I like perfumer Mathilde Laurent, but we are not besties. I am pretty sure she first came to my attention in relation to her 2003 version of Shalimar Eau Légère, and when I have absolutely nothing better to do, I sometimes wonder what Guerlain would be up to now if she, instead of Thierry Wasser, had been appointed the house perfumer, and whether I would have ever gotten the (admittedly ridiculous) Shalimar Eau Légère Extrême I wanted. Instead, Ms. Laurent ended up at Cartier, where she has done plenty of respectable work without stressing my budgetary arrangements in any significant way: as I said, we are not besties. My favorite so far, on the women's side, is the lily-ish Baiser Volé. The gardenia-ish La Panthère did not please me so much, other than the fantastic bottle. Now we've got Baiser Fou, inspired by "lipstick kisses" and said to be orchid-ish:
To capture the elusive aroma of lipstick, Cartier perfumer Mathilde Laurent was inspired by the intense powderiness and sweetness of the orchid. The bloom’s delicious balmy accents of white chocolate add to the addiction, lingering on the skin for hours.1
Hmm, sweet powder — sound familiar? Is there a brand not chasing after a slice of that pie? Baiser Fou, at least, takes its own route. It's a gourmand, to be sure, opening with a nearly nuclear dose of sugary berry candy and tropical fruit salad. The fruit explosion calms to acceptable levels (depending on your tolerance, of course) within about 5 minutes or so, and it gains enough tartness to keep it just this side of cloying; the berry notes do, however, linger on for the duration. There are brief hints, mostly early on, of something vaguely plastic-ish, which might perhaps be meant as an allusion to lipstick? The heart is a rose-y blended floral, rather loud, and very pink, and very girly. Underneath it all is a woody musk, slightly creamy, very vanillic, but with less chocolate than I expected — which is usually how white chocolate works out, no? It is powdery, as advertised, but as current trends in powder go, it's far from what I'd call "intensely" powdery.
Verdict: Bear with me here. A very long time ago, I reviewed another lipstick fragrance, L'Artisan Parfumeur Drôle de Rose:
Drôle de Rose is often compared to Frederic Malle's Lipstick Rose (2000), and the two share an attitude along with prominent notes of rose and violet. That attitude is rather hard to describe, but both scents combine a modern, overtly synthetic feel with an almost tongue in cheek, vintage uber-femininity: picture a woman with lots of hair piled up high on her head, wearing a negligee, and sitting at her dressing table holding a large powder puff. Now picture Olivia Giacobetti interpreting that woman into scent, and you have Drôle de Rose.
For Baiser Fou, replace the negligee with jeans, and the chignon with long straight hair. The powder puff is replaced by an Yves Saint Laurent Vinyl Cream Lip Stain, and the other hand holds an iPhone, with which our heroine edits and captions her latest selfie for Instagram. That's Baiser Fou. It's so not me that whatever humor or sophistication it might possess probably went right over my head. You all will have to try it for yourselves and tell me if it's any good. I pretty much hated it.
Even if you loved both Baiser Volé and La Panthère, you might want to try Baiser Fou before you buy.
Cartier Baiser Fou is available in 30, 50 and 75 ml Eau de Parfum. There is also a 9 ml spray although it may only be available as a gift with purchase.
1. Quote via Escentual.
Hi Robin! I’ve been absent from posting on NST for a long time now, mainly because life took a crazy turn for a few years; but I’ve still read almost every day.
Anywho, I had to comment on this. I love the Baiser Vole series, and have three of them. I bought this one blind, and ended up returning it. Why? You said it – hated it! Yes, it was that bad. I won’t elaborate, but I was so upsetting. I tried, I really did. But NO.
Oops! Typo. “it was” not “I was”!
Glad life took a “saner” turn for you Karin, it’s nice to see you back!
I bought La Panthere blind, and was very lucky to swap it for Baiser Vole later. But even La Panthere was just meh.
This one, not meh. Which in its own way is a good thing, right? At least it inspires some real reaction.
But — unexpected from Cartier.
I also purchased La Panthere blind. Didn’t like it; but my DH did, so I stuck with it. But after a few wearings, I still do not like it. There are plenty of other perfumes he likes, so this one is not worth the wear!
Glad I was not the only one suckered in by the bottle
But it does seem to have plenty of fans here.
Oh and thanks, Robin, for the welcome back!
That bottle, though. I’ll start checking the discounters later this year…..
I don’t think this one has launched in the US yet? So not sure how long you’ll have to wait.
I purchased from Nordstrom (and returned)…
Ah, thanks!
Like Karin, I quite like Baiser Volé (and in my case, particularly the green EdT version) and L’Envol gave me some hope on the masculine side, but this whole review just made me interested in YSL Vinyl Cream Lip Stains. But then I looked up those on Sephora and they weren’t appealing, either. Sigh.
HA — you know I am the last person whose advice you should take on lip-anything, I’ve been using the same MAC shade for YEARS, and it’s essentially the exact same shade as my lips. I have tubes of it everywhere, and rarely remember to put it on, and what’s the difference, it’s the same shade as my lips.
(Violetnoir was so upset that I used the same nail polish color on my toes all the time, for years and years, that she actually sent me nail polish. I miss her. But I could not adjust to a new toe nail color.)
