The Secret Garden Behind Captain Fawcett's Most Extraordinary Moustache Wax
A Collaboration in Full Bloom
Botanica Moustache Wax is the most vegetal creation Captain Fawcett has ever produced, and it grew from a, perchance unlikely, but entirely inspired collaboration with Simon Lycett, one of Britain's most celebrated florists and esteemed Royal Horticultural Society Ambassador.
Floral designer to His Majesty The King, supplier to Historic Royal Palaces, author, television personality and the creative vision behind the flowers for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Simon is a gentleman who has made a lifelong art of filling the world with flowers. Magnificently moustachioed, nattily turned out, possessed of an encyclopaedic knowledge of the natural world's loveliness and a huge admirer of the Edwardian era's aesthetic elegance, he is, one wagers, the perfect Captain Fawcett collaborator.
The limited edition collector's tin carries an original 19th century botanical lithograph of the pelargonium, a beautiful keepsake, made to be treasured long after the wax is gone. Splendid for wedding season, Father's Day and every fine occasion throughout summer and beyond.
Limited Edition | Medium hold | Immaculate finish
Sowing the Seeds of Botanica
The garden gate swings open. Sunshine on warm stone, crushed herbs underfoot, blooms spilling from terracotta pots. Bees, birdsong and the particular slant of afternoon light as ice clinks in one's first aperitif.
Botanica was born in exactly one of these glorious, yet fleeting, moments, in Simon Lycett's own south London garden, where scented-leaf pelargoniums spill from terracotta pots and wild rocket self-seeds cheerfully between the flagstones. A garden of sensory abundance, tended by a man who understands instinctively that scent is memory, atmosphere and emotion all at once.
Inspired by that passion, Botanica captures a perfect moment at the pinnacle of the English summer, vegetal, green, peppery and elegantly rakish. Fresh and savoury without a hint of sweetness. A fragrance for the gentleman unafraid of delight. Quite simply, the Captain has planted the splendour of an English summer right under one's very nose. Huzzah!
Introducing the ‘Botanica’ Fragrance
On First Acquaintance: Scented pelargonium, pressed between finger and thumb, a squeeze of bitter orange, a sprig of wild mint
The Heart of the Matter: Warm stone, crushed rocket, a peppery wit
A Lasting Impression: Cedar, vetiver, patchouli, the last golden hour of a perfect afternoon
"The fragrance of pelargonium leaves is like the love child of roses and lemons. When I smelled Botanica I thought: Captain Fawcett, you've got it. It's like a waft of scent floating over the garden wall. I smell bloody gorgeous. It's blooming lovely.”
- Simon Lycett
The Pelargonium: A Gentleman's Garden Essential
The scented-leaf pelargonium, often confused with the common geranium, is one of the most extraordinary plants in the British garden. Native to the Cape region of South Africa, it was brought to these shores by plant hunters and botanists centuries ago and has been a staple of English gardens and windowsills ever since. Simply delectable on summer evenings, filling the garden with scent as ice clinks into one’s G&T.
Unlike the showy-flowered pelargoniums grown for colour, the scented-leaf varieties are grown entirely for their fragrance, held in the leaves rather than the blooms, although the delicate flowers are delightfully pretty. Rub a leaf between finger and thumb and the oils release immediately: rosy, lemony, sometimes spicy, sometimes almost medicinal. Each variety has its own distinct character — rose, lemon, lime, nutmeg, peppermint, balsam, celery, citronella, cinnamon, apricot — making them endlessly fascinating to the curious nose.
Simon Lycett grows several varieties in terracotta pots in his London garden, and it is their particular rosy-citrus warmth, like the love child of roses and lemons, as he puts it. that forms the heart of Botanica's fragrance.
Wild Rocket: The Rakish Note
Wild rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) is a different fellow entirely from the milder salad rocket found in supermarket bags. Sharper, more peppery, more complex, it has naturalised itself across Britain and Europe, springing up between paving stones, along roadsides and in gardens with cheerful persistence.
Following the advice of celebrated gardener and writer Sarah Raven, Simon and his husband sow rocket in succession through the season to ensure a supply of fresh leaves for the salad bowl almost year round. In his south London garden, it has taken matters into its own hands entirely, self-seeding between the flagstones so prolifically that walking across the garden crushes it underfoot, releasing a sudden, vivid hit of green, peppery sharpness, full of uplifting summer zeal.
That potence, the unexpected, involuntary pleasure of crushed rocket underfoot, is the inspiration for Botanica's most distinctive note. In the wax, the sharp green bite of fresh rocket leaf is captured through black pepper, adding a rakish, peppery wit that cuts through the warmth of the pelargonium and keeps the whole fragrance vivacious and interesting.
The English Garden in a Tin
Together, scented pelargonium and wild rocket create something botanical in the truest sense, not a conventional men's fragrance, neither sweet nor synthetic, but alive, green and rooted in the real world of growing things.
Botanica is Captain Fawcett at the pinnacle of summer. A Moustache Wax for the gentleman who finds joy in a garden. Who notices the quality of sunlight on a June afternoon. Who understands that to care for oneself is not vanity but vitality.
Limited edition. Available now. An exceptionally handsome gift for weddings, Father's Day and every fine occasion throughout the season.
