Lys 41

Inhaling from the vial gives a heavenly heady naturally sweet floral with that grapey bubblegum note I’m so drawn to in certain tuberoses. But this is lily, no? Was beginning to think I couldn’t distinguish lily from tuberose until I saw the note list and tuberose is the most prominent note in the fragrance. This is, in essence, a tuberose scent. There’s also participation from jasmine. After abt 15m the savory drier woody elements appear, a bit of saltiness I associate with sandalwoods. Compared to Serge Lutens Un Lys this is quite a bit more syrupy sweet that’s more charateristic of tuberose and jasmine. We’ve gone deeper into the the tropics and the distinction between lily and tuberose becomes very clear. SL Un Lys is truly a lily scent and the contrast between these two scents reveals lily as tamer, gentle. But to be clear the drier woody elements of Lys 41 tame this tuberose, which at first hints at unbridled indolic sensuality. However, the woods continue to expand and while that grapey bubblegum expressed by only the dirtiest of tuberoses remains, this scent stays grounded. I’m impressed with how Le Labo has achieved this balance, capturing what are for me the most beautiful elements tuberose has to offer, elements many find off-putting, yet here tempering their darkness, damp and danger in a beautiful and very wearable scent. I get no suntan lotion or beachy associations. Tropical, yes. I also get little if any vanilla. All the sweetness and warmth seem distinctly floral and what I’ve come to expect from tuberose and jasmine. I don’t doubt there’s vanilla here as it’s so often deployed in base notes, but the sweetness in this base is softer and subtler than most vanillic drydowns so it doesn’t read as vanilla so much to me. Surprised its sillage rating is modest, as I found this to expand noticeably for at least an hr and a half. 2 1/2 hr in it’s nearly a skinscent so I’m side eyeing the longevity rating. As for the lily, f*ck that. Nah, it’s fine. It’s just the skinscent that’s left is the only place the lily appears, light amid the haze of musk. In truth, I love this and regret not having revisited this sample in seven years. I’ll admit I’d become a bit dismissive of Le Labo for no reason other than it’s seeming ubiquity. A flimsy excuse. This is a remarkable scent. 8.5/10.

I had imagined Lys to be a wet tuberose, a scent that lingers and feels feminine in an intimate way. At the Le Labo store, I found no tester, so this was a blind buy. I asked to smell the body lotion but that felt ordinary to me. I walked out thinking I will not buy it. I did buy it and as soon as I sat in the car, I opened and first spray reminded me of Gardenia Petale by Van Cleef, for some reason. I sniffed it a few more times and it still made me think of GP. I had a bottle of it at home, last few drops and tried them both and it smelled similar but where GP was powdery soft and cloying, Lys was all around me like a cloud. I wore it the next day to work and by afternoon, I could smell it around me, not too far but close enough. If you spray at the base and behind your neck, the scent enters your hair and you get whiffs of it on the breeze. I wear this on moments when I'm by myself. Don't think it would be the sort of compliment getting perfume. Honestly, I think most are so into the patchouli's and oud's out there that white florals don't get appreciated enough. I did try the Tuberose bottle and it was not nice.

Lys 41 by Le Labo is the most beautiful fragrance I’ve ever smelled on a stranger to date. It’s April and I’m in the produce section at Whole Foods when it suddenly feels like I’m in the middle of a pristine flower stand and the sprinklers are turning on with the most heavenly ethereal white mist of wet, fresh flowers. I can almost feel it still, it was overwhelming! Another shopper tells me I smell good, I tell her it’s not me but her (!) pointing to the woman who just walked past us unaware what is trailing behind her. I ended up tracking her down through the store following the scent trail and essentially begging her to know what she’s wearing! She was very kind and gracious with her time going so far as to look up the receipt in her phone so I could take a photo. I had never heard of it before and after the initial sticker shock I’ve been hooked ever since. I got my little sample to start and the first spritz took me straight back to visiting Maui as a young girl with my family, petting the stray cat on the bench by the beach wanting to take it home.

For me, this is mostly a neroli scent. It reminds me my three very good neroli scents: Nerolia Vetiver (Guerlain, this one is much "greener" of course), Intimate White Flowers by Angel Schlesser and Neroli Marocco by The Merchant of Venice. But I have to admit, all these three are much stronger on neroli than Lys 41 which is sweeter and richer. But maybe I just mistake neroli for general white flowers? Because it's not listed as a note. I have one tuberose-based scent and the tuberose there is totally different. So I'm not sure. I can say though that if one likes neroli, Lys 41 should be very good to them as well. Lys 41 is much more expensive and also smells more floral than just neroli, especially after a few hours. I have a chance to get a bottle for half price now but even then it is expensive. I'm so divided... Because this is the most beautiful white floral scent I have smelt so far. It smells especially good on shirt but I don't know the sillage from there.

This conjures up high-gloss, perfected beauty. It's a scent for Miami beach babes, for perfect grooming, for performative luxury. And that's exactly what makes it so good. It's sexy, but not carnal or bodily; "look, don't touch," vibes. I love big white florals, and Lys 41 is one of the most contemporary tuberose-jasmine fragrances I have smelled. The somewhat synthetic woody-vanilla base is what gives it that high-gloss, luxury feeling that's simultaneously hot but sexless. The composition also has something plasticky about it, a rubbery facet from the tuberose, which only makes it sexier. The floral notes themselves are so intoxicating they could kill. An element of danger lurks somewhere in this composition, maybe because of the rubber. If you want soapy and clean, stay far away. This is a huge and solar white floral with enough character to warrant a prime spot in my collection.