Vouloir Être Ailleurs C.G.

This is hard to describe. I grew up with a large garden that had two 150 year old Linden trees. I smelled their greenness in the spring, their sweetness when they flowered, and then we dried the flowers and some leaves, and made this thin, aromatic sweet tea with them. So, to say this scent is nostalgic for me, would be a huge understatement. This smells exactly, and I mean exactly, like Linden blossoms: Their light, airy, a little green quality, combined with their strong sweetness. Then you smell the beeswax, and the hay, and the acacia, lime leaf and Angelica and it all smells like a beautiful, huge summer garden in the countryside, somewhere in Central/Western Europe. It dries down sweet, light, and airy. You can indeed smell the "yellow florals", it smells like pollen a little bit, especially with the beeswax, and you do also smell the greenness, though it is not dark or heavy or spicy-maybe spicy how very light green, new leaves are spicy in a delicate way. The sweetness is there, the honey is there, it does dry down slightly powdery, musky, ambery. Overall, it is rather a simple smell. To me there is not too much going on, the different smells all merge into a single, wonderful smell. If you want to smell like a garden fairy, or simple be transported to a childhood garden, this is an absolute must-have.

I recently shared a post on my Instagram on linden blossom fragrances that I own and asked others for their favorites. Vouloir Être Ailleurs C.G. from D'Orsay was mentioned most often and with enthusiasm. When I looked further into the release, I noticed that it was composed by Olivia Giacobetti, who also was behind the 2008 reformulation of Tilleul D'Orsay. Essentially, this could be considered a relaunch, with perhaps some modifications, but I am wholly impressed as someone who holds such a fondness for linden. It captures that golden yellow feeling of the blooming linden tree, reminding me of sitting under the canopy of an age-old specimen, taking in the splendor of the fragrance with sunlight filtered through the boughs and a light breeze cutting the humid air. It opens with a brief watery melon facet that soon fades into the verdant, tart, honeyed linden blossom in Technicolor. The addition of hay and beeswax (as in the previous Tilleul) punctuates the linden with a pastoral quality, feeling simultaneously fresh and earthy. It's absolutely magnificent.

Perfect linden. This truly captures a snapshot of a summer day lazing around under a linden tree with its polleny, slightly honeyed scent drifting in the wind. It begins very much as that impressionistic snapshot of dewey fresh ozonic notes before settling into an absolutely true realistic scent of linden and dried grass and hay up close. In that way, it is very similar to Giacobetti's treatment of lilac in En Passant, which similarly begins as a portrait of a rainy spring moment before slowly closing in on the hyperrealistic smell of a faceful of a wet lilac blossoms. This is utterly beautiful. I can see why some folks see a connection with her l'Ete en Douce, but that scent for me is much more about the enveloping white musks even though it has a similar linden note in it...this is the pure flower rendered more realistically. I'll be curious how this reads in the summer. Right now in the winter it's time travel, transporting...a sense of being somewhere else not as bleak and dreary and I'm so happy to have it around to smell.

Love this one. I just tested it in the shop on Rue du Bac. The tester bottle bore the name "Tilleul d'Ailleurs" and the (lovely) salesman told me it was the new name of Vouloir être ailleurs, which is indeed the reinterpretation of the historical Tilleul. I pass a magnificent lime tree in bloom everyday this time of year, and this frangrance really captures the tree's essence and magnifies it. EDIT: 4h later it is more subtle but still lingering as a skin scent. I'm not a huge flowery perfume girl, so to me this one, which captures the tree in bloom rather than a flower or bouquet of flowers is the perfect balance between floral and vegetal/green. Some green scents can be a bit harsh or lacking in softness, but not this one. So refreshing and comforting. I might have to pick up a full bottle soon!

I blind bought a sample of this because my initials are C.G., and it ended up being a happy coincidence that it's a beautiful fragrance that I like very much. I was shocked when I saw the notes here, because this is floral floral floral to my nose. I was expecting some very sumptuous white floral note like magnolia, but it seems like the linden blossom is doing all the heavy lifting here in a way I have never smelled before. It leans very white rather than yellow to me. I don't get much hay, a little in the dry down close up, and I don't get any beeswax myself. This reads as a very heady green white floral to me. The epitome of spring, but I think it's a good summer wear and something luscious in the deep dark of winter to remind you of the coming thaw. 8.5/10.

