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Browsing by tag: lily of the valley

Yosh Sottile, Ginger Ciao & Omnistar ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Jessica on 17 September 2020 9 Comments

The early-2020 closing of the Barneys New York flagship store on Madison Avenue was a sad moment for me. I’ve been shopping there for fragrance and makeup for longer than I care to admit, and I have happy memories of meeting the creators of various cosmetics and perfume brands during “personal appearance” events on the beauty floor. One of those creators was Yosh Han, whose line of perfume oils was carried by Barneys and was popular amongst Makeup Alley perfumistas in the early 2000s. I remember chatting briefly with Yosh and telling her how much I liked Winter Rose, among other scents in her collection.

I always kept an eye (and a nose) on Yosh’s work and even ran into her from time to time during her recurring New York visits. I worried a little when her perfume oils started vanishing from various online retailers a year or two ago, and then I was relieved to learn that a rebranding had been in progress…

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Les Parfums de Rosine Muguet de Rosine ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 1 July 2016 9 Comments

Les Parfums de Rosine Muguet de Rosine

Last year Les Parfums de Rosine launched the limited edition fragrance Muguet de Rosine. Apparently it’s very different from the earlier (now discontinued) Muguet de Rosine; this version is a composition of bergamot, pear, lily of the valley, rose, jasmine and white musk, developed for Les Parfums de Rosine by perfumer Nicolas Bonneville (who also created La Cologne de Rosine, which I enjoyed trying last year).

Although Les Parfums de Rosine is one of my favorite niche perfume houses, I have mixed feelings about lily of the valley scents. I prefer seeing and smelling actual lily of the valley flowers to wearing lily of the valley perfumes…

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Hermes Muguet Porcelaine ~ fragrance review

Posted by Robin on 13 April 2016 66 Comments

lily of the valley

“There’s so much subtlety in lily-of-the-valley that I’ve often dreamed of sublimating it. I dived right into its fragrance in order to reproduce the beauty and supply voluptuous quality of this flower which is fragile as porcelain.” Jean-Claude Ellena

Muguet Porcelaine is the latest to join the Hermessence range at Hermès, and the choice of subject, lily of the valley, was something of a surprise, to me at least.1 Perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena widely cites perfumer Edmond Roudnitka as his mentor, and Roudnitska, of course, made Diorissimo, surely (if you think otherwise, don’t tell me) the reference lily of the valley.2 It struck me as highly unlikely that Ellena would wade into those same waters, so I was expecting a sort of meditation on lily of the valley, not really a soliflore or even something I’d necessarily recognize as lily of the valley.3

But no, surprise surprise, what we have here is exactly what the name suggests…

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Stella McCartney L.I.L.Y ~ perfume review

Posted by Robin on 16 February 2012 77 Comments

Stella McCartney L.I.L.Y advert

British designer Stella McCartney can hardly be accused of flooding the (perfume) market with product. Her first pillar fragrance, Stella, launched in 2003. She has followed up with a series of variations and flankers, but has not done another pillar scent until this year. The new one is L.I.L.Y, reportedly named for her father Paul McCartney’s nickname for her mother — LILY, for Linda I Love You. The name also refers to the scent’s lily of the valley note; according to McCartney…

I love lily of the valley; I find it to be breathtakingly beautiful. It’s also a very innocent looking flower, with a real freshness to it. I love that it blooms only fleetingly, in Spring, and that it grows in the shade, not in direct sunlight. It is fragile and innocent and delicate, yet it also has this sharp green leaf contrast. How to capture all that in a fragrance was a real challenge […] I know it’s not particularly contemporary, and I wanted to modernise it.1

And modernize it she has…

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Longwood Gardens Always In Bloom ~ perfume review

Posted by Robin on 27 April 2010 55 Comments

Longwood Gardens Always In Bloom

It’s very nearly May Day. On May Day — May 1st — the French traditionally buy lily of the valley bouquets, and perfumistas traditionally wear lily of the valley perfume.

Your options, of course, are many. There are the classics: Christian Dior Diorissimo, Caron Muguet du Bonheur (I checked, they’re still making it), and Guerlain Muguet (they usually release a new version every year on May Day in Paris). There are the modern niche fragrances: Parfums Delrae Début, Van Cleef & Arpels Muguet Blanc, Parfums MDCI Un Coeur en Mai, and if you can get your hands on it, Annick Goutal’s now discontinued Le Muguet. There are the chain-store standbys: Crabtree & Evelyn, Woods of Windsor, Yardley, Taylor of London and Caswell-Massey all make lily of the valley soliflores. And of course, there’s the budget option: Coty’s Muguet des Bois (I checked, they’re still making that too and you can even buy it at Target). There are no doubt many others — please comment if you know of one I missed.

Longwood Gardens’ new fragrance, Always in Bloom, is likewise focused on lily of the valley…

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