Baiser Vole

Last weekend, my husband asked me why I keep getting perfume samples, and I told him "I'm looking for the perfect scent that encapsulates who I am and who I want to be. Something light and floral, but warm and comforting. Something that smells like the outdoors without smelling too literal. Something that a mother would wear just as easily as a CEO or a woman on a date. Something I can wear effortlessly no matter the occasion. Something our kids will smell and know it as their mom's scent." Tall order, right? In my quest to find the elusive "perfect signature scent," I've tried white musks, solaflores, and gourmands. I've tried scents that replicate my mom's signature Chanel Coco (because when I smell it I think of my mom, and what's more comforting than that?), and scents that are described as "younger Coco" (nice, but not for me). There are aspects in all of these perfumes that I've liked, so when I went to Nordstrom again this week, I knew I wanted something with light florals, green notes, and a little woodiness and warmth, with decent longevity and close to moderate sillage. The SA at Nordstrom had me smell lots of scents that were nice, but not quite right. I was prepared to leave with more samples, none of which quite fit the bill, all of which I would keep trying in hopes that one would grow on me. And then, in a last ditch effort, with a bit of a sigh, she asked "well, what about this one?" She sprayed BV on a paper swatch, and it was PERFECT. Lilies are my favorite flower - my dad has gotten me a bouquet every Valentine's Day and birthday since I was a little girl, we had them growing in our garden when I was a kid, and I carried a bouquet of white lilies on my wedding day. BV smells just like lilies, but not just the flower - the whole plant. It's like fresh cut lilies from the garden, with sweet earth, and sharp green stems. I eagerly sprayed some on my wrist and asked for a tester so I could see how it develops. I was not disappointed! As it dries down, some of the greenness in the top calms down, as a woody, powdery, almost vanilla base develops. I walked around the mall for an hour, and I kept getting a whiff of this magical perfect scent. I left and went grocery shopping, and it followed me there, too. Five hours later, I could still smell it when I changed for bed. BV is the perfect scent for me. It's floral without being JUST flowers, it's green without being JUST green, it's powdery and woodsy and vanillic without being overbearing. It's just so beautiful.

Stolen Kisses in Spring... First Impression: Baiser Vole literally means stolen kiss, and this holds true to the name. Delicate, yet powerful, it's a fresh, green, spicy, powdery & succulent lily...this is a good scent for looking forward to spring after the winter break. I find lily here as somewhere between water-lily and lily-of-the-valley, but just a touch spicier - not enough for a spicy main accord, but still. A few hours into the drydown this turns sweeter, almost a creamed-honey-tea. For a soft white-floral, this has surprisingly good performance, but it isn't a beast, and could be worn anywhere, anytime. I'll wait and see what this is like in warmer weather, and then update my review, but so far a 10/10. Update 04/20/25: Sprayed this on today as it seemed an appropriate Easter lily for Easter Sunday. It hasn't changed much from my first impression, except it's gotten creamier, and maybe a little stronger performance - still a photorealistic lily with a creamed-honey-tea drydown. Classic lily love. Here are some contrasts: Contrast to Pleasures Intense Estee Lauder: These are different, but there are some similarities with lily. However, Pleasures Intense evokes a photorealistic lilac for me, with a softly sweet maple-esque drydown, while Baiser Vole evokes a photorealistic lily with creamed-honey-tea drydown. Both have excellent performance. Contrast to L'Instant de Guerlain EDT Guerlain: These are different, but there are similarities with a white-floral creaminess. However, L'Instant de Guerlain has a more forward citrus accord and a thicker creaminess that evokes more magnolia & gardenia, while Baiser Vole has a lighter freshness in the opening, and the creaminess in the drydown is softer and more powdery. Both have excellent performance. Contrast to La Panthère EDT Cartier: These are different, but the openings are similar somehow. However, La Panthère EDT dries down into a chypre similar to La Panthère EDP (only less intense). Both have excellent performance.

You are already aware that the principal accord is the lily note. But perhaps you were oblivious to Mme Laurent's prowess in giving such breath and life to a note so that a masterful perfume was formed. The lily is fresh and light, and quite green too. By quite, I mean that it falls within that delicate midway between a slap on your face chypre green and white floral powdery green, you know, that rather curious and delicate balanced act. In addition to floral greenness, there is an almost airy spice soap to the drydown... not quite spices but there is a hint, a promise that the fragrance will develop some complexity to itself. It never quite reaches that mark as what you will be presented with in a lighter-type bottle (a bit odd concerning the elegant juice) is a rather linear, but far-reaching, light, but faintly persistent, simple, but elegant fragrance. I love lilies. Every other Sunday after service I buy a bouquet of flowers and it is usually the white lily. This fragrance is to me the experience of trimming and arranging the bunch for a fitting vase. This is a fragrance that requires consistency and dedication. People might never compliment you on your fragrance while on the bus, but if you are consistent, your colleagues will come to associate this scent with you and might remark during a company lunch, "you always smell so good." I do not see this fragrance ever being discontinued, but I find my heart lies with the parfum version. An improvement, if I might be so bold to claim, on an already masterful offering. The best time to test/ wear this is during warmer days.

If you don't like lily and green notes, you won't like this. That's fine--more for me then! Baiser volé (Stolen kiss in French--the acute accent is crucial) is to the white lily as Diorissimo is to lily-of-the-valley. No, neither is a soliflore, but one note rises above the rest, and in Baiser volé it is the white lily (a fragrant Easter or Stargazer variety, perhaps). Yes, there is an elegant woody base to keep things from getting too strident, but they're listed only as "green notes," which might mean stems and leaves, the smell of flower shops, or it might mean a more sylvan green, a forest-floor sort of mossy green. Here I think it is more of a flower-shop green, but I'd still say it's slightly woody. All that is just quibbling, though, because really this is ALL about the white lily, from stem to stamen. It just hit me what this perfume reminds me of: Sparkling White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor (not the regular White Diamonds). This one is greener and less soapy, but they both fulfill my personal criteria for "clean girl" fragrances. I could see putting either on after a bath, before getting into bed, but it would be just as appropriate to wear either to a meeting or a lunch date. Chances are that anyone who smells you would assume you had just used a luxurious soap, shampoo, or lotion. I like to spray both on handkerchiefs because they linger so beautifully on fabric. Also, for many people in my demographic cohort, white lily is the smell of soap, specifically Ivory soap, with which many people have positive associations (I do).

Dewy, Baiser Vole is dewy, its creamy, green and really fresh, it is such a pure, innocent scent to my nose and its such a realistic soliflore. The bottle, with it being from such a luxurious heritage house, is in itself a work of art; apparently its inspiration was a powder compact and I can see that, exceptionally well crafted and feels solid, it closes with a satisfying click. The scent itself is gorgeous, a very pure, fresh photorealistic lily and whilst it is a soliflore, its not boring and as one reviewer said, its 4D in experience; you get every stage of a lily's life cycle on your skin from the crisp green notes of a lily thats just about to open, the cool pepperiness of a freshly bloomed lily and then the creamier, green, slightly banana-y scent of a lily thats getting ready to start its cycle all over again. Aside from a florests shop, it kind of reminds me a little bit of Kerastase shampoo (Bain Discipline, orange bottle) and a bit of clean, freshly lotioned skin. Longevity is decent with about 8 hours of wear but it sits quite close to skin, I dont find it to be cloying or stuffy smelling whatsoever and it could easily be worn year round but I personally think its better suited to spring and the summer months, office safe, easy to wear and really inoffensive. It's a scent that anyone of any age could wear, it just smells fresh, its a solid love and a future repurchase <3