crushed greens and then one gets dried hay, branches, and tea. Go to the next layer and one will pick up on balsamic resins, dark mosses, evergreen needles, and petals. Hedera Helix is wild and unruly and this is what makes it enchanting. The style of the perfume reminds me of Caspar David Friedrich’s Romantic landscapes. The dry-down is mossy and green with an unexpected balsamic sweetness.
Notes listed include peach leaf, violet leaf, rhododendron, oakmoss and balsams. PERFUMER – Roxana Villa
Give Hedera Helix a try if you like “dark” green perfumes or natural chypres. You may also like Hedera Helix if you like Ormonde Jayne Woman, Miss Dior parfum, DSH Perfumes Bancha, Esscentual Alchemy Ophelia, Aftelier Trèvert, and/or Pirouette Essentials Moss Garden. Hedera Helix is a unisex chypre. I do find Hedera Helix very natural smelling; hence, I feel you must like natural perfumes to like it.
I find that projection is average. For a natural perfume, it is long-wearing because of the base ingredients used. It wears for a long time but closely to the skin.
A few sizes of this perfume is available with prices ranging from $27-$205. It’s also available in a solid perfume. I see this blend working nicely in a solid base. Hedera Helix can be purchased at Roxana Illuminated Perfume’s etsy shop.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – A “dark green” chypre with rustic layers of leaves, flower buds, and twigs over sweet balsamic mosses. If you like natural perfumes, I can’t imagine that you’ll be disappointed with this one.
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What a lovely and insightful review dear Victoria. Thank you so much, I really appreciate your astute olfactory sensibility.
~ Roxana
Thank you for sharing this with me, Roxana! It’s such a great, complex fragrance.
Fantastic review of a gorgeous fragrance (which reminds me I need to treat myself to a full 1ml vial of this beauty).
I totally agree that if someone likes OJ Woman, this is a must-sniff.
It’s so easy to forget what’s on our list when we keep trying new things!
OJ Woman and Hedera Helix are both that same shade of dark green IMO.
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