Cartier

Baiser Volé EdP by Cartier
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Baiser Volé EdP by Cartier

Hey there Crew. I’m so sorry this post is late and I have no excuse at all except my organisational skills have taken a beating over the summer break here in Sydney. It’s finally got really hot here and we are also getting some very humid days. Sticky heat is nice but I’m glad it’s not always like this.

Jin and I are back at the gym and swimming and doing aquarobics. It’s so nice to have the venues back open again and both of us have some weighty covid kilos that need to get gone ASAP. In the heat of summer being immersed in water is my ultimate relaxation, even when logging the laps or panting my way through an aquarobics class.

JEFFREY SMART book

This week a couple of mates and I went down to the Nations Capital, Canberra, to see the Jeffrey Smart exhibition at our National Gallery. We arrived 30 minutes early and a snaffled one of the volunteer guides and she took us on a whirlwind of some important pieces in the galleries main collection. It was a very interesting capsule look at their important works. Then for the Jeffrey Smart I asked if there were Guided Tours and the boy on the door said, “Look for the badge that says “Ask Me About Jeffrey Smart.” OK, so I saw a couple of those badges on women chatting to each other and asked if they could take us around and explain. WOW! One woman, Jenny, was so excited. We went right to the beginning of the exhibition and for the next hour she transfixed us. So much information, we really got a deep dive into Jeffrey Smart, his use of colour, space, lack of story. We watched as his paintings evolved and progressed through the years. From his first watercolour self portrait at 19 to his very last oil painting, just before he died. I loved him before but now I’m in awe. (Above picture is the book of the exhibition.)

Baiser Volé EdP by Cartier 2011

Baiser Volé

The last few days I’ve been wearing Baiser Volé because it’s soft, dewy lily on open is refreshing and bright. I love the way it warms on my skin over the next 30 minutes and becomes a warmer, resinous lily. It starts to smell like a Georgia O’Keefe painting. Interesting, abstract, light and dark pushing against each other. It’s a quiet explosion of the dream of lily. Perfect for summer but also surprisingly good in the cooler months. Mathilde Laurent has such a way with fragrance, Cartier is lucky and clever to have her.

See you next fortnight.

 

Do you wear a lily soliflor, or any fragrance with lily as a note?
Portia xx

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Which 20 Would Portia Keep?

Hi there Crew,

Recently Undina (What Are Your Top N Perfumes?) and Tara (My Perfume Collection – Top 15) have done their “which would I keep” posts, following on from from Vanessa (‘Be more Undina’). After you’ve read this go have a squiz at theirs too. Who doesn’t love lists, right? So, I’m thinking “Damnit! I want to do this too.” It’s such a mind blowing, freak me right out, dumb assed thing to want to try because invariably my head explodes. Then the next day I instantly start second guessing my choices and that can rattle around my head for a couple of weeks before my brain lets it go. BUT! I also love doing it, just to see what my head and heart come up with this time.

Jin and I have often talked of buying a van and travelling through Europe for a couple of years. As part of that adventure my mind instantly goes to “How many perfumes would I take and which would they be?” So I’m kind of experienced at it now. Problem is some of them change, HA! Impossible, right. Usually I say 25 bottles and a bunch of samples/decants but in all honesty I think it will more likely be 10. So today I’m formalising my ideas for you all and myself. Subject to change at a moments notice.

You might want to grab a cuppa or a boozy bevy. This post is LONG! Continue reading →

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Baiser Volé by Cartier

On my recent visit to Nordstrom the friendly SA slipped into my shopping bag two samples of the new perfume by Cartier – Baiser Volé.

First – Cartier isn’t one of the houses that I have any sentimental connection to, I’ve never owned or even liked any of their perfumes. Second – I usually do not test mass market perfumes right away: I get them, stash away, try the perfume during my next trip to a store on a blotter and then, if I liked it enough, maybe, at some point I might test it on my skin. I don’t know what happened this time. I blame Dee with her mainstream scents testing (this and this). And the SA who was so enthusiastic about getting this perfume and being able to give me a sample (she was telling me about it a month ago and waited for it to arrive). So last weekend I mentally mapped my escape route to the sink with hot water and sprayed Baiser Volé on my wrist.

LilyCreated in 2011 by Mathilde Laurent, Baiser Volé is all about lily. It starts with a strong burst of a lily scent. It smells like those lilies in a bouquet which you’re not supposed to leave in the room where you sleep (has anyone tried it ever? I haven’t but I remember that rule from when I was a kid). The smell is so intense that it’s impossible to say if it’s natural or artificial. In 10 minutes it calms down to … more lily accompanied by some synthetic peppery note.  And then (in 2-3 hours) it dries down to … yep, even more lily. Somewhere in all that there is a powdery aspect but I can’t remember exactly on which stage I smelled it and I’m not testing it for the third time.

I wore Baiser Volé on its own first and then side by side with Pur Desir de Lys by Yves Rocher. They are very different in the first 10 minutes when Cartier’s creation is much more intense and loud but after that, without knowing which wrist was sprayed with which perfume, I would have had a really hard time telling them apart. Unfortunately, Yves Rocher discontinued its lily perfume and though it still can be found on eBay, its price isn’t that much more attractive than the price of a new perfume from Cartier. And the latter has a better designed bottle.

So, if you really like lily and want to wear a soliflore based on this flower, Baiser Volé might be not a bad choice. For me it’s too simple and… too much. I didn’t get a headache but I was bored. And, in addition to that, the name annoys me. Why a Stolen Kiss? What does a loud, blaring scent of a lily have to do with a daring but still tender moment which I imagine when thinking of a stolen kiss? I have no idea. If this perfume were to symbolize a behavior I would say it calls for a restraining order.

 
Image: my own