Tilleul (1955)
by D'Orsay

A beautiful light sweet floral to be enjoyed by both men and women. Dries down into a floral wood. Good.

I love linden blossoms. They are joyous, green and sweet, yet wild and grassy. This is a reilable imitation of linden blossom, a feat accomplished with a balance of green, mildy fruity, tangy and sweet notes, foremost of which I smell the rind of watermelon and some grassy florals. Really, it is hard to describe. I am impressed that this perfume originated in 1955, is still available, and yet so few Americans have been exposed to linden soliflore. I tried the EDT, but I would recommend a stronger concentration. For those who have trouble finding this brand, Diptyque also has a Tilleul which is similar.

Love it and i'm a brunette! it's spring and summer-y. My husband loves it on me too. The dry down is not non existant just a hush of scent which I love for work. I do not attribute an age to this fragrance but a delicacy. I am a Musc Ravageur person (!) so Tilleul is a real 180 degrees in every way. It's non citrus-y, natrually earthiness is fresh and feminine. So, like wearing the color red, black or violet, it's all about mood and style.

At first, I have to tell you, I was a little stunned by Tilleul. This stuff smelled like lightly sweetened hay, maybe hay and honey, and it was heavenly, absolutely heavenly! While it lasted I was obsessed with it. Ultimately, however, I concluded that IMHO this is a lady's perfume, a young lady's perfume (or maybe a young man's, say someone in his late teens early 20s). Anyway, I picture the ideal user of Tilleul as a natural blonde, who is not pretentious or affected; someone who is fairly natural without making natural-ness into a political or "life-style" statement. A person who eschews most florals as too obvious and ubiquitous. When I think of Tilleul I think of Grace Kelly but not as a princess or an actress; or maybe Diane Lane. What a fantastic fragrance this is!

Tilleul is fascinating. It instantly transports me to times of horsebacking riding on warm summer days. I smell linden, honeysuckle and honey, and something very green; but the predominant note, to me is hay. The hay note smells fresh and exciting, and beautiful. I love horses, so Tilleul is a kind of comfort scent for me, bringing with it happy memories and hopes for future fun. Tilleul just blows me away! The lasting power is all right, but I wish it were better. Still, the fragrance is so amazing and enjoyable, it's worth it to have to reapply.

Opens up very nicely—light floral and a dominant watermelon—sweet, too—the watermelon is a great note but doesn’t last long. With the movement to the heart and the loss of the watermelon, the scent becomes very (I mean very) floral. The basenotes are, all of them, apparent from the beginning, which is a good thing because they add a brilliant complexity to the fragrance. The beeswax provides sweetness, the acacia wood provides depth, but my favorite is the cut hay—such a clean, natural earthy note to contrast with the (excessive) florals. This is a brilliant composition and I, very much, admire it in spite of the following three objections. First, its linearity—this is the least serious of my objections; in fact, it may even be a strength of the fragrance because the accord presented is inescapably beautiful. Second is its longevity: but maybe for a scent of this type (basically a non-citrus, light summer scent), three or four hours is enough, so I won’t complain too much about number two, either. My third objection is a statement rather than an objection: I don’t think this is a unisex fragrance. I think it weighs in on the distaff side—it is quite…beautifully…feminine. So, you see, none of my objections are really objections. It’s a resplendent fragrance…for women.