To Bee
To Bee is a plant perfume emblematic of the warm, musky scent of a bee hive. I've come to love this particular fragrance and thought it would be the perfect theme for a perfume devoted to the bee. However, since not everyone is a lover of this most distinct "hive smell" and most would not want to smell that way, I used the theme only as a launching point.
The scent of the hive is a combination of warm, sweet, musky notes with threads of beeswax, honey with an earthy, vegetal undertone. I began the construction knowing that I wanted an Amber base and to use a few existing chords like the botanical Leather and Musk. One of the five versions created for To Bee was a bit too sweet thus I converted it a Honey chord.
The chords in the fragrance are:
Amber (which is actually my fragrance Aumbre)
Botanical Musk
Honey
Two different Wood chords
Instead of using my existing Leather chord verbatim I looked over the formula and choose to add most of the essences in the formula.
For a story point the story point of the honey bee referenced as the Queen of the Sun I added several Spices and Saffron, which also provided warmth. Honey bees keep their hives between 97°F (36.1°C) to 99°F (37.2°C), which happens to be the temperature of a human body.
Technically To Bee is a natural perfume because bee by-products are considered an animal ingredient and not botanical. Thus the words "natural" or "natural, botanical" are appropriate. As with all my perfumes there are no synthetic aroma chems or isolates used as well as none of the historic animal ingredients such as civet, ambergris, etc.
One ingredient which is most plentiful in this fragrance is LOVE, I so adore the honey bee and everything about her. She is quite a magnificent creature!
In the base of the liquid I have incorporated a tincture of feral honey comb from different bee rescues. The solid has an infusion of the honey comb and uses both locally sourced beeswax and beeswax from my hives.
The name To Bee is a reference to whom the perfume was made in reverence to as well as the Shakespeare soliloquy from Hamlet "To be of not to be, that is the question?" After all, if we continue to destroy our natural environment the honey bee will become extinct and life as we know it will cease to exist.
Aromatically the fragrance is warm and inviting, there is the presence of vanilla, wood, leather, vegetal musk, hay, honey and spice...however, none of these notes predominate, at least to my nose. My daughter Eve and Greg both smelled the perfume when I had finished the orchestration, Eve replied with "Warm", while Greg exclaimed "Wow, it smells like an ethereal flower."
To Bee Eau de Parfum 4 grams and 6 grams
To Bee Solid Perfume Oval Compact
Perfume images & photos ©Roxana Villa, Bee Prosperity illustration ©Greg Spalenka