Such a gem! Wouldn't expect less from the amazing Giacobetti. This is pure brightness, happiness and melancholic sweetness. I simply adore it. It remembers childhood, when you spent spring and summer days outside running and then resting under the amazing scent of linden trees.. Can't stop sniffing my arm.. Every note is balanced and none is overpowering or cloying (which is not easy for this type of fragrance). It also remains very elegant and feminine and not childish at all! I find it very comforting and sensual (in an elegant way) at the same time.

You ride the bike through the linden grove in May or June, the sun is already warm, but that summer shirt still meets a teasing chill in the breeze. All around, honeyed fragrances swirl, a sweet promise that summer is just on the verge of embracing you. The scent itself is a gorgeous, natural delight—slightly green, yet sweet from linden blossom, with a hint of honey. Not that cloyingly sweet honey note—just a gentle whiff, the kind you catch when linden blossoms fill the air on a warm day. It’s a gorgeous, gorgeous scent.

Reeeeeally well done, angelica, linden blossom, acacia and hay are really photorealistic and pop - it's green and fresh and with delicate blossoms. I compared it with Tilia which also has a photorealistic linden blossom note: this one is like walking past the linden trees on a chill early morning when you can still see the dew on the grass, whereas TIlia is a walk on a hot day in a midday sun with bees buzzing in crowns of the blossoming linden trees - pick your favorite, but they are both absolute bangers.

I was absolutely stunned by the beauty of this fragrance - it is the most realistic linden blossom scent I have come across, actually the most realistic floral I have smelled EVER. Though I love many floral fragrances, I do often feel that they don't quite hit the mark in terms of photorealism, but the delicate honeyed scent of this fragrance instantly transported me to a dewy spring day when the scent of the linden is at its freshest and sweetest.

Claude Monet ́s "Haystacks". A painting featuring stacks of harvested wheat, bathed in the golden light of early morning. Each stroke of this perfume shows Giacobetti ́s deep connection to the natural world and her ability to see beauty in the ordinary. You can almost feel the crisp morning air and hear the rustling of the wheat. This fragrance is a reminder that even in mundane moments, there is magic to be found. Really good!.

Swoon-worthy. Gorgeous. I’m weak in the knees. This is the honeyed essence of a midsummer late afternoon in the countryside: flowers, leaves, hay, sunshine. If you close your eyes you might hear the buzz of a fat honeybee passing, drunk on nectar. For linden flower fans it will be love at first sniff. Olivia Giacobetti, I thank you one thousand times.

If golden sunlight sifting through budding leaves in spring had a smell - it would be this! This fragrance is dressed in a crisp well fitted green suit with a beautiful overlaying linden faucet which softens the edges. In the top notes I also get something aquatic resembling cucumber which lends another dimension of freshness. Adore this scent!

bulgarskaya.rosa below nailed it. Photorealistic green linden blossom scent. It's potent but not super long lasting, like most scents of this type. Overall it is of excellent quality and nicely priced. A little gem for green-floral scents fans out there.

Smells like spring. Fresh, naive, delicate, joyful - I absolutely adore it. Smells like fresh lilacs to me, maybe because I've never smelled linden blossoms in person.

I love this delicate perfume! Sweet and innocent but sophisticated at the same time. I get the honey in the best way! I could wear this everyday.

Hmm.... Got this after watching Sebastian The Perfume Guy review linden scents in one of his 28-minute long videos he produces twice a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. Nobody talks more about scents and knows more than Sebastian. I just wish he would hire a good video tech so Sebastian stops looking at us like he is our neighbor, standing on a box, peering over a tall fence. "Do you know Vouloir Être Ailleurs C.G. D’ORSAY? Or would you like to know more about Vouloir Être Ailleurs C.G. D’ORSAY? Stay tuned and I will write down my impressions of Vouloir Être Ailleurs C.G. D’ORSAY!" Took his coupon and bought a bottle blindly. I sprayed it on today after a four mile run and a Nivea Oil gel shower. I was clean and my hair was still damp and this fragrance matched my effervescent and energized mood. It comes from the nose of one of my favorite perfumers, Olivia Giacobetti, and I think of her like I think of Jean-Claude Ellena, as masters of subtlety and a kind of obtuse gracefulness. They always try hard but achieve their goals by seeming effortless. Nothing in here is recognizable as a note. Think of it as a sharp, tangy, citrus like flower with grassy and herbal accents. Something in here is barely detectable as candy bubble gum (honey?). It's definitely a spring scent, early spring, which is when I'm wearing it, that time when the air in Southern California is full of the smells of jasmine and orange blossoms, and our Japanese plum tree has little white flowers. "It does have an ephemeral quality in tandem with her graceful and elegant way of conducting things," says Adahn, a reviewer below. This is also fresh and clean, two adjectives I dislike in perfumes, but they apply here because this is a bracing, wake you up kind of EDT. Do I strongly recommend it? Not really. But I think this will grow on me. It needs time, some maturation, maybe some maturation of the fragrance and some maturation of my personality. For now it's a bit raw and experimental. The perfume and me.

