La Selection Aimez Moi

Caron is a historic house founded in 1904 which I consider a niche house because it only makes fragrances and loose powder and has given magnificent olfactory works, generally endowed with a lot of classicism for current "tastes" and other timeless ones such as the magnificent "Pour un homme" and Aimez-Moi work by Dominique Ropion which is possibly my favorite fragrance of the house (although I still have many to try) this perfume from 1996 and relaunched within the 6 fragrances that make up "La Selection" Collection of the year 2013-2014 under the command of Richard Fraysse, who was in charge of the house for several years, currently Caron has Jean Jacques as his chief nose and has a beautiful redesign of his bottles. Going back to the fragrance that we are dealing with today, Aimez-Moi has a marked opening of a fresh, ripe and juicy bergamot that accompanies a delicious Violet accord (very similar to candies of this flavor) and that little by little reveals the sparkles of star anise until it became the predominant note together with the violet (with the permission of my beloved Lolita Lempicka, this is the most beautiful anise I have ever tasted), a delicate and candied star anise slightly powdery with the note of iris and ionone and that after a while leaves see fresh flashes of a mint (which if it weren't for Ropion's mastery would have been a disaster in this composition) this cool mint note is linked to the aforementioned notes to give it a slight breath of freshness and never let the sweetness fruity peach, velvety gardenia and caramelized amber with light, almost transparent nuances saturate this composition. This is a beautiful fragrance, very well executed and that gives us joviality, it is perfect for the transition from winter to spring because it has a warm contrast, but I would use it perfectly throughout the year, a perfume that I highly recommend and if you find its original version even more because it has fewer green facets and focuses more on that wonderful star anise and violet note.

This is a very nice and original violet fragrance. I owned a bottle about 7-8 years ago - the shape was different from the one I have now, which is identical to the one in the picture. I seem to remember I could smell violets a bit more in the old version. In the 2013 version I can still smell them, but there seem to be more cardamom and anise, and the vanilla also seems to be more prominent. The fragrance smells lovely, but not like a fresh, just-picked, dewy violet flower: it smells more like a delicious candied violet (here in Italy we have them - real candied violets - in some special shops, and they are really mouth-watering!). It is very sweet, but not sickening (thanks to the mint and bergamot), slightly powdery, surely suitable for daywear and office wear. I never found anybody who found this offensive. I also noticed that this version sometimes makes me sneeze a little when I spray it, whilst this did not happen in the past. Maybe not all the reformulations are "allergy-safe"!!!! Anyway this is not a major problem for me, and I still enjoy this fragrance.

A playful scent, this seems to be the epitome of what people like to describe as "the french woman" - sweet, a bit flirty, smiling, sexy but not boisterous. She invites you to love her, to adore her. So does "Aimez Moi", so aptly named. You don't get the prettiest perfume here (although it is very, very pretty), not the smartest nor the most glorious, but you do get a joyful, well-made, handsome combination of sunny violets, fresh mint (brilliant!) and sweet peach, with a dry down of nice and fine vanilla, that carries you effortlessly along with it. I fell iin love. Hopefully you will too. Perfect for everyday wear, longevity is mild to moderate, sillage is rather good. IMHO, more of a winter-spring scent.

Dewy, herbal violet leaf, tart bergamot, and spicy sweet anise are what caught me at my first sniff of Caron Aimez-Moi. Then these components, along with cardamom, peach and rose, soon mingle within each other. The overall effect of such a well-blended concoction makes me think of dried candied prune, with the right amount of sweetness, tartness and spiciness. After about 3 hours, with anise becoming more mellow, the dried prune effect fades, revealing a soft skin scent of spiced violet and vanilla. I can also detect mint at this point, complementing the cool, chilly side of anise and cardamom. The sillage of Aimez-Moi is moderate at first. It then becomes a skin scent after about 3 hours and remains so for another 4 hours. I have never smelt the original Aimez-Moi, thus can't make the comparison. But as it is now, I find it beautifully blended, pleasant and feminine, yet intriguing and complexe, very original. I definitely recommend giving it a try.

Opening is a soft violet. It makes me think of a soft purple color in my mind. After an hour or so, the sandalwood and vanilla base become more prominent. This makes the fragrance stay on the sweet side, but it is not immensely sweet. It is a good daytime scent. It lasts on my skin around 7 hours, but it sits fairly close to the skin on me after two hours. I like Aimez-Moi a lot. I do not love it. I will gladly use my bottle, but I will not replace it.