parfums*PARFUMS Series 1 Leaves: Lily (2000)
by Comme des Garçons

Lily is a cool, limpid, and elegant exercise in minimalism. The citrus top notes are sharp, sour, and acidic, with an air of cider vinegar about them. Crisp and slightly astringent green notes then herald the transparent lily accord that emerges in their wake. The brisk greens and tart citrus ward off the suffocating headiness that burdens many soliflore fragrances. The end result is bright, clear, and summery.

Lily is a simple scent, linear and not all that long-lasting. It's also happy and uplifting, and I think it makes a great warm weather pick-me-up.

10th December, 2009.

I guess I’m joining the fan club here: This is a quiet and lovely lily of the valley scent… remarkable for it’s simplicity. It opens green – too green, but it doesn’t stay in greenness very long. It softly takes on the lily of the valley note, supported by an unaccustomedly quiet freesia in the background giving just the perfect complementary vibrations. From there Lily simply lets its beauty slowly wane and dissolve.

…A graceful feminine beauty with good sillage and longevity..

14th November, 2009.

Wow. My aversion to most lily fragrances (though I admit I've learned to love both Lys Mediterranee and Penhaligon's Lily & Spice) made me avoid this one for such a long time, but this isn't really a lily scent at all, it's a lily of the valley scent! And the purest, best, truest to life I've ever smelt! I love Diorissimo, but in comparison it's much more "perfumey" and with lots of other things going on beside the lily of the valley note. This is pure, fresh, green lily of the valley perfection.

15th September, 2009.

what a lovely floral. it smells of..well, you guessed it right! Lily!. i really like it when a scent makes you forget that you are actually wearing one. the experience becomes very pure and real. i cud imagine myself sitting in a plush hotel where the air filled by the smell of lily with the smell wafting from a big decorative brass tank filled petals of lily over water..

13rd August, 2009. (Last Edited: 18th August, 2009.)

No way can I give such a lovely scent any bad criticism. An airy, green lily with a little bit of pepper. Very nice!

21st June, 2009.

It's a story oft repeated I'm sure: A sample passes under one's nose (in this case, it hailed from trusty Twolf), it kinda registers a thumbs-up, a trial wearing is made, the vial is put in the pass-along pile, it almost makes it out the door when a haunting "better make sure" wearing is made, and, ohh-ohh--this may be something special.

This lily is my lily-of-the-valley scent, but it doesn't get there right off the bat. The juice starts out so bracing and tart (imagine an unripe lemon!), you'd never think it was on its way to becoming a floral. When it finally calms down, POP! you're wearing a bouquet of those pretty little white-bell blossoms surrounded by broad-blade leaves. No old-fashioned romance here, no powder or other add-ons. Luca Turin thinks no one ever really wants to smell exactly like a plant. To quote Bugs Bunny, "He don't know me vewwy well; do he?"

I believe CdG is no longer producing the scent, but stock remains on the market from Lucky Scent, which is where I paid full price for my bottle (that's saying something). I don't wear this scent often, because it's clearly got a springtime attitude, but it's a wonderful shock of scent when I'm wanting an unabashedly fresh floral presence.

Notes: Lily-of-the-valley, freesia, dog rose, green syringa.

11th June, 2009.