Lime blossom trees in the park at the end of a long warm, June day. Long shadows and probably the sound of kids playing in the distance. It's getting very slightly chilly. You put on your wooly jumper and realise your arms have their first tinge of sunburn of the year, it makes you shiver a little. It delights me that Olivia Giacobetti does this every time! First with Philosykos she takes me back to my late teens, wandering through the fig groves in Greece, down to the sea on a hot morning but with a lovely cooling and gentle breeze. Then it's Drole de Rose and a memory that catches my heart - my grandmother's face cream and her gentleness when I was ill. This has just enough lime blossom (and it definitely has it, I have a natural absolute of lime blossom/tilia cordata so it's recognisable) . Too much and it's literal. And in fact straight lime blossom is very pretty, but here we're looking at an experience of the trees. So this is how Giacobetti experiences them. It's nostalgia in a bottle, even verging on melancholy, because it's getting cooler, time to leave the park. Reminds me of a Haiku I heard, I can't remember the exact words, something about a mum calling to her child: 'you can play, but only for a short while'. Haunting, lovely. Big like. (Though I wish my French was better, this name is almost unpronouncable!)

I really like this even though i could never stand to wear this. linden blossom always gives me a nauseous feeling. turkish people love drinking linden tea and i have a lot of dried linden flowers in my closet, and they give me the same nausea as this. What i do appreciate is how natural and delicate this smells. its so dewy and so green. takes me right back to springtime in may while im freezing in the november cold. It doesnt smell like acacia sadly, which was a main reason for my desire to try this out. the beeswax is present too but it feels kind of washed out. like it was cleaned out with a soap. cool concept, underwhelming result. It does result in a very pollen-like scent, but i feel like linden smells like that anyway. Im feeling dizzy as im smelling this yet i cant help but appreciate its beauty. its not anything WOW but thats probably because im not a linden enthusiast. if u love linden and you love spending time outside during spring you will 100% love this. i can also appreciate the realism in this. its not afraid to be what it is. the linden is heady and polleny (and dusty by proxy). but i am #teamheadywhiteflorals so i dont think id personally buy this

This is an interesting scent. It’s a lot more hay forward than i expected. I smell a slight sunscreen note. Little white flowers. A cup of herbal tea. This is very light and pleasant, and natural. Like a warm day in the countryside. A scent you might not ever attribute to a perfume but instead someone’s own skin.

Realistic linden blossom scent: dry and powdery! I can really distinguish any other notes. It’s literally like smelling a branch full of blooming linden tree: nothing less, nothing more. A bit tooo floral for me, I prefer lighter (and muskier) linden, mimosa and acacia frags. Follow me on IG: scent.guide

Lemon, honey, hay and pollen. Like walking through a field on a spring day. A fresh/daytime scent but not insipid, there’s a bit of heft in the fragrance. Smells very yellow. Not my style of notes personally but it’s an interesting and well made perfume.

This is the most "standing in the middle of a garden in full bloom on a warm day" fragrance I've ever tried. It doesn't smell of any one flower in particular, and it's more of a watercolor blend than a clear and vivid experience.

Another great take on Linden blossom. Very delicate. I think it would be so great to layer with The Body Shop Moringa body butter (which to my nose is very close to linden blossom) to get a more prolonged sillage.

Starts out like green laundry, then becomes a mix of leaf and linden flower. Herbaceous but sweet. Unfortunately, the drydown has a harsh soapiness on my skin that is a bit unpleasant.

