Parfums*PARFUMS Series 1 Leaves: Lily by Comme des Garçons, 2000

Early on in my perfume explorations, I bought a bottle of Lily at the cool CDG boutique while on vacation in New York because I liked the peppery greens. Years later, I almost never wear it and only sort of like it, though I use it as a room spray a lot, just because it's around and I want to use it. It's mostly a mix of the familiar lily chemicals, very green and vaguely aquatic, with a shot of pepper on top, leafy greens in the middle, and a weird milky characteristic that reminds me of sap or the smell of a broken-open piece of aloe. Eventually, this is joined by some faux rose, which lends the whole mix a bit of a white floral quality, as well as a shot of powder. Once the powdery flowers come in, the perfume takes on a fairly realistic quality, though that fake green chemical character never really goes away and there's a waxy plastic note (a CDG trademark) that I usually enjoy in CDG's scents, but that I feel really exaggerates the artificial cheap undertones that are bothering me in Lily. Knowing what I know now, I'd probably pick Malle's Lys over CDG's Lily. It's very similar, but minus that plastic cheapness and with a part in the drydown that smells dead-on like stargazer lilies, which I love. That being said, I think the truth is that I just don't like lily scents that much. Oh well - live and learn!

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.