Way back in 2019, when my blog (v1.0))was only six years old, I was sent samples of Hermia and Pendragon from Karen Timson of Karen Timson Fine Fragrances. Reader, I was transported. These were Karen’s first ever fragrances, and as soon as I smelled them, I knew her brand had a bright future.

Karen Timson is a woman after my own heart. Spending her childhood outdoors (tick) making her own rose petal perfume (tick) and being a passionate cook (tick).

Not only this, but Karen decided to channel her acute sense of smell (she could even smell illness) into a perfume house, albeit a bijou one, more of a perfume cottage. The results are an ethereal triumph.

HERMIA

Let’s start with Hermia. You may know her from a Midsummer’s Night Dream. She’s the one who fell for Lysander, putting the dreamy into A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hermia the fragrance immediately reminded me of the scent of a fern broken and scrunched onto skin circa 1977 when I played out all day. Some smells you never forget, and I’ve always had a thing for sharp, not quite bitter green scents. This opening suits me perfectly. with its shafts of floral/green astringency, like rays of light through a canopy of trees.

After that, an extravagant wild bouquet of orange blossom simply bursts out like sunbeams. With darts of citrus adding to the radiance , this is the kind of fragrance that I would buy at first sniff. It’s hard to keep citrus soaring, but somehow the zestiness of Hermia doesn’t seem to droop, but melts away like Narnia snow into the damp forest floor, with vetiver and woods taking up the mantel. Longevity is extraordinary and there are still zips of zest many hours after the first spray in the morning.

PENDRAGON

Rumoured to be the surname of King Arthur, I expect nothing less than forest, sky and horse as this fragrance gallops through the woods. The starting pistol is citrus, citrus, citrus, giving you an immaculately clean and zingy start as you rocket off through sharp bergamot and spiced pepper. Hints of leather (from your saddle) drift up as you slow from a gallop to a canter and the scent of the woods drifts around you like an evening cloak. I make no apologies for getting all poetic on you. That’s the effect these had on me. There’s a kind of mystical pagan feel about them both that I love.

Both fragrances are cruelty free and gender free and you could happily wear either or both if you like ‘em green, sharp and mossy.

About Karen Timson

After her perfumery training, and “endless hours in the lab”, Karen took over a year to bring these two scents to life from page to potion. I’m jolly glad she did, because like Karen, ever since I was a girl, I’ve wanted to go back into the woods. There’s a lot of confectionary and flora in the current crop of beauty counter launches, but I want trees, ferns and cracking bracken underfoot. Hermia and Pendragon give me that fix.

Where to buy

You can buy Hermia and Pendragon on the Karen Timson Fine Fragrance website.

Disclosure

Opinions are mine and samples were provided by Karen herself.

Images

Feature photo is “La Belle Dame sans Merci” by Sir Frank Dicksee , fragrance photo from the Karen Timson Fine Fragrance website, “Midsummer Eve” is by Edward Robert Hughes, and the painting of King Arthur “Two Crowns” is also by the talented Sir Frank Dicksee.