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Memorial Day is one of the weirder holidays.
It’s one of two federal military holidays meant to remember veterans, and the closest thing we have to a national day of grief. Cleaning tombstones and leaving fresh flowers is as customary a way to spend Memorial Day as barbecuing with family and friends. No matter what you’re doing, or how the weather is, you will probably break a sweat.
Memorial Day begins the countdown to summer, far enough into the season that florals for spring have lost their groundbreaking appeal. We found several Portland-made perfumes that fit funereal rules. These scents are fresh, clean, mostly unisex, and mostly based in grasses and leafy greens. They’re far from boring, and won’t distract anyone in mourning. Here are our picks, from most simple to complex.
Meadow | Euphoric Blends
Honeysuckle, mint
Let’s start with Euphoric Blends, a boutique perfumery you can find in shops around town like Presents of Mind and select McMenamins. The simple bi-note composition of Euphoric Blends’ Meadow leaves room for the calming charm of mixing honeysuckle with mint to open up at its own pace. Honeysuckle is a standard yellow-white floral, but before it gets too familiar, a mint more earthy than its dessert and toothpaste variants swoops in like a fresh breath for an altogether relaxing effect. Meadow combines two common household scents into something unexpected and uniquely its own.
Oui | Roman Ruby Botanicals
Fig leaf, vetiver
Next up is one from Roman Ruby Botanicals, offering small-batch lotions, candles and perfumes here in Portland and San Francisco (and online). The fig leaf and vetiver found in Roman Ruby Botanicals’ luxury line give Oui the refined first impression its wearers might seek. Vetiver is a popular unisex base note found in many of the world’s most popular fragrances that boosts everything around it with a sweet, musky undertone. Oui’s vetiver channels a youthful, invigorating energy through fig leaves. The end result is clean, commanding and classically masculine without smelling like something your grandfather would wear.
Woody Floral | Asiyah Rose
Jasmine, rosewood, patchouli
The name really says it all with this unisex potion from candlemaker Asiyah Rose, located in Northwest Portland. Woody Floral is an even 50-50 mix of its namesake characteristics, with patchouli adding a slightly lactic musk finish. It smells like a young person entering a mature phase of life, like a new parent. Woody Floral is a good choice for professional or somber settings to emit an air of comfort. It also works well in the shade at outdoor picnics and festivals. You’ll be surprised by how versatile it ends up, and how you can shift occasions without overthinking your scent strategy.
Zelda | Sweet Anthem
Amber, yuzu, grape blossom
Sweet Anthem has been making small-batch scents in the Pacific Northwest since 2007. Zelda’s warm blend of deep richness and bright lightness makes it sensual without going overtly sexual. Amber is typically a base note, but putting it on top of the composition pulls in noses with its expensive-smelling molecules, without drowning out the softer yuzu and grape blossom layers. Zelda is probably the flacon on this list closest to fitting the “liquid sunshine” category of scents, which somehow recall sunshine with a soft heat. It could be the most classically feminine of our recommendations, but irresistibly worn on anyone.
The Soft Lawn | Imaginary Authors
Linden blossom, grapefruit, laurel and ivy leaves, vetiver, oakmoss, fresh tennis balls
The literarily inspired local perfumery Imaginary Authors shares The Soft Lawn, said to resemble the first seconds after opening a new can of tennis balls, which could be the unofficial scent of Zendaya’s Challengers. But even if you aren’t feeling the Wimbledon fantasy, Imaginary Authors’ sporty unisex perfume is somehow both earthy and clean, grassy without flaring up your hay fever. The Soft Lawn is preppy enough to keep your Memorial Day light in social settings, but also fitting the profile for kneeling on grassy knolls and scrubbing tombstones.
Summer Leaves | Siela Fragrance
Fig leaf, neroli, tobacco, incense, cypress, vetiver, tree moss
Summer Leaves builds on some of the other notes found on this list to make something earthy and complex without getting overpowering. The smoky influences of tobacco and incense, with the amplifying power of vetiver, adds a certain elusive quality, flowing like wind through the more savory notes of fig leaf and neroli, and the woodiness of cypress and tree moss. Summer Leaves is one of the more traditionally masculine formulations of Siela’s—the second in-house brand of Olo Fragrance, found on Northeast 28th Avenue—but fits enough moods to carry wearers from late spring all the way to the first foliage shift of fall.