No. 08 L’Eau Baptiste

Looking at the ingredient, I never thought this perfume could be so green. It's very fresh, I smell fig- but its not in there, it's not too sweet nor too flowery - which I like. Plus the packaging is really unique. I bought it at Hotel Costes in Paris (actually I want the whole series, they are gorgeous!)

This gem will remind you of early spring mornings. It smells exactly like the ingredients. Mimosa, orange blossom and honey. Maybe even linden blossom as well. The dry down is a cedarwood as soft as iris! Since the entire line is discounted, the entire collection is a must have.

Sniffing L'Eau Baptiste on the blotter and on my skin, I don't detect prominent indolic, oily nuances of orange blossom, nor any of the bitter greenness of neroli. Instead, it's a clean white musk adorned by a subtle touch of sweet orange blossom, and hugged by a soapy crystalline greenness. The whole effect actually makes me think of mimosa and linden blossom. The fragrance shifts incrementally with the already demure floral sweetness fading even farther away, and the leafy greenness gains an upper hand. L'Eau Baptiste is now a breeze blown from blossoming mimosa and linden tree, refreshing, vivid and suave. The sillage is quite close, and the longevity is around 7 hours. Since I'm very interested in mimosa and linden fragrances these days, the fresh, vegetal L'Eau Baptiste is very enjoyable to me. However, with multiple similar options more readily available, L'Eau Baptiste lovely as it is, does not necessarily stand out among them.

I spritzed this without looking at Fragrantica and the purported notes and just thought "Cucumber!" Then "Watermelon-no-Cucumber." It's a lightly sweetened top-note cucumber, then lightly scented very lightly indolic (not oily) orange blossom/linden accord. This is a lovely l'eau, but in a scent-saturated market, I'm not sure this will stand out. I think it's a great substitute for when you're tried of the Aqua Allegorias and you want something "fresh" light and summery. This is a pleasant day-time, warm-weather scent, though it doesn't stand up well and fades to a discreet scent quickly. I would be interested to see if others pick up a distinct "cucumber" scent which fades after about 20 minutes. I like cucumber quite a bit, but would not buy a bottle of this as it fades too quickly and is not in other ways a particularly "standout fragrance."