Cartier Baiser Volé: The Beauty Of the Lily + 30 ML “First Kiss” Draw

 

 

Dear readers, I promised you a review of Cartier’s first true soliflore, Baiser Volé-   

I don’t mooch on my promises.

 

 

[Cartier doesn’t wish to reveal the notes, which is its prerogative; but then, no one should be affronted if I extrapolate a bit ;-)]

Recently, a study was done regarding men’s favorite flowers-

And lily topped the list.

It has been suggested that Mathilde Laurent wished to create a lily fragrance that would entice men into stealing kisses from women wearing it.

There it is.

 

 

Creating a lily soliflore isn’t simple at all.

For one thing- the lily stubbornly refuses to yield herself up to distillation or enfleurage, so all attempts must be made to reconstruct an authentic-smelling interpretation.

Many existing lily fragrances depend on large quantities of Calone or other potentially screechy aromachemicals, in an attempt to express the limpid, watery quality of the lily.

Cartier’s does not, and THAT is unique.

 

 

It is clear that there are very fine quality materials at play in Baiser Volé, and that increases my pleasure exponentially

Cartier’s Baiser Volé is utterly pleasing, on many levels.

 

 

For example: I wore it to work, of all scent-averse places, and it was remarkable how many folk commented on its beauty.

We’re talking a wide swath – across the board – of ethnicities, gender, and chronological age.

That alone is highly unusual.

This exquisite, aquarelle-like soliflore captures several aspects of the lily: the dewy, sappy, verdant, slightly spicy, and faintly fleshy facets of the flower.

 

 

Baiser Volé opens with effervescent aldehydes and a citric fizziness which is very fleeting.

A piquant spiciness is quickly revealed, but it doesn’t linger as an overwhelming, pungent presence, it gently sighs throughout the development of the fragrance.

Very little of the potentially indolic nature of the lily enters into the aromatic picture; there are sotto voce murmurs of carnality, but they are only just inferred.

A bed of silky musks and wraithlike ambers anchor this tender veil of lily soliflore.

Baiser Volé reels you in for successive sniffs, until you find yourself caressed from behind, or above…

Stolen kisses, by any means necessary.

 

 

Ida Meister, Senior Editor

We are giving away a full 30 ml flacon.  (Disclosure EIC Michelyn Camen   is providing hers sent to her by the company). Please tell us about your first kiss to qualify. Draw ends  July 30, 2011

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37 comments

  • I LOVE this stuff!! It has all the petals and leaves and stems going on and doesn’t make me queasy like some bombshell lily scents can.

    My first kiss was from one of the school jocks – he totally derided me and my friends because we were a buncha homely geeks. One day he just walked up to me, gave me a kiss on the lips, and walked away, saying, “Now you can say you’ve been kissed by [can’t remember his name!]”. It was really weird.

  • kastehelmi says:

    Now that you said Baiser Volé isn’t loaded with Calone I know I will like it. Lily has something of a clean skin smell, so sexy, I know why men love it, I would be suspicious of one who doesn’t like the smell of lilies 😀

    My first kiss was with a gothic boy who rather resembled Jesus, at the end of a goth dance night. He was very sweet and shy, and…..boring. But he opened my eyes (or is it lips) to more passionate and interesting ones since!

  • I just don’t want to remember the disaster. Wrong person, wrong place, bad kiss. Luckilly all following were for this reason much better.

  • Z. Boudreaux says:

    My first kiss. I made him think it wasn’t my first time… later I regretted not being honest so he would have been a bit more romantic…. the kisses got better later anyway.

  • A hot late summer afternoon in my young teenagehood — I was standing on the bottom rung of the gate chatting with a slightly older boy visiting friends in the neighbourhood and before I realized what he intended (because I probably would have pulled away in shyness) he leaned across and placed his lips against mine. It was sweet, but came to naught as he was headed to a different school.
    Intrigued at the range of people you got positive responses from with this scent — but then “dewy, sappy, verdant, slightly spicy and faintly fleshy” sounds pretty good to me.
    Thanks for the draw opportunity.

  • I’m in love with Baiser Vole. Thank you for the draw, Ida and Michelyn.

    As to first kiss, I was very shy and naive, and very much a dreamer and a romantic. I remember we visited my cousins when I was around 10. While playing 4-square, my cousin, who was about 3 years older, kissed me out of the blue. Just a quick one, and that was it. We kept on playing. Then it wasn’t til college that I actually went on a date. A young man who had grown up on a pig farm, invited me over for dinner – he cooked!!! We made an attempt at kissing, and weren’t very good at it. But hey, you have to start somewhere. 🙂

  • This sounds absolutely intriguing and would give me a bit of a stretch. I do not at all shy away from floral notes in my perfumes, but a lilly-centered fragrance that I really enjoyed? Nope 🙂
    My first real kiss was at 13 and I was so hopelessly in love with this girl. Eventually, I was heartbroken for at least two years. Such is life. 🙂

  • From everything I’ve heard about this perfume, it is FOR ME. I must have it! And I love the painting of the stolen kiss in that– if this perfume embodies that moment, it is sure to be a winner!

