Liquorice Licorice Anise Fennel

Reglisse Noire

created by perfumer
Jessica September Buchanan
of 1000 Flowers
click to right in 
Feed Your Inspirations




is a refined beauty
a scent that will wear well in any season

click here for interviews with the perfumer and reviews liquorice dreams by the perfumer click here

If you remember Callard and Bowser's licorice toffee ... Reglisse Noire offers a wink.

Licorices from around the world at Licorice International click here

Smelling Reglisse Noire I don't get the playful cutting of licorice candy found in Pink Sugar/Aquolina, the bit of austerity found in Anisia Bella/Aqua Allegoria, or the Good 'n' Plenty opening of Anis/Etro.
I do get persistent refinement that pleases from beginning to end.

Shiso leaf adds to the refinement and though star anise is used, I fondly recall Swedish limpa bread with its anise, caraway and sometimes cardamom, Italian snowflake pizelles, freshly chopped fennel, anise tea.

More recently, Shiso/perilla leaf, of the mint/basil family, made the leap from sushi plates to summer cocktails.

Liquorice potables: ouzo, raki, pernod, absinthe, anisette, are renown for whatever remnants of stories trail those who partake.

Growing up, we had 2 parakeets, JoJo, with palest blue of sky feathers, and Miss Blue, lapis lazuli blue with black/white mask. While lying on a bed reading, the birds would fly over, perch on our chest, and scrape our teeth, their feathers smelling of softest anise. Whatever social primping or mineral from our teeth the birds gained, we too benefited from kind whiffs of calming anise.
And, in history, birds have been perfumed to fly through feast halls wafting scent with wings.

Star Anise is related to the magnolia family, but a far cry from the buttery lemon scent of  magnolia flowers.

Related by odor, not by genus, anise is used to attract fish, mixed with wine helps cure asp bites.

Sulfur is used to detect gas leaks and capsules of anise oil were added into white metal plane bearings of early steam engine trains in Britain, releasing scent during overheating.


Koku radio has a broadcast on the smell of licorice increasing vaginal blood flow and information on how various odors affect gender blood flow.

Congrats Jessica September Buchanan on your beauty of a scent!

illustration: Star Anise
photo: Shiso Pepsi
photo: Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway No. 957 Helena 
photo: Sweetbay Magnolia Derek Ramsey/Ram-Man 2008 and the Chanticleer Garden