I have not had very good experiences with most of the Cartier fragrances. Of course, I have not had an opportunity to smell their boutique line since Portland does not have any stores that carry those very expensive perfumes, but the regular lineup is available at Nordstrom stores. One of the worst masculine scents I have ever smelled is the “bug spray” of Roadster, Pasha is equally unfortunate, and the feminines Must de Cartier and Le Baiser du Dragon are both heavy, tired and outdated Oriental style scents. The more recent Délices is not much better, being a very sweet and cloying gourmand scent and not for everyone, certainly not what the kind of customer Cartier is courting would seem to want, and some of their fragrances seem to be a poor match for the upscale image a high end jewelry company wants to project.
The talented new in-house perfumer Mathilde Laurent has slowly been turning the fragrance division of this house around, first with the Les Heures boutique line, then with the critically panned De Lune, released in 2011 but which I have yet to smell, and now we have a new entry in Baiser Volé (it translates to something like “stolen kiss”) which is a welcome departure from the usual Cartier style. It is a lily scent with a lilting greenness, very pleasing and not overpowering as some lily perfumes can be; I love them myself but sometimes even I want something lighter. This new fragrance has elements of the crushed green stems and even of the lily bulb itself, a snapshot of the flower if you will, and it holds up very nicely throughout its development. This is the most natural-smelling fragrance Cartier has done in many years and I really like it.
To put this perfume in context, it is lighter in character than Donna Karan Gold, which for me does not work because of the “pencil shavings” woodiness that overwhelms the lily note, and it’s certainly less intense than Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle’s monumental Lys Méditerranée or Lalique’s sweetly fleshy Flora Bella. Its closest kin in lily perfumes is niche perfumer Ineke’s Gilded Lily, a very green and fresh lily scent with a chypre influence, and although Baiser Volé is not as green, neither is it vanillic in the base like Un Lys by Serge Lutens, although it does have just a touch of powder to it. I have a special fondness for lily scents, and this falls into the “just right” category, the Goldilocks’ bed of lily perfumes, suitable for office and summer wear, yet not too shy and pale to display its distinctive lily qualities. Find it only at Nordstrom in the U.S. until September 2011, where it is currently an exclusive. Prices range from $55 - $145, starting with the bath and body products at the lower end.
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