He said, She Said, the friend said, and the brother-in-law complained.
I've been wearing and loving Lys 41 from Le Labo since the press sample landed on my door step. It was an unexpected love since I'm not a lily person. I don't wear Un Lys (Lutens) or Lys Méditerranée (Malle) because they seem to swallow me alive. But something about Lys 41, the new fragrance from Le Labo, seems to work incredibly well and to gain the approval of friends and husbands, though not everyone liked it on themselves, and my sweet brother-in-law was not amused.
If you ask me, it's the tuberose. While Lys 41 is chock-full of white flowers, my skin amplifies tuberose and the warm facets of the musky dry-down. The husband found it very sensual and nicely sweetened. On me, that is. His own skin took the jasmine note and shot it to high heaven. However, not even five minutes after spraying the sharp green screech was gone and the orchidy vanilla and fuzzy musk took over. I definitely want to keep smelling Lys 41 on him, and the husband himself doesn't object, though he says it's not really his kind of thing.
A very discerning friend with a good nose also sniffed this Le Labo fragrance. My friend admired it when I wore it and was taken with it when she tried it on. I thought it was marvelous on her skin, warm and radiant, summer in a bottle.
I made my brother-in-law, a manly man whose current favorite fragrance is Voyage d'Hermes, give Lys 41 a try. It was a little mean of me, because really, he's not a lily person. At all. The good news is that he still loves me. The bad news is that I'm not sure he'll let me spray him with anything else anytime soon.
In any case, Le Labo's newest white floral is lovely. There's something in the base of both Lys 41 and Ylang 49 that seems to embrace my skin and wrap it in a mohair-like warmth. I love the light twist into vanilla territory in the dry-down which lasts for long hours and projects nicely. I doubt that Lys 41 is office friendly, but I'll say it's an incredible date scent. As long as you're not dating my brother-in-law, that is.
Notes: lily, jasmine, tuberose, absolute, woods, vanilla Madagascar, tiare, musks.
Le Labo- Lys 41 (from $58 for 15ml, to $700 for 500ml) will be available starting next week at Le Labo boutiques and Barneys. The sample for this review was sent by the company.
Art: Alphonse Mucha - Madonna of the Lilies, 1905
Funny that, on me, it was the lily itself which came out. Tuberose on you; jasmine on The Husband (yours, that is); lily on me. I wonder what it would have done on *my* husband? Thanks for letting me try it, lovely. xx
ReplyDeleteSounds promising... As is the Ylang 49. Lilies and ylang have a few similar characterisits. I'm on a bit of ylang ylang roll now, so I've been playing close attention! It's not easy to find good ones that are truly centered around ylang.
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