You beauty! Miller Harris Citron Citron eau de parfum

Fresh year, fresh start, fresh scent. Something to cut through the fug and the fatness, the ennui and the darkness and the ‘is this all there is?’ Something to press reset on the senses. Something hopeful. You might juice, you might meditate, you might book a life coach, or you might take my short cut. And spritz.

Perfumer Lynn Harris is a genius at headlining nature’s true scents, at harnessing the essence of a fruit, flower or wood and keeping the message simple while intricately blending the character. Her Citron Citron is a virtuoso turn on the optimism and promise of citrus. The fragrance opens with zesty lemons, oranges and limes that yank you out of sleepiness, moodiness or stagnancy and buoy things up. Then comes a hint — subtle, though — of mint and basil, but the herbs play second fiddle to the fruits. As Citron Citron settles and dries down, a natural woody base of cedar, green moss and cardamom anchors the experience and stops the citrus extravaganza from floating ethereally away.

But basically, as is suggested by the title (so lemony they named it twice), this is a symphony of citrus with lemon as the trumpeter. Incredibly clean, it brightens the morning, sparkles in the weary afternoon and zings at night. It would also be a delicious holiday scent, but I choose to zoom some warm-weather zip into a dull London January. This is optimism. Bottled.