En Passant

I’ve been eyeing this for weeks, (along with Vilhelm A lilac a Day, which I haven’t smelled yet). I smelled en Passant for the first time today and right away bought a 30ml. It’s an amazing piece of work. It gives me a very specific memory, I’m 6 years old wearing my Easter outfit in my front yard ,the morning is bright, and the grass is dewy, I’m waiting for my mom and dad to load us into the van for Easter service, my stomach is full of chocolate and candy, and I feel anxious about going to church. I don’t have anything like this nor have I smelled anything ever like this. I have only smelled a few lilac fragrances , most recently Aerin Lilac path, but they are such different styles of perfume in my opinion. Lilac Path is more close to what I would expect from a lilac perfume, ( a bit powdery warm at the end) . En passant is a beautiful memory for me, maybe a bit less pleasant to wear than my top floral obsessions , but far more beautiful & artistic and far reaching to me. This is one of those bottles I absolutely knew I needed even if i only smell the bottle every day. What a creation. I love both En Passant & Lilac Path. But they are Not even close. I would put En Passant in the same taste/style as Diptyque Ofresia, and Eau Rose, Byredo La Tulipe. It’s not similar to them but they are of a similar style to my nose. En Passant is not an every day floral for me. It’s too specific for me. And brings up a weird feeling & memory. And The wheat note is quite different but goes so perfect with the lilac. I only pick it up if I think about trying to separate it from the lilac, otherwise it blends seemlessly. every thing Olivia Giacobetti creates is phenomenal. Her Ofresia fragrance is one of my top top faves. As well as of course Philosykos in every concentration. Honestly, Philosykos to me is more in the family of En Passant even though one is a fruit and one is a floral, they are together in my brain. Such a specific smell. Something freshly edible about them but NOT gourmand, I hate gourmand. For reference my every day scents are , Gucci bloom (pink) & Philosykos EDT.

Where I grew up in the near-Midwest lilacs were common but sparse across our area. Coming across one was a special moment. Even as a young child the smell of lilac called to me. I can very clearly remember smelling it on the breeze, even at a good distance, and my little face would beam with a smile and I’d gleefully call out “Mom! Dad! Can you smell the lilacs?!” Olivia Giacobetti’s composition for Frederic Malle, En Passant, or In Passing, if I was to be a solipsist, seems to be written to those wonderful memories of mine. A cool spring morning, evening dew still in the air as it starts to evaporate in the gentle rising sun, a breeze brushes my face and body carrying with it the powdery, purple and white, nectary sweet, soft and fleeting yet confident aroma of lilac acting as a balm for the nose and the soul. En Passant smells like that. I cannot be objective about this perfume; it summons so many memories that I am incapable of separating them well enough from the technical part of my brain for it to do what it needs to do. So, all I can and will say is that Giacobetti did a marvelous job with this composition. Every note is crystal clear and photorealistic. I am going to stop there, take my leave of you, and continue my walk down the lilac lined sidewalk of Memory Lane.

I used to work at harvard, and on my way to work every day I walked through a residential neighborhood where every house on the block had at least one lilac bush, of every variety from white to deep purple. I would spend every spring and early summer stopping at each bush and inhaling deeply, observing how the flowers' scent would change in character as they budded, bloomed, and eventually died, and i've been searching for a fragrance ever since that captures that experience of burying your nose in a fresh, uncut lilac bush. en passant captures this experience. on the first spray: shockingly realistic green lilac, stems and leaves included. almost immediately it dries down to the heavier, sweeter scent of crushed lilac blossoms. it transitions quite quickly into a more intimate skin scent, but for me it just perfectly captures the experience of gathering a handful of overripe, damp, dying lilac flowers from the sidewalk and taking a deep inhale - an intimate, indolic floral you really need to look for, but is so worth it to find. this is a love letter to my favorite flower, and a very dear memory of seasons in a phase of my life long gone

