La Chasse aux Papillons

I ordered a small 5 ml decant after using a 1 ml sample in a flash. I'm very picky with tuberose and gardenia, so I was so surprised to fall in love with this. Still, I couldn't wear it every day - special occasions only. It's so romantic, that I prefer to wear it at night. Champagne, viognier, rose, or chamomile tea is the wearer's drink of choice. Oh, and absolutely a white dress, like cake 'n cuddles says. During the day, I can hardly take myself seriously enough wearing Papillons. The opening burst has a fruit candy note that reminds me of a scented doll I had as small child. That must be the linden blossom (?), but it goes away in a mere minute. I'm surprised that everyone decries the longevity. Have you ever tried to catch a butterfly? Or watch a butterfly? They flee... so quickly... Butterflies seem mythical for this reason. On my skin, the scent lasts 2.5 hours on the outside of my forearms (where there's hair to grab it) and while the sillage is soft after the opening, it's along the moderate side of soft. I certainly don't mind reapplying, because I enjoy the enchantment of the opening. At 3 hours I can still detect it, but the sillage is right next to my skin. Update: 8 hours later and my skin still smelled like La Chasse... it was as soft as possible, but my skin was obviously scented. This perfume is meant for spraying in hair and on clothing in addition to the usual spots. Touch up with one spray/dab later if you like. Combine this thorough application with the use of La Chasse... body milk and/or shower gel (available on ebay) and you're golden. *You* are the butterfly being chased. Please note, I'm not one to recommend bath and body products based on perfumes because I usually find them overpriced and redundant. I believe that La Chasse aux Papillons perfume and the corresponding bath and body products are all worth the price. Sadly, I can not afford to wear all these products the way I'd like to. Even if money was no object, I couldn't justify the purchase because spring in Ontario is so brief, and summers are too humid for me to wear tuberose (I'm picky). It just doesn't seem smart. I'm happy for now with my decant, though. Update: 3 sprays lasted a beautiful 6 hours on me last night, although it felt a bit strong for the first 20 minutes. :) p.s. Spray directly onto skin in close range, no more than an inch away. Do not do the "spray into the air and walk through". This may fix the bulk of the longevity issues. Update: I was wearing this perfume when I went to an outdoor concert... and discovered that someone I know has a crush on me. I didn't think he thought much of me... but he hugged me a certain way, stared at me from across the green, and the person he was with kept looking at me with curiosity and a certain kind of knowing. When he spoke to me, he inadvertently gushed, then seemed embarrassed... my heart went out to him. He is a very lovely man and I'm really flattered. Now, whenever I wear La Chasse, I'm reminded of how sweet and surprising people can be. (Although I wasn't wearing a white dress, I was wearing an ankle-length black pencil skirt and a white linen button up shirt over a white lace camisole, with the sleeves rolled up and top 3 buttons undone). ** I've been layering La Chasse with Demeter Linden blossom. It's utter beauty. My baby niece grabbed my arm and started tasting it. Luckily, she doesn't have teeth yet, lol!! Update: I finished 6 mls this summer easily - so I bought the 50 ml bottle. When I look at the new reviews above now - I'm so excited Lesley A loves this. I just knew it would suit her!

After having this for two years now, I can safely say that despite having tried many more scents since La Chasse Aux Papillons is still undefeatedly one of the Most Beautiful Perfumes out there. It meets all classical notions of beauty: ethereal tuberose, dainty fairy-light lime blossoms, non-indolic sunny jasmines, the character of this fragrance can recall history’s beloved pastoral fairytales, Daphnis et Chloe or the dance of the Korngold fairies in Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935). In essence, its an unashamedly sincere depiction of the flower-wearing Ophelia girl archetype. But i do have a gripe— it’s not really the perfume itself but to seek Only perfumes of the same Beautiful style because if all you have are similar smelling perfumes you could end up sick of it like I did. Overall this perfume is great! Just don’t overspray. Even soft perfumes can be overpowering if overdone Edit: After writing a review i relearned a lesson— longer does not mean better and short and to the point is good too! And as everything balance is key. UPDATE 2021: I may have said that but have you tried Prive by Ormonde Jayne? Wedding bouquet-worthy and the same price as La Chasse Aux Papillons! But especially DSH's Venus & Cupid-- which is a more dreamy Papillons, along with April Aromatics' Liquid Dreams, which is a more hypperreal Papillons and superior quality Lime Blossom perfume. And please try, which is now my favourite floral, Divine Gardens! I can't get enough of it! Divine Gardens is now my favourite floral of all time, along with 51 Essence by Roja Dove. I'm glad I didn't give up on florals or I would have never discovered such an evocative, deliciously dreamy garden thing! I ONCE again cannot tire of beautiful things. I suppose, the more evocative and viscerally physical in qualities the better!