I stopped buying lip products last October, because I had tubes and tubes everywhere, and like you, I rarely put lipstick on. (Whereas perfume and books I use almost every day.) Also, cheeky M pointed out that, despite the fact that I have 800 different brands and types, all of them were either very sheer blackberry or creamy reddish brown. I had 400 of each. As for toes, they are au naturel, unless M does “spa” and then they are separate jewel tones – green, hot orange and purple on one foot, something different on the other.
Ha. Do not let M see my extensive collection of violet/purple eyeshadows, all neatly arranged in palettes and gathering dust.
This convo made me laugh!
I hope so, it’s ridiculous.
Seconding Laura!
And Robin, at least you’re using (when you do) a Mac lipstick. That’s pretty classy. I’ve devolved over the years from Borghese and Orlane to Clinique to Burt’s Bees lip shimmers!
Ha, but if I was still actually going through lipsticks, I might have downscaled by now too. As it is, I use them so rarely they never need replacement. (Actually, at this point, they are probably suspect in terms of shelf life.)
I love both La Panthère and the Baiser Volé’s so I will try this one. Laurent is not my favourite perfumer either, but she has created some really good stuff.
I do think she’s very talented. And I do think this one will find fans. But my guess is that most of those fans will not be among those who loved BV & LP — we shall see if I am wrong!
And, will add, I often am!
Judging by your description this one doesn’t sound like quite my thing, but I will try.
Rose and violet seem to be Laurent’s “thing” a la Attrape Coeur, etc. As much as I love those kinds of scents when I sniff them, they become too sweet and cloying upon wearing.
This one sounds pretty awful – “berry”, “musk” and “plastic” in the same review tells me to RUN!
But thanks for taking another one for the team.
My thoughts exactly! Especially the “nuclear dose” of berry candy, yikes!
This one does not have the rose / violet thing that used to signal lipstick, though. I buy so few lipsticks that I am probably blissfully unaware of what scent signals lipstick these days — if this is at all accurate, it mostly involves fruit, vanilla and nondescript florals.
If you wanted a less sweet version of this, what you’d probably want would be Lolita Lempicka Sweet.
Yes, vanilla seems to be “the thing” for lipstick fragrance (and everything-else-fragrance) now. I have a low tolerance for vanilla fragrance, but generally can handle it better in lip color, where it fades very quickly, than in perfume, where it usually clings for hours and then goes stale in amost stomach-turning way — on me, anyway.
For the record, I am perfectly happy to use appropriate quantities of Penzey’s double-strength bourbon vanilla in my baking. Is it too early to make cookies?
It is never too early to make cookies!
Attrape Coeur is my all-time favorite perfume! It’s the reason why I keep trying Mathilde Laurent fragrances. Apart from Baiser Vole I have not liked any (though I do like Eau de Cartier Zeste de Soleil on my husband). I even hosted splits of some of the Les Heures fragrances when they first came out; but then ended up selling the bottles cause I really did not care for any of them!
The bottle with the pink overlay and pink atomizer hole detail is very cute. I may have to acquire the mini version,
It is darned cute, and the squat 30 ml is especially adorable.
Warning: Book size comment/comments await you, but with love, so it’s okay ^_^
This has been my most anticipated launch since finding out about it in Dec! I live for the BV line, can’t make up my mind about the Panthere line, the OG is just a bit off/odd to me, and lipstick/powder aren’t favorite notes of mine, so I was a bit worried. It breaks my heart that you hated it Robin! But, I’m a sweet queen, so your review is hopeful in my eyes! Haha! The plastic is throwing me off a bit, but I can deal. I wear a ton of celeb perfumes, and plastic/synthetic is their middle name. Haha! I’m pretty sure it’s available in the US, but lord have I not been to a mall in ages, and probably won’t be visiting one anytime soon. Damn it! Haha! Fab review, and I’m super jealous as always! Lol! ^_^
Oh! I haven’t even tried the BV Fraiche! Did you ever get to try that one Robin?! Makes me sad that I haven’t smelled it, and it’s been out for ages now. #tears #sooutsidethefragloopthesedays ~_~
I am pretty sure it is not out in the US yet, but guessing it will be soon, I don’t think Cartier usually waits for months/years to launch here. And you might well love it, so do give it a try — it could easily have been a celeb fragrance, and it’s better done than most of them.
I never did try the BV Eau Fraiche — had already tried the EdT, the EdP, the Extrait, and I own the EdP. Would not mind owning the Extrait as well, but too rich for my blood! I skipped the Lys Rose because Angie’s review convinced me I probably wouldn’t love it, and hey, time is short and perfumes are many
Did you try that one?
Oops…see Karin’s comment above, she bought it at Nordstrom.
Nordstrom! That’s where I saw it online! I’m pretty sure I’m gonna love it, so I’ll have to make it down there, and hopefully spot the Fraiche as well! ^_^
I have the Essence, and had the Rose! My sister drained my bottle! It was the “pink” version of BV, tart raspberry, or some berry, and fresh/watery flowers/”lily”. I liked it! It’d get another bottle for a summer fix.
I’d die to own the Extrait! It will be mine one day! Def. a bucket list scent of mine! Mmmmmm!