    My first kiss was a stolen kiss in fact. The boy was a few years older and had just sucked on a watermelon jolly rancher. His mouth was wet and warm and overly sweet.

  • I really liked him and it sounds weird but I’m actually not 100% sure if we kissed or if I just imagined it. I did a lot of imagining in those days. Anyway it never happened again because I was too young and scared. Big regret. But I would definitely feel better about it if I won this!

  • LOL…funny to read other peoples comments on here……all i am going to say, i was 13, he was 15 and the tongue scared me. Well what did you expect at that age. I so had a crush on that boy though. Cartier has some really nice fragrances. Thank you for such an awesome draw.

  • My first kiss was from a boy I really liked and he liked me. But there was no way either one of our families would allow us to date because we were not of the same race. (Different times! So glad that part of those times is over.)

    Thank you for the draw. Sounds lovely.

  • This perfume sounds great, I’d love to try it!

    My first kiss happened when I was on vacation with my grandparents in Florida. They were exteremely protective and I was barely allowed to leave the house. But there was a pool right in front of the house and one day there was this georgeous Brazilian boy there that started talking to me and before I knew it, he kissed me. My grandparents were watching television and missed the whole thing 🙂

  • Well, my first kiss was absolutely wonderful, everything it should have been, tender, sweet and full of promised heat (which I only realized after).
    Unfortunately, the guy wasn’t of the calling kind. 🙂

  • Debbie R. says:

    I would love to try this fragrance. I’ve noticed that a number of my florals have lily in them.

    My first kiss was by a high school senior when I was a freshman. We were at a movie; he leaned over and kissed me. I melted.

  • Aimee L'Ondee says:

    Hi Ida! My first kiss was with the son of a friend of the family, and he was dreamy. We played Batman and Catgirl, with my little brother playing Robin, when I was six. He picked me up and carried me over this little hill during our game, and we kissed (pecked really). Sigh!

  • My first kiss happened at College, under a pinewood. My boyfriend (now husband) was lying on the ground and I was sitting next to him. We had been dating for some months and we had not kissed yet. We were very shy and naive, but that day I broke the ice and kissed him. So my first kiss was on my own initiative lol I remember it as it was yesterday. My boyfriend blushed!

    I’d love to try Baiser Volé. It sounds nice 🙂

    Thanks!

  • My first kiss was not at all memorable. I was young and so was he and there was no magic. For magic happened years later when I met (and kissed) the man who would become my husband. A good kisser is hard to find 😉

    I’d love to try Baiser Vole. Thanks for the draw.

  • My first kiss–the one I remember most fondly–was from my first-grade boyfriend, Mike. While many might not consider this a “real” kiss, even though it WAS on the lips, I do. He was so sweet, and cute! He was also the first boy to call me, which was quite unusual considering how young we were. Sadly our school district realigned elementary school boundaries, so Mike and I were separated after that one year. But I think of him often, and hope that life has been good to him.

  • Oh boy, my first real kiss. I was in 6th grade, he was in 7th, and we were “going out,” which apparently meant other kids made pointed comments to me when he got hit in the groin playing football. So, he invited me over to his house to watch a Steven Seagal movie, of all things, in which I had absolutely no interest. Of course, the real reason was to make out, and I was terrified because I had no idea what to do when we kissed! It was awkward as hell, and to be quite honest I was horrified when he stuck his tongue in my mouth. Not long after, we appropriately “broke up,” and he ended up dating my best friend’s more seasoned older sister. Happily, I went on to bigger and better first kisses. Thanks so much for the draw! 🙂

  • Oh WOWWOWOW a draw for a full bottle!!! I adore Cartier fragrance and I always say House Of Cartier gets looked over to other houses that produce scents. On a side note I begged my husband to stop at Norstrom the day it launched, it wasnt in the plans and my heart sank when I waved bye to Nordies on the highway:(