I just dabbed on my last precious drop of my sample. Sad face. Happy face however, that I am right now blissfully surrounded by one of the most scrumptious, natural-yet-straight-from-fairyland, floral bouquets my nose has ever enjoyed. Mmmm. Honeyed, silky white petals, pollen, and if the sunshine on those magical, low-humidity, zero-haze, and everything is sparkling days, that pop up from time to time, had a scent... it's in there too. I know I'm offering no new info, but when a scent makes me this joyful, I like to talk about it. :) I am a linden lover, and in my opinion, the linden note does not stand out, yet it ensures that what is to me, a mostly tuberose perfume, stays polite, light and ethereal. This is just flowers. Nothing added, nothing synthetic.....nothing but petals. Simple, but done so beautifully. Exactly what I gravitate towards. I'm a sucker for compliments on my perfume. It's not why I wear perfume, but knowing I smell pleasant to others is a day brightener, and honestly ups my opinion of the fragrance. I wore this yesterday to the dentist, and when he was finished checking my teeth he thanked me for making his job easy with my already clean teeth, and "smelling amazing.". The hygienist chimed in in agreement, and I proceeded to blush, happily. He asked for the name and says he has plans to purchase it for his wife. I was planning on ordering a nice little decant due to the price, but when something is this good, I do think a full-bottle splurge might be in order.

I hear the intro to Vangelis' "Spiral" as I picture scores of butterflies fluttering about the tree blossoms. Pollen is shaking off the stamens, the whole scene verges on awe-inspiring chaos. Panning out, its a legion of butterflies: monarchs, swallowtails, admirals, whites, elfins. They are taking back their earth and the air is beaming with the fragrance of linden, green, sweet, tart, and ambrosial. The linden pageant is rendered thicker and sumptuous with the blooms of tuberose, the ones that overnight will be visited by an army of moths, hypnotized by their aroma and pearlescent white hue. Their night shift offers the same display, flooding the skies, silhouettes across the moon. We zoom into the feathery antennae of one of the moths, we realize it's almost like fish-bone, with intricate detail as we move in even closer. The smell of the flowers is in their DNA. Le Chasse aux Papillons is a brilliant pairing of linden blossom with white florals, one of the most direct florals I've had the courage to wear and in which to lavish. I feel that it pushes the nose to a new frontier for me, facing the initial discomfort from what at once seems overwhelming, even stifling, to what is near ecstatic. I can lean into the fantasy of the lepidoptera kingdom and imagine being viscerally drawn, much like them, to the flowers.

I am EXTREMELY HAPPY with this creation! I've always had a few "fantasy fragrances" in my mind that I wished to one day find (or even create if I had to), well this is one of them....I've found it after all these years! At first it's instant, realistic honeysuckle that blends into a smooth, light tuberose (the tuberose is just about identical to that of Alba Botanica's Midnight Tuberose if you're familiar; not heavy, intimidating or cloying). After about an hour I'm left with the tuberose on top of a bright linden. There's a bit of orange flower in there for the duration, too. No musks, no woods, no typical, heavy base notes. It's just sooo fresh and delightful and floral the entire time! I sprayed my skin 12 hours ago and I can still smell tuberose, but only up close. The sillage in general is not strong...one has to be close to detect it. It's been said before, but now I see that the best way to describe this scent is "sunny summer morning surrounded by flowers and dew". It's such a sweet fragrance, and I don't mean in terms of smell, but in personality. My new signature scent!