Warm and agricultural. When my dog goes outside to lay in the sun, he comes back in smelling like this. A hay ride on a sunny day

I thought I would love this, but it’s not the case. It’s meh. Linden blossom and hay is what I get. The linden blossom has a delicate, honeyed facet, but here it loses that facet, as it quickly turns into dried linden. The undercurrent of hay makes it a bit bitter as well. Although it lasts long, the sillage is weak, which is a pity.

Old fashioned soapy yellow floral with citrus notes and lots of pollen, some honeysuckle. Very pronounced hay notes. A little too soapy and a little too sour for my personal taste, but it's a nice and fairly naturalistic scent.

I think I don’t like a hay note.....

Imagine an autumnal Monet haystack turned into a scent. The hay note overpowers what would otherwise be beautiful rindy lemon and fresh beeswax. This perfume brings me straight back to cleaning horse stalls at thirteen. "Vouloir Être Ailleurs" translates to “would rather be elsewhere,” which feels like an apt descriptor.

I was beginning to worry this whole house would be a bust. But this one is very, very good. C.G. is a linden blossom fragrance, with a citrus-y top, floral heart, and musky/ambery base. It's so rich though that I get a chypre sort of impression from it (and I love chypres.) I also find it to be quite spicy. Not sure where that's coming from. It instantly reminds me of the smell of rows and rows of pleached lime trees in the formal gardens around Paris. There is also the *tiniest* hint of something animalic (maybe the beeswax, or maybe I'm just imagining it.) It also reminds me of my beloved Lumiere Noire Pour Femme by MFK - another romantic spicy yellow floral that smells like Paris <3

L.B. and C.G., the orange blossom and the linden blossom and my two favorites from D’Orsay thusfar. This is light and easy in the Olivia Giacobetti style, natural like catching a whiff of something amazing while walking by a garden. In this case it’s linden blossom made super realistic with the slightly humid, putrid nuance of hay and beeswax...subtly reminds me of the chlorophyll and moisture at work in the rest of the tree. This fragrance’s light formula works perfectly with O.G.’s style because if it were more potent (as they did with F.M. En Passant) I think it would become too opaque and synthetic, losing some of the magic realism. 3.5 out of 5.

EDIT: Hell no, the hay ruins this for me. I tried this again and I feel like i'm in a pasture hauling hay. If you like the smell of hay, here ya go! It's a big fat no for me. This is such a vintage smelling old fashioned linden blossom fragrance. If you’re looking for a freshie that isn’t neroli or citrus then give this one a shot. Linden blossom is one of those notes you don’t get too frequently and definitely smells vintage. Unisex for sure. I think this is a very cool fragrance perfect for someone who wants to smell clean and fresh and also unique and different. Has a LE LABO feel.

This is potent. Only a tiny drop gives a substantial sillage, but the scent itself is quite one dimensional. I was sort of expecting a fresher and greener take on linden and acacia, however, C G stays thick in the color yellow and becomes a little too much for me sometimes. Since this was a vintage formula reworked and resurrected by Olivia Giacobetti, it does have an ephemeral quality in tandem with her graceful and elegant way of conducting things. Reminds me of the start of springtime, where there is still exhaustion from winter, yet hope is beckoning upon those who wait.

FM en passant but with beautiful linden blossoms instead of lilacs. Add a bit of hay and some dry sweetness instead of the juicy, rainy cucumber in en passant. Both are incredible, but it is a pick one, not own both. Giacobetti has made them a bit too similar. En passant is a masterpiece, but this one might be the best linden you can buy. Not too many good linden scents on the market, even though liden blossom smells divine. On the other hand many, many lilac renditions out there. Choose wisely.

Such a sophisticated scent. Simple, linear, fresh, nostalgic. Reminds me of high school - a little bit of suntan lotion, a youthful fragrance, nothing harsh or aggressive. I have a linden tree in front of my house and this scent will always connect with that memory for me. I'm so glad I found it! Love Olivia Giacobetti!

I like the smell of Linden trees in bloom in Paris. D'Orsay came close to imitating that smell, but I am disturbed by Neroli and Orange Blossom and I am not a fan of Ambroxan overdosing. Dina_France (YouTube perfume reviews)

Airy green, slightly metallic, floral like small flowers in a bouquet, reminiscent of orange blossom and cologne

This is everything the notes promise. Fresh green flowers, hay and a spoonful of spring honey.

It’s presented as Tilleul D’Orsay under a new name.