03/31/2014
ScentFan
332 Reviews
ScentFan
6
Pushing Up the Lily
What I like about Le Labo is their scent compositions are not only memorable, the perfumes project, and have no-nonsense longevity and sillage. It's as if someone said, "We're going to do this right." From their website: "Imagine a brand where two specialists in fine perfume who love swimming against the current and, inspired by Mike Mills' declaration about 'fighting the rising tide of conformity,' decide to bring together, in New York, some of the very best 'noses' on the planet. Their mission: to create exceptional fragrances, with no eye on cost and one goal - to create a sensory 'shock' as soon as you open the bottle. They succeeded. I don't even like the smell of lilies, the primary note here, but I love Lys 41 and its imaginative use of supporting florals including the exotic Tiaré, the gardenia often seen in the hair of Tahitian beauties in paintings by Paul Gaugain. Lys 41 did indeed shock me with its sunny beauty. This is no lily meant for a coffin. Instead, it raises Lily to a height that could conceivably revive, if not a person, a dead nose, anyway. Not the least dark or cloying, nor overly sweet, Lys 41 is femininity in a bottle on a bright spring day.