Shining green! Bastille Rayon Vert is a luminous green fragrance with an irresistible aniseed note – Background and anise ©Pixybay, bottle ©Bastille, montage and collage ©Emmanuelle Varron.

In Paris, spring is finally here to stay, and we even experienced some heatwaves. Inevitably, the choice of my daily fragrances follows the weather and  my favorite fragrances have floral or spicy notes (pepper and saffron are delicious on the skin when the temperatures soar!). But even a long-time perfumista can change her habits; spring-summer 2022 marks an olfactory revolution for me with scents tuned with aniseed facets. I recently shared with you a review of L’Artisan Parfumeur Cédrat Céruse, built around citron and fennel. The now trendy “vegetables in perfumery excited me about Bastille Rayon Vert (Green Ray), a new creation by Caroline Dumur.

Bastille Rayon Vert is the sixth fragrance from the brand created in 2019 by Marie-Hortense Varin. The young entrepreneur, who decided to experience new adventures in her personal life, has just handed over the reins of her “baby” to new CEO Sophie Maisant (who worked for Bourjois, Chanel and Shiseido). Symbolically, the two women officialized the move when launching Bastille Rayon Vert a few weeks ago in Paris. On that special day, Caroline Dumur was also present to unveil her second creation for the brand.  I was happy to meet the IFF perfumer again, as I particularly appreciate her work (including Corps Volatils Magnified Narcissus and Comme des Garçons Chlorophyll Gardenia). Caroline Dumur’s creative universe is poetic and polished, especially when she combines flowers with green notes.  Her mentor is Anne Flipo, so her beautiful style is no surprise.

 

Bastille’s new CEO Sophie Maisant (©Bastille) and IFF perfumer Caroline Dumur (©Grégoire Mahler). Collage ©Emmanuelle Varron.

When Bastille unveiled the new perfume name, at first I was not transported to the world of fragrances; as the commonly used term (green flash or green beam in English) relates to an optical phenomenon observable by the seaside just before sunset disappears, when the last sun ray turns green. Le Rayon Vert is also a French movie directed by Eric Rohmer that won the 1986 Venice film festival Golden Lion… and a sentimental novel set in Scotland written by Jules Verne in 1882.  But now Rayon Vert makes sense as a name as fragrance, “A disco ball in the clearing” as Caroline Dumur defines it.

Le Rayon Vert is (also) both an Eric Rohmer 1986 movie and an 1882 Jules Verne novel – ©DR, collage ©Emmanuelle Varron.

The idea of Bastille Rayon Vert was first conceived during COVID-19, so it’s  no coincidence that is it a tribute to nature. In the history of perfumery, many “green” fragrances were created after serious global crises to instill optimism (with Balmain Vent Vert as the first).  Rayon Vert isa veritable cocktail of green notes (basil, immortelle, anise and fennel) like an Eau fraiche, but in an eau de parfum concentration and with 95% natural ingredients. The eau de cologne, comforting and refreshing, was the starting point for Caroline Dumur to develop this perfume with an incredibly beautiful brief; I can recognize her elegant style, perfectly harmonizing the raw materials she selected.

Basil, anise, immortelle and fennel symbolize Bastille Rayon Vert’s olfactive spine – Bottle ©Bastille and raw materials ©Pixabay, collage ©Emmanuelle Varron.

Bastille Rayon Vert’s opening is fresh and juicy with lemon and bergamot twirling in a frenzied dance with blackcurrant bud adding sparkle, reminiscent of a beautiful cologne that over the minutes, heat up with my skin. The anise seed and the fennel then bring their aniseed and spicy facet, which I love so much. Basil underlines the greenness and fusing aromatic aspects. At this stage of the development, I am transported to a summer Provençal market, where the stalls are filled with vegetables, fruits and aromatic herbs fresh from the garden. The cicadas “tss-tss” punctuate the footsteps of onlookers who stop to inhale the basil, caress a tomato or taste a piece of watermelon. The sun beats down hard, and the smells of the market are accentuated by its few rays that pass through the parasols.

The anise facet is present until the drydown of Bastille Rayon Vert weaving in and out with various degrees of intensity. Combined with sandalwood, it warms up and becomes creamier and then neroli dusts the perfume with  floral and sunny notes, in a more gourmet version, accentuated by chamomile. The anise-fennel-caraway triptych wraps itself in an armful of immortelle both honeyed and salty, which reminds me of the sun and the seaside, the two essential elements of a green ray.

Bastille Rayon Vert is the type of perfume that one likes to wear on sunny days, solar and invigorating. Its omnipresent anise note makes it irresistible and addictive. More symbolically, it is like a reassuring light that guides us towards better, joyful and luminous days.

Bastille created a candle version of Rayon Vert with Parisian florist Desirée – ©Emmanuelle Varron

Coupled with Bastille Rayon Vert, the brand developed a candle with Caroline Dumur, and in collaboration with Parisian florist Désirée, that was selected by Le Printemps when the department store unveiled its… green new visual identity!

Natural notes (95%): bergamot, , lemon, basil, anise seed, blackcurrant buds, neroli , angelica, mugwort,  caraway seeds, fennel, chamomile, immortelle absolute, sandalwood, cedarwood and organic wheat alcohol.

Disclaimer: A big “Merci” to Bastille for the 50 ml Rayon Vert bottle provided for this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Emmanuelle Varron, Senior Editor

Bastille Le Rayon Vert 50 ml bottle – ©Bastille

Thanks to Bastille, we have a 50 ml bottle of Rayon Vert for one registered reader in USA, UK and EU. To be eligible, please leave a comment on what sparks your interest about Emmanuelle’s review and where you live. Draw closes 06/3/2022.

Bastille Rayon Vert is available at Jovoy Paris and on Bastille’s website.

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