Suggestions for a more realistic/subtle cherry blossom fragrance!

[mochi]

Compared to a lot of the great people on this forum, my foray into soapmaking, skincare, fragrancing, etc has been relatively short (~15 years)-- and yet since the very beginning of my journey, one aroma I've always wanted to find bottled up nicely in a FO is Cherry Blossom/Sakura.

I used to be fine with artificial cherry blossom scents, actually. As a tween, I really enjoyed BBW's "Cherry Blossom"(NOT their infamous "Japanese Cherry Blossom", but the lighter-spirited, younger sister fragrance to it which few remember now). What really doomed me was doing some of high school on foreign exchange in Tokyo. It was summer/fall, so I didn't get any of the cherry blossom season hanami experience, but the plethora of sakura flavored and scented goodies has ruined me for life, even now 10 years later.

Over time, I've grown tired of smelling inaccurate after stinky after downright BAD interpretations of cherry blossom scents, and have ultimately resigned it to the same sad, dusty shelf I reserve for Gardenia and Osmanthus (undoubtedly labeled something like "incredible florals that will never make it into incredible FOs". you know the feeling. You see an FO with a name that screams your name, but you don't even flinch anymore because you know it'll smell like the rest....)

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..............anyways!! off topic badly there, sorry.
there are two reasons I've suddenly rekindled an interest in finding even a mediocre interpretation of japanese cherry blossoms:

1. I have a collection of well-preserved full blossoms sent to me some time ago by a connection in Japan, but I do not bake or cook to use them. I really think they'd look so fantastic as embeds for the tops of a sakura soap, however!
2. while I'm not looking for a 'theme' or 'gimmick' for the business I'm slowly building, I know how to spot a trend when I see one. Most of my fragrances are inspired by (South) East Asian aromas (cà phê sữa đá/ VN ice coffee, buko pandan rice, nag champa incense, jasmine sambac green tea, some basic boba/ milk tea flavors, to name a random few) and I feel like my target audience at this point is becoming obvious-- all that to say, I think a Cherry Blossom soap (especially garnished with real cherry blossoms) would fit well in this launch "plan."

Does anyone have suggestions for Cherry Blossom fragrances for Cold Process soaping and or/skincare (especially ones from lesser-known brands, which are no cloyingly sweet)? Alternatively, if you have ideas for how to blend a somewhat sufferable FO with something else complimentary to make a better fragrance altogether (ex: "Mix AB's Sakura with XY's Fresh Milk and give it a dessert/drink theme name!"), suggestions are SO welcome!!

((on a side note, does anyone know how cherry blossom petals (with the salt preservative soaked off) would hold up in CP soap? I'm probably not going this route because the blossoms are delicate and supposedly expensive to boot, but I'm curious if they'd keep their form and pinkness in a CP cure :0 ))


Thanks again for reading!!

 

[glendam]

Not having smelled a real cherry blossom, I doubt my input could be helpful. I have only smelled and tried two Cherry blossom fragrances, one from Lone Star candle and the other from Brambleberry. I like this latter one better, but perhaps it smells more like a lotion from BBW than a flower.
Most flower petals do change and turn brown in a high alkalinity environment, I only know of calendula petals keeping their color, but perhaps there are more. The soaps you are planning sound lovely already!

 

[Obsidian]

I've always wondered what cherry blossoms smell like. My mom has a sakura tree and the blooms have no scent or flavor. I tried making cherry blossom syrup and it had no flavor.

As far as the blooms in CP, can almost guarantee 100% they will go brown.
Next time you make soap, pour a single uncolored bar and put a blossom inside and on top, see what it does

 

[persephonesgarden]

Most cherry blossoms don’t really have a scent at all, so instead of viewing your search as finding the most objectively “authentic” fragrance you’re probably better off figuring out what you like and don’t like about the various perfumes/FOs you’ve tried so far. For example, I’d look at the other fruit and floral scent notes listed in each of those B&BW fragrances and figure out which notes they share and which are different. Then you can narrow down your search by avoiding the notes you didn’t like in Japanese Cherry Blossom, etc.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Candle Science 'Love Spell' is a lovely fresh fruity floral that seems to suit the 'look' of cherry blossom, but i don't know what they smell like. I have tried a Japanese cherry blossom FO and I thought it smelled like a nana's perfume.