En Passant (2000)
by Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle

I was sure I'd like this, but alas I'm with those who find the sharpness of this lilac unpleasant: on me there's a sour, bitter note that should probably give a "green, true-to-life" freshness but actually smells like a privet hedge. It reminds me of Penhaligon's Bluebell in its bitter green floralcy.

16th November, 2011.

This is the sort of cool and wet green floral scent you catch in passing as you walk past a windswept garden, or trudge along the edge of a dew-drenched forest. You can smell it in whiffs but you can't quite identify where the heavenly scent is coming from. The water element (presumably from the cucumber note) is well-rendered: crystal in its clarity and refreshingly cool. Projection is excellent, with more than a touch of muguet in the florals.

I really don't understand why gender identity needs to be assigned to scents as wonderfully evocative as this. Much like PdN LeTemps d'une Fête in 2006, EN PASSANT is fit for ALL mankind. Not the most compelling of Giacobetti's compositions but extremely well-executed.

9th November, 2011.

FEMININE!

I smell flowers and bread. Actually I'm pretty sure it's a single flower, because it's a fairly clear and defined note. The "information" section of the page doesn't mention the flowers, but from the other reviews I've come to understand that it's lilac. The information does mention wheat though, which would explain the bread smell. Although I don't really detect the smell of cucumbers and orange leaves, now that I see that they're supposed to be in their it does feel right. Single flower notes are usually kind of flat, but this here En Passant has personality, like Arnold from Green Acres. That's one charming pig.

Regardless of my enjoyment of this fragrance, it's very feminine for a unisex. I had a co worker tell me that it was nice, but she wouldn't have chosen it for me, and that it was a bit feminine. Normally I try not to let others' opinions sway my own, but I felt that it wasn't for me as well. Great fragrance though.

10th July, 2011.

This is a potent sharp lilac. It doesn't match my Pacific Northwest experience of lilacs either. I get the freshness here, and also disconcertingly the odd bread dough effect. I get a slight head ache from it, so I'm trying to give it a fair appraisal. I'm not wow-ed by this..I kind of think it is crying out for heft or depth...instead of being a simple bathroom soap lilac.

1st February, 2011.

Olivia Giacobetti is adept at filling her canvas with a minimum of paint and En Passant feels vividly inhabitable despite its Après L'Ondée-like etherealness. It's a walled garden replete with graceful fronds and murmuring fountains and a quiet vitality breathing through every element, among which sway lilacs brimming with pollen and a few cucumbers damp with dew. Especially lovely is the faint wheatiness diffused throughout, as if drops of Bois Farine (from that other olfactory impressionist, Jean-Claude Ellena), were plink-plonking into a pond hidden somewhere nearby. In case it were needed, En Passant is yet further evidence that Giacobetti is a wellspring of delight. It also smells now like an earlier, greener, breezier rendition of the scene found in L'Ete en Douce (L'Artisan), but I think this original is best for its understated lushness.

26th January, 2011.

Lilac and cucumber - who would have thought that such a simple accord could be so evocative, even hypnotic?

Olivia Giacobetti, that's who. In her characteristically limpid style, she's managed to bottle the essence of spring. The lilacs are "wet," but there's nothing remotely aquatic about this fragrance. It's fresh, but its freshness is so elegantly rendered that it puts all of the vapid fresh scent clones on the market to shame. Heartbreakingly beautiful.

29th November, 2010.