So, hear me out. If there was ever a perfume that could have coaxed Tiny Tim into one of his whimsical falsetto trances, it would be En Passant. This fragrance is a delicate watercolor of lilac blossoms, cucumber water, and a fleeting whisper of wheat. It smells like stepping into a Victoria Island Songhees spring garden just as the morning dew is evaporating, which feels entirely in harmony with Tiny Tim’s childlike eccentricity. You can almost imagine Tiny Tim, ukulele in hand, inhaling that lilac breeze and declaring, “this is what tulips sound like when they laugh.” En Passant doesn’t stomp and it doesn’t march. It tiptoes. Some reviewers below say the scent is weak. It is not. It’s fragile, peculiar, and oh so beautiful, the kind of perfume that makes one believe tulips can indeed sing back if you lean in close enough. So, remember, darlings: if you wish to walk through the garden of life on your tippy-toes, humming falsetto and making the daisies blush, En Passant is your ticket. Layer with fennel heavy Francis Kurkdjian's Aqua Media Forte Maison for a sumptuously scandalous Songhees spring salad bar in paradise.

So beautiful, so so beautiful. I've been hearing about this one for ages and the descriptions usually sound like poetic hyperbole. But lo and behold, it really is all that. On the blotter, it smells like a sepia-toned photograph of a lilac. But on my skin, it's like catching the scent of lilac in the air on a warm spring morning, just before the dew burns off. Somewhat like with Philosykos, Giacobetti created not just a scent here but an olfactory mise en scene. It's stunning. I'm testing out a sample now but not sure I would invest in a full bottle. I'm noticing a pattern with Frederic Malle perfumes - they are scents that I feel like I need to keep samples of for reference, just to be able to smell now and again because they are incredible works of art and heartbreakingly beautiful, but for me they might not be so wearable. With En Passant, although I appreciate it and even love it, would I actually reach for it? It's so translucent and ephemeral. I wonder if it would get exasperating to feel like my scent is always passing by on the breeze, just out of reach.

This was my wedding day scent, and I will always have a bottle in my collection. Getting married in the high heat of an Australia summer automatically ruled out some of the fragrances I typically love, so I went looking for a softer floral fragrance that was unique, had personality and wasn't something I'd smelled on a hundred other people. En Passant was it. I don't always love aquatic scents, because they can have the artificial freshness of a cleaning product. En Passant is watery and aquatic in the way cucumber is. It's fresh and quenching, but without any screechiness. Combined with realistic, sun-drenched lilac and a hint of dewy grass, this made the perfect scent for an outdoor garden/park wedding in summer. Now, I reach for it in the middle of summer when I want to feel refreshed and uplifted. It's a calming scent, relaxed and happy, softly romantic like laying on a picnic blanket and closing your eyes while the sun beats down on your skin. This is a masterpiece and stands apart from other soft floral scents.

initially very green, that cucumber and basil really come out for me, the opening reminds me of the greenness in philosykos (no shock there as its the same perfumer), after it settled on the skin i got more of the lilac and the woody base. i really enjoyed it, i found its longevity to be pretty up to par for green scents (maybe not up to par for price point but i am of the opinion that not every perfume needs to be beast mode) i sprayed it on my hand and about 5/6hours later i could still smell it if i waved my hand around. it really is delightfully beautiful, reminds me of laying in my moms garden on a sunny day with a fresh clean set of clothes on. comforting but still fresh and relaxing! definitely recommend a tester, but if you enjoy greener scents like “you or someone like you” by etat libre d’orange, “premier figuier” by l’artisan perfumer, “debaser” by ds & durga or “philosykos” by diptyque the likeliness of you liking this scent is pretty high!

Among my earliest scent memories are those of lilacs blooming in my grandmother's yard in May, just as temperatures begin to warm up and fun times in her above ground pool were just around the corner. Even at a tender age I marveled at the intense aroma from the pale purple clusters, leaning in to get them close to my nose, almost studying them with my little active mind. I was destined to have a lifelong love affair with scent. In En Passant ('by the way; in passing"), Olivia Giacobetti strikes a balance in composing this complex floral. She imparts the aqueous, cool green qualities and what is indeed a cucumber-aldehyde-like ambience of the lilac head space, pure and dewy. She also shades in among the airiness and moisture the textured, pollen-yeasty nature of what lies behind the scent of lilac. It elicits a near euphoric effect in me because this brings me back to the unbridled joy of my childhood, as it is such an accurate rendering.

