Lilac and Jasmine and Guerlain. Run, don't walk, to buy this bouquet.

Top Notes: lemon, peach, apricot and plum
Middle Notes: Rose, jasmine, lily of the valley, ylang-ylang, tuberose and orange
Base Notes: sandalwood, vanilla, amber and musk


Trust Guerlain to do lilac in their own Guerlain style. Under the Idylle banner, Guerlain launched Idylle’s Duet but in Lilac/Jasmine (previous incarnations have included Rose Jasmine) as the two main notes. Thierry Wasser is behind this new creation and here’s my warning: if you love it, buy it now! It will disappear as Guerlain only has special editions for a shor time. And anything in lilac, especially by pros like Guerlain is worth sniffing out.

This beautiful, feminine perfume is a bouquet of purple lilacs with fresh jasmine. It’s a bit cool and crisp for winter but it can also serve to make you feel springlike and hopeful, no matter what the time of year.

If you love Guerlain, or jasmine, or lilac or lily of the valley, and a hint of wisteria and patchouli (to calm things down) you will love Idylle’s Lilac Jasmine Duet. Run, don’t walk, to buy some.

A Lilac Path, Pretty and Subtle by Estee Lauder

Aerin Lauder, Estee Lauder’s granddaughter, founded her lifestyle brand in 2011 and has since been popular for her cosmetics, home items, jewelry and purses. The house is expanding their offer to include perfumes and in Oct of 2013 she has launched five of them including  Gardenia Rattan, Amber Musk, Lilac Path, Ikat Jasmine, and Evening Rose

The Inspiration behind Lilac Path is the lilac bush which blooms at her late grandmother Estée Lauder’s summer cottage. The perfume blooms with galbanum, creamy jasmine lactones, angelica seed oil and orange flower.

Lilac is one of the hardest scents to capture since it is impossible to distill down enough lilac ‘oil’ naturally to have the base of a lilac perfume – so lilac perfumes are necessarily the result of other floral combinations and a lot of lab work. Often, lilac scents are ‘in-your-face’ and/or somewhat old-fashioned. At worse, they can smell like insect spray.

Lilac Path by contrast, is done with a light touch. It’s feminine, has scents of jasmine and even a sense of lily or hyacinth although it’s not officially in the mix. This is for people who love lilac but a more subtle lilac that is memorable but not the lilac oil of the 60’s – definitely upscale and beautifully executed.