GUCCI Luxury Collection at Harvey Nichols

Gucci’s Luxury Collection is absolutely beautiful – and if you are a Gucci fan, or a fragrance addict, you might want to head to Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh and have a look- and a sniff.

These are not your everyday scents, and the price reflects that – but if you fancy treating yourself, then this collection is certainly that!

There are seven Eaux de Parfum, four Perfumed Oils, and three Perfumed Waters, and the collection is called The Alchemist’s Garden. Created by Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s Creative Director, and brought to life by perfumer Alberto Morillas, it’s all about magic and imagination, and layering the scents.

The idea that some primary scents of perfumery, like the essences of the flowers, the green scent of some plants could be joined to atmospheres, linked to memories. And also link to the idea that a perfume in an alchemical way can through a scent bring you back to a different place, through a sense so strong and so important for every human being – Gucci Creative Director Alessandro Michele.

Each perfume has a hero ingredient, and each one tells the story of a place, a momet, a season, and a smell of a memory. The singlar scents in the perfumes and oils create a special amount of sillage – that’s perfume speak for the aount of fragrance that lingers in the air when worn.

The oils and acque profumate create individual statements. Personalize your beloved scent with an oil or a floral water to build a unique sillage. Each oil or floral water of the collection can be layered with each eau de parfum. Just play with the scent to find your favorite, as an alchemist would work to find the gold formula –  Alberto Morillas.

The seven EDPs are The Voice of the Snake, A Song for the Rose, The Eye of the Tiger, The Virgin Violet, The Last Day of Summer, Tears of Iris, and Winter’s Spring.

“When I started working with Alberto, our reference points were the archaeology of scents and perfumes”, explains Alessandro. “We began with the violet, and from essences that came from the world of flowers, because the smell of a flower, the smell of something that belongs to nature, evokes something very powerful, which belongs to something that lies far away in our memories.

“We imagined returning home from the summer. What is the smell when it starts raining in the city? It was fun to work like old perfumery experts, with scents and essences like alchemy, and to tell the story of atmospheres, spells, almost the idea that smelling or having that perfume transports to a time, which sometimes is a struggle to remember but it is a smell immediately leads to life experience.”

The Rose I get – that’s a lovely fragrance. The Last Days of Summer is a Woody scent – inspired by walking in cedarwoods, and cypress forests. It’s Alessandro’s vision of walking in a forest just before early autumn. Tears of Iris is inspired by the dark eyes of an owl. Winter’s Spring is Mimosa, bright, flowery, and the first signs of spring. And The Virgin Violet is all about swans, apparently.

And then there’s The Voice of the Snake – the Oud scent. Inspired by a snake’s journey through a forest. Eh, no thanks! I love an Oud scent, but this imagery freaks me out a bit!

The packaging is gorgeous, and all are white except for Rose, which is blue, reminiscent of a bottle in Alessandro’s mother’s bathroom, and that snake one, which is black.

The three acque profumate – Perfumed Waters –  are in a specially designed white lacquered glass bottles decorated with Gucci’s feminine and whimsical pink rose print.

And the four Oils are in sage green toned lacquered glass bottles and reveal a touche oreille, a glass pipette style applicator.

There is also a candle in The Virgin Violet, whcih is in an ornate white porcelain jar, richly decorated with real gold.

If you want to indulge, you’ll need £240 for the 100ml EDP, £180 for the Aque Profumate 150ml, and £295 for the 20ml bottles of Perfumed Oil. The Candle is £355.

The Gucci Luxury Collection: The Alchemist’s Garden is in limited distribution, but Harvey Nichols Edinburgh is a stockist.