Best Fragrances For St. Patrick’s Day

J’s Fragrances For St. Patrick’s Day: Jorum Studio Trimerous, Maria Candida Gentile Barry Lyndon and Neela Vermeire Creations Eshal. 

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sons daoibh! As a child growing up in Dublin, I loved St. Patrick’s Day. In school, we would create decorations, draw pictures, and learn about his story, how he was likely a Welsh teenager who was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave. He was forced to look after sheep as a humble shepherd, and it was in the solitude of the hills that he discovered his faith. After years, he managed to escape, only to return to the island to ‘drive out snakes’ and become our patron saint. Every year on March 17th, hundreds ascend Croagh Patrick, some even going barefoot, as a pilgrimage to the site where he fasted for 40 days and nights, although his final resting place is in Downpatrick.

Kilbennan St. Benin’s Church Window St. Patrick Detail and A Saint Patrick’s Day greeting card from 1907 via wikipedia

The parade was a big deal and my dad used to take my brother and I out to see it. We dressed in our finest green jumpers with a lump of shamrocks pinned to our chest, sometimes so fresh there was small clods of earth dangling from the roots wrapped in tinfoil to keep the green clothes clean. It was an exciting and special thing to go into the city centre and escape the suburbs. I remember one year my dad lugged a small ladder with us so we could see over the crowds and barriers to see the parade. We had to park a bit out of town on a side street with a “Lockhard” guiding us into a spot. Lockhard being the instruction to make the tight angles, you’d then have to slip him a fiver for his service and to make sure you still had your tyres later. I think I enjoyed the anticipation more than the parade, though the bockety floats were a kind of childhood magic rolling past as the echoes of marching bands buried into a drone slowly becoming a song then gone. St. Patrick’s Day was also a Lenten cheat day halfway to Easter where children could eat the sweets they’d given up and the adults could wet the shamrock. Now sadly it’s become an excuse to binge drink in the name of national identity.

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Buí Bolg at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin 2019 via wikipedia

I’ve gotten slightly disillusioned by the corporatized boozy and tacky festival it’s become, rather I spend those days thinking of the good parts of Irishness, like how culture grew out of being immigrants of the world, just like Saint Patrick himself. Irish musicians, writers, artists and actors are everywhere now and punch well above our weight for the small rock we live on. Think of the American phrase “you dig”, it may have come from the Irish “An dtuigeann tú?” (On-dig-un-too) the Irish for “do you understand?” Spike Lee thinks so and so do I. With this in mind, here’s three  fragrances for St. Patrick’s Day, that aren’t Irish, just like Saint Patrick, but make me think of Ireland when I wear them.

Maria Candida Gentile Barry Lyndon and perfumer Maria Candida Gentile

Maria Candida Gentile Barry Lyndon (Maria Candida Gentile): Barry Lyndon shares its name with the Stanley Kubrick epic from 1975 parts of which were shot in Wicklow, only a short drive from where I sit. The  movie follows Mr. Lyndon’s life through love, loss and war, all filmed in natural light or candlelight. Maria Candida Gentile Barry Lyndon captures young Barry as he finds love for the first time and loses it. The perfume captures his home in a small village with cool grassy greens feeling fresh and dewy surrounded by soft heathers and bitter shrubs forming a unique fougère. The heather shrubbery facets of Barry Lyndon ooze with nostalgia for me. Memories of walks and games in the hills outside of Dublin smelled like this as I hid behind bushes and trees, with an ice cream after. There’s a whisper of vanilla, one topped with sprinkles of nature near the end, but it’s the soft heather aromas, slightly honeyed with tart sour bitter greens with rooty woody aromas from vetiver that capture Ireland’s nature for me. It’s all of Barry Lyndon’s wild elegance, capturing his ride off on adventure as a soft leather adds a darker depth to the herbal aromatics. Barry Lyndon is a gorgeous fougère that more people deserve to know.

Notes: Aromatic Herbs, Artemisia, Arnica, Heather, Leather Notes, Haiti Vetiver.

