En Passant Frederic Malle for women

Frédéric Malle EN PASSANT is a lovely lilac soliflore with a slightly green side. I find this composition very similar in spirit (although the flowers are obviously very different) to nineteenth-century violet soliflores such as Berdoues VIOLETTES DE TOULOUSE, Borsari VIOLETTA DI PARMA and the Molinard VIOLETTE. Very simple yet satisfying.

The closest lilac perfume to EN PASSANT is probably Ineke AFTER MY OWN HEART. The Ineke, however, is more resinous and perfumey--less like a bunch of rainwater-washed lilacs. At the same time, the lilac note is quite a bit more resilient, surviving all the way to the drydown and making the Ineke a better choice, it seems to me. It's almost as though the Ineke drydown faithfully reproduces the beautiful but shortlived opening of EN PASSANT.

The second perfume that made me cry...in a good way. This smells like the street I grew up on, with idyllic childhood memories. The street was lined on both sides with purple and white lilac bushes and their fragrance was truly intoxicating. This is the scent when the sun comes out after a bright spring rain, and when you arrive home from school your mother is taking linzer cookies from a hot oven.

Lovely heady scent of pure lilac, absolutely exquisite, the perfect spring perfume. Pity it hardly lasts at all. In ten minutes, it is as if you had never sprayed it on.

This was my first Frederick Malle scent from his fragrance boutique appeared in Barney's NY several years ago.

It is a lovely floral, but when I got home, it really bothered my sinuses. I could only wear it if I sprayed it in the air and walk into it. Otherwise, I was only hurting my nose and activating allergies.

To me, the scent has staying power. I received positive compliments when I wore it, but I was suffering allergy wise when I did.

Unfortunately, I will not buy this again, but I think they make the body lotion in this scent and next Spring, I will buy it as it probably is not as intense for me.

THE Most beautiful perfume - exactly like walking under lilac trees in spring so fresh - so natural!

If only i could afford a bottle - it is extremly expensive here in Australia.

It's really good, but too thin. Two hours and it's gone.

For so long, I have been intrigued as to why so many fragranticans have this in their perfume collection. Now I know why.... it is the BEST natural, clean and soft smelling Lilac I have ever smelled! It is incredibly like the real thing! Now I would also like to add this one to my collection one day :)

so beautiful this creation, it makes me cry. ok not really. it is exactly what it promises, lilas when you are passing by them. loads of musk and something very baking flowery too next to it, in the same time very humid, beautiful!

I used to love lilac as a child, we had a lilac bush in our garden and the flowers always smelled amazing, lilac also featured in one of my favourite Terry Pratchett novels.

En Passant made me happy, because it is all about lilac as well. Lilac in full bloom, strong yet delicate, fragrant, enchanting. However, on my skin that's all En Passant has to offer. It is a lovely soliflore, but somehow a bit monotonous; does not develop at all, and from the beginning to the end remains the same. And... well, some people might consider it a blasphemy, but at this price, I do consider it not enough. I used to own Yver Rocher Pur Desir de Lilas and the difference was really minimal. The quality of ingredients might be higher in FM, but if I can get exactly the same scent, at a 1/4 of the price and enjoy the wonderfully blooming lilac flowers without ruining my pocket, I will rather go for the cheaper option.

This fragrance comes the closest to capturing the lilting but slightly melancholy smell of dew-kissed lilacs in full bloom- highly recommended!

Addendum- En Passant is so authentically lilac that it passed the nearly anosmic hubby test! My husband (who thinks all of my perfumes smell like either peaches or pine trees) correctly identified the lilac note- and he doesn't have a clue what artificial lilac fragrances smell like- only the genuine article-

So yes, where lilacs are considered- En Passant is the real deal!

Wow, very good stuff. En passant would be a total buy... if it lasted more than 2 hours on my skin!!! That's so disapointing, because it's exquisite (and also very expensive...) But I absolutely love the smell, it's perfect for spring, makes me happy. I love the light, simple, romantic feel to it. Maybe i'll end up buying it one day despite its crappy lasting power, because it smells so wonderful while it lasts.
edit: i finaly bought it anyway... and i'm happy i did!

When I was a child purple and white lilac bushes as high as trees grew against the back of our house. In the spring when they bloomed I would throw open my second floor bedroom windows and the scent would fill my room.

This is a subtle and gentle scent, very natural and airy. The cucumber does not smell like vegetables--rather it lends a rain-washed watery layer to the lilacs.

The scent has lasted about 3 hours and is now fading. It stays close to the skin. Altogether an uplifting and graceful harbinger of Spring.

Where can I get samples of Frederic Malle's perfumes?

My usual sources don't have them. I really want to try this one and carnal flower...

(This review is for Eau de Perfume)

I love lilacs. Absolutely love them. But it is so hard to find perfumes that capture their beauty. EN PASSANT certainly does. The lilacs in EN PASSANT is like a watercolor painting splashed with the bright spring colors of green, blue, pale lavender and lilac. The lilacs seem very natural but not pure and innocent like in PUR DESIR DE LILAS by YR. The lilacs in EN PASSANT are vibrant, passionate and full of life. The feeling is like being madly in love and waiting in anticipation to meet the love of my life on a beautiful spring night in a lilac garden. My head is spinning from the excitement and in that moment I feel that I am one with the nature completely absorbed by its crazy and overwhelming celebration of spring. EN PASSANT is not just a fragrance, it is an experience.

