Beauty

Ellis Brooklyn Launches the Most Feminine Modern Chypre Yet

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Ellis founder and beauty columnist Bee Shapiro shares her thoughts on creating the consummate modern floral in FLORIST.

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Ellis Brooklyn’s FLORIST fragrance just launched, the newest fragrance from the popular clean perfume house. The brand is a relative newbie, yet it has amassed a sizable following in just a few years. The founder’s unsuccessful quest to find clean perfumes while carrying her first child is what inspired her to launch the brand, and she truly hit the mark for all of us longing to smell pretty without the resulting chemical hangover.

While I’ve loved a few Ellis Brooklyn scents, FLORIST is the softest, most feminine light chypre I’ve smelled in a long time–and I’m a scent snob. The fragrance has been on daily rotation since getting my hands on a bottle in advance of the launch. Not to date myself, but FLORIST’s giving throw-back vibes–like when you were young and maybe a virgin (or pretending to be), and felt super girly, romantic, and wore Paris by YSL before you had your heart really broken. But FLORIST is no teen-dream floral; it’s a grown-up scent with exquisite tuberose and pear notes that recall for a fleeting moment—a Brooklyn market with colorful fresh flowers and ripe fruit on display. It’s accented by a subtle hint of bubblegum, but not the saccharin or gourmand type. The sweetness is perfectly balanced by earthy cedar and bergamot citrus.

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FLORIST Eau De Parfum

Thankfully, the uncharacteristically warm East-coast winter has encouraged me to douse myself in this warmer weather fragrance, but it’s not out of place while longing for spring. It’s strange what a fragrance can impart in notes because when I asked Ellis Brooklyn’s founder and New York Times beauty columnist Bee Shapiro about FLORIST, I seemed to catch everything she intended to convey when creating this perfume.

I want that uplifting burst. I want to feel gorgeous when I wear it.
Bee Shapiro

“I've always loved tackling a traditional category of fragrance— giving it air, I like to think of it. So many gorgeous scents were made in another era or at least with another era of perfumery in mind. By that, I mean, the modern person lives a completely different life and at Ellis Brooklyn, I think of how I can create scents to reflect that.” Bee told me about her creative process. Like many of us, the founder also views fragrance as more of an experience than just a mere smell you wear on your wrists and neck. “I think of fragrance as an escape, as a daily dose of self-pleasure, and I create fragrances that get even better as the day goes on.”

With FLORIST though, Shapiro was ready for a challenge. “I'm not a typical florals kind of person. They can feel very classic and often outdated. But why are fresh-cut flowers so wonderfully uplifting? [But] I also loved the idea of embracing femininity. So I’d like to think that FLORIST takes this very classic category, and a very challenging white floral that is Tuberose and did it in a gorgeous, fresh, and I hope, completely modern way. It's the way I personally want to experience florals in a busy work-life day. I want that uplifting burst. I want to feel gorgeous when I wear it,” she says.

Don’t hesitate to try this scent housed in a cheery pink bottle that will call to you daily, too. It’s universally appealing and will work for just about anyone, day or night—it’s even soft enough for the office. FLORIST is available through EllisBrooklyn and Credo exclusively now and will launch at other retailers late in the month.

FLORIST Eau De Parfum

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