Wow, wow, wow. This is a heavy, pendulous floral featuring a larger-than-life lilac note, along with LotV and other notes that give it a decidedly white floral edge. The lilac is a good, realistic lilac note, and overall this feels like dunking your face into a cool pond with lilacs around the edges, their petals falling in and creating its own enfleurage. It's really entrancing to smell right up against the skin where you can smell all of the dimensions, but she projects quite far. This is all the things I love most about perfumes: lilac (one of my favorite flower scents), watery, cool, green, and refreshing. The floral accords take front stage and a part of me wishes the fresher notes were a little more prominent, but it's close to perfect as is. It's a heavy scent that is sure to turn off big floral haters, but that only leaves more perfume for me! 9/10.

Not sure why I waited so long to buy this one. This is pure lilac on me. I don't really smell anything else, maybe some draft of cucumber here and there. Some wheat ? A little bit aquatic. Absolutely beautiful. A masterpiece of modern perfumery in my opinion. Olivia Giacobetti fragrances are usually quite weak and no so long lasting (I know, I own a couple). NOT this one. It is much stronger than I thought and that makes me so happy. I actually don't understand the reviews complaining on how weak this is. 2-3 spray of this in my hair/neck and I smell like lilac for at least 6 hours. Definitely worth the price tag since I'm gonna wear this one quite often. Office/romantic situations/going out for groceries/cleaning the apartment. Every occasions :) This might become my go-to fragrance. I don't need any other lilac fragrance anymore. This is the one.

Ce parfum restitue avec beaucoup de justesse l’odeur du lilas au printemps. Dès l’ouverture, une sensation d’eau fraîche et de feuilles vertes vient au visage, puis le lilas apparaît peu à peu, aérien et gracieux. On y perçoit aussi une nuance subtile de blé, qui, portée par ce fond aqueux et végétal, rend l’ensemble encore plus léger et élégant. Ce que je trouve le plus intéressant, c’est sa façon de diffuser en “petites touches”. Une fois vaporisé, en marchant, on le surprend par moments : un sillage discret, comme une brume parfumée qui revient par vagues. Même après 5 à 6 heures, quand il devient difficile de le sentir clairement sur la peau (sur moi, les floraux et les boisés tiennent rarement longtemps), il reste encore bien présent sur les vêtements. Et si on le vaporise directement sur tissu, tenir 8 à 9 heures ne pose aucun problème.

A lovely cool, green, watery opening, with lots of strong, fresh, green lilac and cucumber being the prominent notes. As it dries down a softer, sweeter, dewy lilac comes through with the warm, wheaty, ambery base notes. This is a very soft, clean, gentle fragrance - there’s something about it feels a little nostalgic and whimsical. Leaning out of the window of a stone cottage on a misty spring morning in the Scottish highlands, smelling the broom on the moors and the cut grass and wet lilacs in the garden. Feeling compelled to venture out, still in your white nightgown, huddled into your lover’s thick brown coat that still has the faint wheaty musky smell of him clinging to it. I really, really like this one, and I have a travel size, although if money were no object a full bottle would definitely be in my collection now.

Clumps of pale purple and white blossoms so heavy that they pull down their boughs, dipping themselves into a cool, lazy, meandering stream. A sofe breeze flowing over the water and through the blooming riverside canopy. Neighboring tender white flowers swaying like bells at the foot of the shrub. Breath. Peace. Blissful solitude as the thrush sings above, echoing off the damp margins of paradise. En Passant is ethereal and gorgeous; wet, musky, alive Lilac. My third favorite Lilac perfume (I may have a few)...and one I reach for often, especially when spring hits. I love to layer this with Petrichor (Ghoulish Goods), or Green Spell (Eris) as I'm a chypre fan at heart. For me, the queen of lilac fragrance has to be A Lilac a Day (Vilhelm), and French Lilac (Pacifica) is a sturdy second. 9/10....

