Description
Black Osmanthus
Winner of a Fragrance Foundation UK Award for Best New Independent Fragrance, Black Osmanthus by Marina Barcenilla is a leathery and seductive perfume, not for the faint-hearted. A provocatively spiced floral heart of osmanthus and jasmine is enveloped by the jazz club smokiness of dark wood, leather and rum. An extravagant saffron and myrrh enhance the carefree, risqué, dangerous aroma. The story behind the fragrance… ‘I watched the white flower become as dark as the night sky, the sweet fragrance of nectar-covered petals turn wild and unpredictable, innocence shattered. With deep velvet and warm leather my seduction began with a dangerous touch of the Black Osmanthus.’
Perfumer
Marina Barcenilla was Born in Spain and has been based in London for over twenty years. While growing up Marina remembered being extremely intrigued by the aromatic notes in the Herbissimo fragrances and in her grandmother’s lavender water and her love of natural ingredients comes from this period of her life. Marina became deeply involved in aromatherapy and natural scents which eventually lead her to branch out from her aromatherapy roots into the world of perfume. It was a new challenge for her but it lead her to creating well known natural perfumes. Using ingredients as building blocks for fragrance instead of for their therapeutic qualities came easy to her, and it didn’t take long before she began to create bespoke fragrances for customers who had heard of her through word of mouth.
On 6th June 2011 Marina Barcenilla launched The Perfume Garden, a small artisan perfumery located in the West Country, as a way to return to more traditional ways of creating perfume. As Founder and Perfumer, Marina‘s vision was to be involved in every aspect of the process, from sourcing rare and precious aromatic essences from around the world to blending fragrances by hand in her own perfume studio. With a range of six perfumes and a selection of body oils, bath salts and sugar scrubs, which were originally blended to order, she saw her passion turn into an industry recognised “fragrance house”.
In 2016 Marina won the coveted Fragrance Foundation (FiFi) Award for Best New Independent Fragrance with India, which prompted her to take the next step on her journey. More awards have followed in 2017. Patchouli Clouds fragrance won the Editor’s Choice Beauty Shortlist Award, The Perfume Garden fragrance and Patchouli Clouds Bath & Body Oil each won an NHM International Natural Beauty Award, and Marina Barcenilla Parfums won the Eluxe Award for Best Natural Perfume Brand. The Perfume Garden was finalist for the prestigious FiFi Award of Perfume Extraordinaire at the 2017 UK Awards, and both Black Osmanthus and The Perfume Garden were chosen finalists for Best New Independent Fragrance, which Marina won for the second consecutive year with Black Osmanthus.