    My first kiss… I had a boyfriend his name was Mike R his family owned a stationary store on main st across from the train station on long island where I lived so every one knew who he was. I was lesser known because I had only moved to Long Island in the fifth grade from Queens which may as well have been Mars when your that age.
    He wanted to be a Lawyer someday and had a crush on me for a long time before I knew about it. He spoke about it freely but there was a major delay in the amount of time it took to get the news to me.
    We were in seventh grade at the time of the kiss. He wasnt my type. He was shy and quiet and a really good boy all around. I liked the surfer types that were chronically in detention.
    So, Mike and I were at my best friend Lisa’s house playing Super Mario brothers when he paused the game and said he had to pee.
    Actually, he was talking to Lisa’s older brother Adam about how to “sneak a kiss on me”.
    Armed with the knowledge handed down from an older and more experienced boy he found his moment. I felt an arm come around me not subtle at all. I turned around and there it was lips with a tongue tip out and eyes closed. My palms were already clammy because he was kicking me in the pants at Mario Brothers but this was anxiety that was new. Love birds fluttered in my stomach.
    I knew I had to react FAST. So I stuck my tongue out and we lickissed each other. It was over fast.
    He walked away quickly unexcused. Leaving me behind still a little bewildered because this was nothing like The kiss that Winnie recived from Kevin on the romantic walk on ‘The Wonder Years’ that I had totally practiced and anticipated.
    When he came back, we tried it again this time Adam and Lisa watched throught the partially open door. That was Adam’s idea, he wanted to critque us.
    Subsequently, Mike called me later that week from a pay phone at Julies Bat Mitzvah to tell me that “things werent working out with us.” As it turned out Steph Soter, was at the party liked him and kissed him that day. I’m not sure if it was prior to the phone call where I was dumped or not.
    I drowned myself in the song of the moment, “Nothing Compares to You” and I learned that I should return back to school Monday and pursue my surfers. Because as it turned out they were waaay better kissers.
    I would be the happiest gal around if I were to win this one.
    Thanks guys:)

  • Provocative question, and wonderful draw.

    Earlier in the day we were playing Dungeons and Dragons together, then at night he asked if he could kiss me. At the young age of thirteen he was a real gentleman who asked before kissing, before putting his hands on me, before doing anything I might have been uneasy with, and his concern for my feelings was why I felt so comfortable with him.

    Thanks Paul.

  • My first kiss was Jolyon Yates at saling school on Lake Ulswater in the UK. We perched on a stile between a path and a sheep field watching the sun go down together. He laid his head against mine and over the next half an hour we turned our faces, a millimeter at a time, toward each other until we were nose to nose, breathing in each others breath.

    Then a short tilt of the chin and his lips touched mine.
    I was amazed how soft a man’s lips could be and I thought I was going to melt straight into him, as if our bodies were permeable and we could occupy the same space because of the magic of kissing.

    A good memory. Thank you for making me think about it.

  • My first kiss was whilst walking thru the woods on the way to school. He awkwardly pulled me away from the rest of the kids by my neck. I thought I was cool

  • Lynne1962 says:

    I have heard nothing but good about this new scent—I can hardly wait to try it!! My first kiss is hazy,,,so long ago,,,I think it was in the back of a movie theater,,and I was totally embarrassed. Pretty much unremarkable!!!! Love this draw!

  • As a true 80s child, my first kiss was at the skating rink with a rink aid who was tall with long hair and cool aviator glasses! Smashing!

  • Uh… don’t want to know. 😀 15 years old. Summer time. He was a tourist. It wasn’t so bad, but better times came later hahhahah

  • Oh, please enter me! I tried this at the store and it’s really great, a wearable lily that’s perfect for work, or anywhere else!

    My first kiss was so bad it should have put me off kissing forever , but fortunately I got over it. The boy was older, and it was so sloppy and wet I almost drowned! The good thing was, he dumped me shortly thereafter for my older sister (YES REALLY!!) and the next boy I went out with was a really great kisser, so it all worked out! 😀

  • Hi, I’d like to try this- the name is great
    my first kiss was not so good- I wanted to be liked by my best friend’s elder brother- but I got scarred afterwards

  • I was 13 for my first kiss – the older brother of a friend of mine, who was a sophisticated 16. I was so surprised, I didn’t know what to think until he commented…”You haven’t done that before, have you?”

    Errr…no. But I’ve definitely made up for my lack of experience since! 😉

  • Tourbillion says:

    Mine? A guy from school, at school actually, but I can’t really say I remember much more. Sad I know, but it is probably better forgotten. If it were great I am sure I would have remembered.

  • my first was a stolen kiss… my 2nd wasn’t anything to brag about… I’m still on the hunt for that good stole kiss.

  • The first kiss was rather unexpected. Oddly enough, it was outstanding enough to set the standard for all of those to come after.

  • I was 16 and so shy about boys, he was 17 and told my best friend that he liked me. He showed up at my house one evening unannounced. We sat at my kitchen table and talked. I walked him to the door and he kissed me! I was so surprised and happy.I wore his high school ring and we went “steady” for several years. I thought he was so handsome. I wonder where he is now. I would love to be in the drawing.

  • My first kiss must have been less than memorable; I can find no recollection, so I will steal the story of a better one. Elementary school enactment of a scene from Taming of the shrew- she really bit him so in sweet revenge he really kissed her. As to lilies; I have a giant bouquet of rose gold oriental crosses right next to me and they waft into surrounding rooms. I’ve been looking for a scent like that for years.