This is beautiful. Real lilac on the bush on a warm, balmy day. Maybe it just rained a couple hours before too as I detect delicate, realistic watery notes. There’s something sweet when it dries down that’s heavenly and kind of sexy. Reminds me of walking in my old neighborhood in Boston when spring really started to get warmer-I remember promising myself I would find a fragrance that smells like that. This is it. I also appreciate that this is one for every age, it’s not mature but it’s NOT immature. It just is who it is and it’s confident but graceful. My ONLY qualm with this is that it sits close on my skin. Its so beautiful I want it to project and leave a serious trail! If it was more affordable it would be an absolute love and an end to my search for the perfect lilac perfume.

I may have previously reviewed this, but I now have a deluxe sample so it's easier to apply and enjoy. It without a doubt the most gorgeous lilac perfume I have ever tried and I plan on ordering a full bottle come this spring. Most of the time, lilac perfumes ends up smelling like bathroom air freshener to me. This smells the way I recall fresh lilac smelling while in bloom, with one difference - it's not as dense as the real thing. I like the light and quality En Passant possesses. I guess I should say watery given the watery notes and cucumber, but to me it translate to delicate airiness. I'm happy to have the deluxe sample, because I know I'm going to need to reapply once I have my full bottle! It's a cliche, but this really is springtime in a bottle in my opinion!

This is such a wild scent... so well-captured and so special for that reason. I do have a theory that it may have driven my nose absolutely mad and given me a bit of an allergic reaction... but I also live in a very polluted city and we were having a bad air day today when I wore it for the first time. Not sure if real flower allergy tendencies can translate to their perfume copies, but I hope not because this is a beautiful scent for an attainable price, and next spring I'd love to buy a bottle. It doesn't last incredibly long, but I was careful with my small sample, so maybe a few sprays helps it extend a little longer. A must-have for lilac lovers, especially since it sits close to the skin, and wouldn't bother any lilac haters around you, I'd think. Pure magic!

Alas... Where do I begin, here I see the scent profile and I think to myself I wouldn’t enjoy this one. Because it is aqueous and there is lilac. It may be too green and harsh etc.. A close friend of mine ( also a fragrance addict) recommended this. And I literally slept on it. But the freshness this perfume gives me, that unique harmony... this is somehow reminds me of my childhood. Cucumber, wheat,petitgrain. This is the epitome of summer for me and it is everything I want my summers to be. So of course I bought this for my 28th birthday this year. Fun fact: Olivia Giacobetti is an excellent perfumer and we share the same birthday so it even means more that I bought this one for my birthday...

I'm crying, partially because it's almost a certain time of month, I'm sure, but also because this scent makes me remember being alone and walking through the backyards of folks who lived near my school on the way home when I was avoiding a bully on the bus and finding happiness in the lilac bushes in their landscaping. It makes me remember, too, my husband picking lilacs for me all of the time and putting them into a vase when we were very young. It's 43F right now and I just feel such teary eyed comfort at having found this scent. Granted, it hasn't been on my wrist very long, as I just got it out of the mailbox five minutes ago, but I rushed here to write about how fantastic this scent is. 🥹

Mmmmmmmm. Lilacs in full bloom, humid but cool, dripping with dew, surrounded by green leaves, even the woody branches of the living plant are faintly detectable in the far background if I close my eyes and picture it. This is fresh and lively and very realistic lilac. It is 3-dimensional, with honey and powdery elements weaving in and out of the pure lilac note, contributing to the sensation of plunging your nose into the petals on the bush. The fragrance remains pretty stable on my skin over time, which is actually a plus in my opinion because, when reaching for this, it's because I want to carry with me the gorgeous scent of fresh lilacs, which is exactly what it provides.

I am not the type of person who is drawn to fragrances like this. I wear stuff like Overture Man by Amouage, Chanel Antaeus, and Guerlain Heritage. All a very far cry from En Passant. The first time I smelled this I was blown away. Damp lilac flowers in their most fragrant state. In my experience whenever a brand tries to replicate a very realistic floral sensation it can come off as synthetic, or it just smells off. This smells exactly like walking past lilacs. One of the fragrances that truly deserves to be called beautiful. A 10/10 for me, and it will likely remain the most "different" fragrance in my collection for some time.