Happy Spring! Seven Lilacs (perfume reviews)

Lilacs are my favorite part of Spring. As mentioned before, I'm a bit of an idiot because even though I am riotously allergic to them, I sniff them constantly when they're in bloom! When I am near a large lilac bush, I happily clip big bunches of the blossoms and display them all over the house. And take a lot of antihistamines!

The lovelies over at Basenotes did another sample pass (remember the 30 Roses?), this time with lilac perfumes. Did I want in? And how!!

I reviewed 5 scents from that pass and added two others here from my own collection.

• Highland Lilac of Rochester - pretty damn authentic lilac. A bit of greenness, maybe a a bit of spice? Smells closest to the real deal.
  
  
• French Lilac (Pacifica)- strong lilac. Dabbed it's much more subtle - sprayed it's heady, intense, easily overdone. I have a spray bottle and it's best sprayed and walked through in my opinion, though I enjoyed it dabbed- maybe I'll decant some. Confession: I spray this on my curtain sheers when the window is open!
  
  Notes: Lilac, Magnolia Leaves, Heliotrope, Ylang Ylang, Hyacinth and subtle notes of Nectarine.
  
• After My Own Heart (Ineke) - Soapy lilac and...? It's light and airy. I don't get "raspberry" but this is a slightly fruitier lilac than the others. A little more shrill than the others and turned a bit sour after awhile.
  Notes: bergamot, raspberry, green foliage, lilac, sandalwood, heliotrope and musk.
  
  
• Lilac (Demeter) - like the Pacifica, but softer and a bit more rounded; pretty darned good!
  
  
• Lilas (Cote Bastide) - this one is pretty soft unless really layered on. I wonder if that changes if you spray it (vs. dabbing from tester)? When applied fairly heavily, a somewhat spicy, sultry nuance is apparent. A dirty lilac? Who would have guessed?!
  
  
• Lilac (Elizabeth W) - sour lilac; green underthing. Green fades to bring a more authentic lilac forward. A higher pitched scent than the others, though.
  Notes: A single note from boughs of springtime lilacs brightened with subtle hints of jasmine, neroli, and freesia.
  
  
• En Passant (Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle) - soft and fresh lilac with a watery nuance and a bit of yeasty depth. Not bread, really. Yeast. It opens the scent up and makes it light and airy. (My earlier review)
  Notes: lilac, orange leaves, cucumber and absolute wheat.
  Perfumer: Olivia Giacobetti

Final Thoughts:

The En Passant is definitely my favorite. I find that I tire fairly quickly of a straight-up soliflore of any kind. Adding a little something (that yeasty note and wet, open feeling in EP, the spice and darkness in Lilas) seems to be the key in my opinion. The Demeter was my favorite straight-up lilac, and the Highland Lilac was the most authentic. I may try to find the Lilas somewhere and add it to the collection; the En Passant is a sure thing. It's one of those "stays on your mind" perfumes for me.

Do you like lilacs? Which is your fave?
How do you feel about soliflores?
Which is your favorite flower (perfume or real)?

Note: The pictures on this post are of my lilac, which is young and small (they grow so slowly) and not quite in bloom yet.

Disclosure: the Elizabeth W scent was a bottle provided to me by the company

a few years ago for my other blog (here's the review I did at the time);
the En Passant was a sample vial purchased by me;
the other samples are part of the swap and were consequently
mailed to another Basenotes member after I finished sniffing them.

Perfume Review: En Passant (Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle)

Lilacs in Window

I'm a little insane. Despite being viciously allergic to lilacs, I look forward to their blooms every Spring. And as soon as I see them, I pace impatiently until they open up and release their scent. Maybe pacing for a few days, which is exhausting, explains what happens next. Maybe not.

As soon as possible, once the sweet and high-pitched scent of lilac is released, I stick my face in the blooms and inhale repeatedly. Dizzy from the smell, I stagger towards the house with armsful of blooms as the histamines start their assault. It's a blissful mess of a week. I should a) have my head examined, b) invest in Kleenex, and c) get more vases - it's almost lilac season!

It might be smarter to invest in lilac perfumes. I never said I was smart. However, I have now identified a(nother) lilac-prominent scent to add to my perfume wardrobe. The first was Lilac, by Elizabeth W, and I'll review it another time. Today, I want to discuss En Passant, one of the Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle.

When I first inhale En Passant, I am surprised by the wet, fresh lilac scent. It's not so much dew-laden blooms as lilacs blooming near a fountain.

As the initial indolic ¹ blast softens, a fresh and light aspect merges with the lilacs and water. While I don't smell straight-up cucumber, learning that the note is present makes me nod my head in understanding. This is no fake-y cucumber à la a cheap body lotion, though. It reminds me more of the ice cold "cucumber water" served at a local spa. Recipe: slices of cucumber get tossed in water; pour. Simple, cool, refreshing, and light.

lilacs by the window

One of my main complaints with other lilac scents, aside from an overly synthetic and plastic scent, is a cloying, overbearing sweetness. There's none of that here thanks in part to the cucumber and water notes, but also to the "wheat note".

Malle's staff told scent critic Chandler Burr that this perfume was "born in the instant that Giacobetti somewhere on a street in her native Italy passed a bakery and a florist and got pastry, flowers, and street all at once." ² True or not, it explains the wheat.

balloon, edited

Some people smell bread in En Passant. I do not. However, I do feel that the lilac, water and cucumber is somewhat anchored by a slightly yeasty note that both expands and holds the composition. I'm currently imagining a lilac balloon tied to a weight. It's kind of like that: the scent is weighted slightly bit still allowed to move and drift, nearly weightless.

After the initial blast, the lilac seems as almost distant. To me, it's more like smelling the blooms through sheers in a window or from across the room. Distinct, but not in-yer-face. As much as I love lilacs, I'm OK with that distance. The heady smell of lilacs can tire a nose quickly. Here, it wafts gently, allowing you to smell it during the entire progression of the perfume.


En Passant is fairly linear, but multifaceted. In other words, it has different nuances but doesn't  evolve or change much over time.

Unfortunately, a balloon eventually loses it's buoyancy, and blooms fade and die. En Passant doesn't droop or wilt, but instead softly fades off and away, as if the balloon were released from its anchor. Sadly, this happens too soon - about 2 1/2 or 3 hours after application. It's worth reapplying, in my book, and I look forward to adding this unique perfume to my collection permanently.

Until then, you can find me pacing in front of the lilac bushes.

<sub>Fragrance: En Passant
House: Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle
Nose: Olivia Giacobetti
Released: 2000
Notes: white lilac, orange leaves, cucumber, absolute wheat, watery notes
(via NST, Basenotes)
Sample: dabbed from a sample vial

Final word: Spring in a bottle.</sub>

The Purple Balloon