ESHAL by Neela Vermeire Creations photo by Neela Vermeire© for ÇaFleureBon and Neela Vermeire

Neela Vermeire Creations Eshal (Bertrand Duchaufour) 2025: Eshal bursts with bitter greens dripping with sweet citrus tones full of energy with a bite. The tuberose feels ethereal, with a sensual elegance, something full of grace that commands attention rather than asks for it. Eshal is also not afraid to be unique, standing proud and strong, a stunning earthy greenness runs through its composition as if its natures incense in a spiritual form. Ireland has been home to many amazing female singers over the decades but its Sinead O’Connor that comes to mind when I smell and wear Eshal. Most of our famous artists have had to leave to make it. Sinead moved to London to start her career, but her music kept part of homeland and made the work special. Eshal captures the ups and downs of life with Neela Vermeire’s creative direction capturing elements of her own as she brings memories of childhood back to Paris with her in the form of the magical tuberose. Eshal feels like the complex tones of Sinead O’Connor’s voice, rich and full of depth yet also soft and innocent with the more biting greens of the opening the sharp lyrics of her early albums. Influences of the world seeped into her music as she grew yet there’s a down-to-earth feel that both she and Eshal share. That delicious turmeric note with the patchouli gives you a grounded rich sensation while the resins bring out a rather serene spiritual feel. Sinead O’Connor stood for those who didn’t have a voice, not afraid to challenge the norms, standing strong and proud very much how Eshal feels to wear. Eshal is a perfume that captures life and asks you to meet in face to face and stand tall.

Notes: tuberose absolute, red mandarin, bitter orange, lime, petitgrain, cinnamon oil, turmeric oil, galbanum oil, beeswax absolute, patchouli oil, vanilla absolute, Peru balsam resin, labdanum absolute

Jorum Studio Trimerous and perfumer Euan McCall photo courtesy of the brand.

Jorum Studio Trimerous (Euan McCall): Euan McCall’s perfumes resonate with me, maybe it’s the small local flowers and herbs he uses or our close geography, Jorum is just over the pond. His perfumes connect me to the nature around me and also brings back hazy memories of childhood. Trimerous is one of my favourites from Jorum Studio, it captures something of Dublin City for me. Trimerous is a unique iris perfume that glimmers with a silvery sheen reminiscent of the Irish sky and has a dryness akin to the city’s aged, softened architecture. Trimerous’s beautiful iris veil wears like strange grey light of Ireland. It flickers with flashes of bright yet soft swirls of sweet fruits like night lights with aromatic dry herbs adding a green tint, capturing all the fun that plays out in the city. Trimerous’ explores iris’ hoppy facets too, conjuring that scent that lingers in the air around the city on certain days, emanating from the Guinness brewery on James St. an area I’ve spent half of my life haunting. Accompanied by a gentle animalic facet towards the dry down, which infuses the perfume with the sea breeze and horses from Dublin’s pony boys into Trimerous’s essence, evoking memories of the city for me.

Notes: Carrot Seed, Bergamot, Nectarine, Thyme, Cicely, Pink Pepper, Juniper, Cloudberry, Angelica Root. Orris Butter, Kombucha, Centaury, Suede, Musk*, Ambergris, Styrax, Vanilla, Incense. *of synthetic origin.

So these are my three fragrances for St. Patrick’s Day and not a green pint in sight. P.S. No one in Ireland says ‘top of the morning’ or ‘splits the G’ that was invented a few years ago to sell more pints, we just take big gulps cause we are thirsty.  Lá Fhéile Pádraig sons daoibh!

Discloser: Jorum Studio Trimerous and Maria Candida Gentile Barry Lyndon are from J’s personal collection with Neela Vermeire Creations kindly sending a sample of Eshal for review, his nose, thoughts are his own.

J Wearescentient, Senior Editor, artist and olfactive writer (born, bred and bubblin’ in Dublin)

Enjoy Ida’s review of Eshal here. Please see J ‘s review of Trimerous here

Thanks to the generosity of Fragrance Vault USA we have a bottle of Jorum Studio Trimerous for a registered reader in the US only. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on J’s review of Three for St. Patrick’s Day and where you live in the USA. Draw closes 3/16/2026

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