Caron released Muguet du Bonheur in 1952 to honor the traditional French practice of presenting sprigs or bouquets of muguet (lily of the valley) as a good luck token on May Day. The fragrance was developed by Caron perfumer Michel Morsetti, and has notes of lily of the valley, lilac, jasmine, magnolia, pear, heliotrope and musk.
Muguet du Bonheur opens on a slightly sharp lily of the valley. There is a murmur of green in the background, and a very brief flash of lilac early on. It is clean at the outset, and as it continues to develop on the skin it gets softer and soapier, and the lily of the valley gradually cedes position to a more blended floral highlighted by jasmine.
It is a beautiful fragrance, spring-like and ethereal, and well worth a try if you like lily of the valley. Not being overly fond of soapy perfumes, I prefer Christian Dior's Diorissimo, which has more sparkle and bite. Either fragrance would qualify as elegant, but when worn next to each other, the Muguet du Bonheur smells pretty; the Diorissimo, with its more pronounced animalic notes, smells sexy.
Muguet du Bonheur is available in Eau de Toilette and Parfum, and both versions can be readily found online at the fragrance discounters. At one time an Eau de Parfum was also available but I don't see it online so perhaps it has been discontinued.
Note: image via Parfum de Pub.
A friend of mine has a vintage bottle of this, and I smelled it over the weekend. I much prefer Diorissimo too, not for any sexy vibe, but because the gentle low murmur of a touch of wood and vanilla underneath the flower is enough to make it marvelously wearable, whereas the Caron, for all its bright greenery, smelled to me like nothing so much as a detergent, or perhaps the hand soap in a public restroom. Well done, sure, but not what I want to smell like.
I also much prefer Diorissimo over Muguet du Bonheur, because MdB is unwearable for me for reason that Tania describes. The parfum is nicer, but can't match Diorissimo for me.
Diorissimo was my grandmother's signature fragrance.
Yep…she was pretty hot in her day!
Hugs!
There seems to be some confusion with the online discounters over Caron parfums/EDPs. I'm hesitant to order any of the parfums from them as a result, since I understand the two concentrations often smell quite different with Caron. It's a shame because I finally got my parfum sample set, and I love several of them, but maternity leave doesn't buy too many vials of the good stuff!
I prefer Diorissimo to any other Lily of the Valley, but I had to say I love the image you chose for this post.
I am not fond of soapy scents either. I can't say I am entirely comfortable with the LOTV note in perfume in general, but I do love Diorissimo. Just like you and Tania noted, Muguet du Bonheur was very sharp on me too, especially in the beginning.
It is very clean & soapy…rather surprised, actually, that the vintage extrait wasn't a bit more “dirty”.
Nothing beats Diorissimo…
Yes, they often do so it is worth making sure.
It is Caron's so I take no credit
Very interesting – as much as I love Diroissimo, I find MDB to be a more pure Muguet fragrance – I get other notes from Diorissimo, but MDB is the essence of Muguet to me, and I would consider it a soliflore whereas I do not really consider Diorissimo to be one.
I don't get a soapy or detergent note from it at all – I just love MDB, it's the most ethereal thing Caron has ever done.
How nice to do a write-up on a Lily of the Valley perfume on May 1st!
Diorissimo is lovely and I hope to add it to my collection one day. I haven't tried Caron's version. The only LotV scent I have right now is Guerlain's Acqua Allegoria Lillia Bella, which I love (it seems to have vanished from stores – I wonder if it has been discontinued?).
Hi R, I´m back again
Now that spring has arrived over here (well at least a little bit…) I´m considering to buy a new lily of the valley fragrance & so I loved to read your review! I don´t care very much for Diorissimo, it just isn´t ehough lily of the valley for me, I mostly get the other notes & find it to get too perfumy on my skin.
The other lotv fragance I´m thinking about buying is “Eclipse” from PdN. I think you didn´t like it very much, but I thought it´s a ncie combination of loftv & some green notes.
I have matching posters for this and Poivre. The one for Mugeut (with little white flowers) is captioned “pour la fiancee”; the one for Poivre (with red and black buds) reads “pour la mariee.” I'm a married woman myself:)
Would guess that you're right that it is the most ethereal thing Caron has ever done, and it might even be more of a pure Muguet. Still like Diorissimo better, but that is just a matter of personal taste.
Lilia Bella is still on the Guerlain website (and many of the more recent offerings are now gone: Anisia Bella, Mentafollia, Orange Magnifica). But it doesn't hurt to stock up, the AAs get chopped much quicker than the regular line.
Welcome back! And I do like Eclipse and will review it one of these days. Very pretty scent.
J, LOL at pour la fiancee, how cute!
Robin, thanks so much for reviewing a lily-of-the-valley fragrance in honor of MayDay! I have the MdB, but haven't tried Diorissimo. Will have to check to see if it's in my pile of “yet to be tested” fragrances. There really doesn't seem to be many lotv fragrances out there. I suspect it's one of those soliflores that many consider a bit “old fashioned”.
And hope it was a very happy day for you Beth!
It's strange– I bought this after loving it in the store– but when I wear it now it's so… light, soapy and somewhat musty. I don't know if I got a bad bottle or what…
I'm so sorry you don't like your bottle! Hard to say if it was old…it is more often the case that it is the tester that has turned, but it just depends.
Le Muguet du Bonheur is no doubt the most sophisticated scent by Caron and unfortunatelly cannot be found in its original vintage fragrance anymore.
I hope and I pray that Caron brings the original vintage Muguet du Bonheur extrait back for I feel cheated and disappointed whenever I buy those new versions that are pale imitations of the original scents. I do not mind paying : I just want the genuine stuff.
My wife refuses to wear these newer versions so if anyone has any idea where I can get the original version of Muguet du Bonheur extrait, please tell me.
And please stop comparing Muguet to Dioríssimo. They are totally different. Each one has its distinct personality. Perfumes are like lovers. They must never be compared or betrayed.
If you do not care to see perfumes compared or betrayed, you probably will do best not to visit perfume blogs — that's mostly what we do
first time visitor. I have a memory of a perfume from approximately 1968, I can almost see and smell the bottle. I’m pretty sure it was Lily of the Valley, it was a small glass bottle with a glass or plastic dipstick. you would dip and touch the stick to the skin. Please can someone identify it for me. I also thought it was muguet du bois? on the bottle.
Thanks anyone.
Sorry, I have no idea.
it was Coty’s Muguet du Bois. Unfortunately the best is gone.