The opening is gorgeous, strong, heady lilacs. It is like being dropped in the lilac bush. I do not perceive cucumber note as a cucumber. It actually reminds me of a light fresh breeze that touches the gentle flowers. I think I catch gentle and very subtle whiffs of lily of the valley. The scent stays green and fresh like a lilac garden after the rain towards the dry down.

The fragrance is a stunning representation of the lilac garden on a spring day. The sillage is medium. The scent is close to the skin on the dry down but it is long lasting. I love it and will be getting a full bottle for sure.

Now I don't particulary like green fragrances, but this is absolutely wonderful!
Maybe because it comes to my mind as a pastel-easter-green, not like a sharp bright green as many others. It is so romantic, due to this little powderyness of rice and nice fresh smooth lilac... And even that little watery cucumber. The combination of notes is just so original, and works out so well. I would love to smell like this on a springday going to a museum... And walk through a parc afterwards.

Oh, yes, please! Thank you Guusje for the sample!

Lilacs are a very nostalgic bloom, aren't they? I'd imagine most people associate lilacs with being a kid, plucking them off branches, and deeply inhaling their scent. I'd hazard a guess that the majority of people who sniff this will be transported back to their childhood, and will smile.

This is absolutely lilacs in springtime -- right down to the elixir in the petals, you know?: when you rub the actual flower between your fingers? THAT'S the kind of lilac scent I'm talking about. Not powdery lilac, but "green" and bright and juicy lilac.

Then, yes, something cucmber-ish comes through (but not in a strong way on me). Then a salty rice (still pleasant on my skin).

Then that fades away to a musky white flower at the end.

Heavenly!

Nothing captures the true scent of lilacs blooming in the Nebraska springtime (and I'm sure they smell lovely in other places, too). En Passant is a nice tribute to that scent, though. I sampled this one in December but it strikes me as the perfect scent for Spring and early Summer. I hope to revisit this one in warmer weather.

You'll notice the lilac most of all, but the scent has more complexity than a single-note perfume. En Passant is clean, flowery, fresh, green and slightly cucumber-y. The sillage and persistence were incredible. I used two tiny spritzes from a 2 ml tester, but I and everyone else could smell this lovely perfume for 12 hours or more. This one is a bit pricey but will be a good value as a bottle or even a small decant will last ages, since only a small dose is needed.

This is the most natural lilac smell I've ever found in fragrance. At the opening I feel something similiar to linden blossom and honey sweetness together with wonderful/sunny lilac. It's the most uplifting fragrance I've ever encountered and it's a true masterpiece. This is my first Frederic Malle sample and I am so charmed by the smell that's I can't even sit straight. It's divine, sunny. And, boy, I really can't believe there is no linden blossom listed, because I FEEL IT. Very, very natural. And the lilac, oh, it's not just the lilac, it's the green leaves of lilac adding some "spice" and "sharpness". I'm in urge to have this for spring. It's divine. And I'm yet again in love.

This scent brings back one of my earliest memories. When I was quite little, our family used to keep the salt and the sugar in very similar containers. And because of this, I once mistakenly put some salt into my tea (my sister was not in the habit of switching the salt with the sugar, so the fault was all mine). To my 6-year old self, it seemed like a good idea to prevent the waste of perfectly good tea by adding some sugar to it, thus "canceling out" the salt. The result - which I repeatedly tried drinking, in disbelief of my failure - was truly sickening, as anyone with a bit more sense can imagine.

As much as I would have loved to like this perfume, it elicits a similar reaction in me. The few notes that this fragrance incorporates are individually very natural and fresh, particularly the lilac, which is my favorite scent in nature. But somehow the combination of the warmness of lilac and the coolness of cucumber does not work for me, even though I fully expected this to be a refreshing duet. The cucumber simply resists all sweetening by the lilac, and the lilac does not become fresher and crisper in the presence of the cucumber - and so the two individually wonderful smells do not combine into a single entity. Something about the particular extracts used in this fragrance, I suspect, makes them solo players and prevents them from combining well - or perhaps my skin is to blame, which I'm starting to think is the case, considering that this is the minority opinion.

The dry down of this fragrance is very similar to the base notes found in the discontinued Clinique Simply. Very unique smell.

Oh so pretty-it's a true lilac on my skin-exactly like the flower. The sillage reveals other notes but very gently. It's very nicely done with nothing overriding the lilac ( of course you have to love the smell of lilac bushes to appreciate it ).

I grew up in the northern midwest, where lilac bushes were plentiful.
That said, I am now going to go against the tide and saying this does NOT capture lilac as I experienced it. Lilac, to my olfactory memory, was THE indication that winter was being pushed out by warm, sunny days. The smell had the power to lift you right up to those fat, fluffy spring time clouds.

This scent drops you like a chunk of mud. I think it is the rice note, which is just too heavy here and smells like a soggy field of dead grass. I hsould add I'm no fan of vetiver, which may mean I'm no fan of grasses in general. This may be hitting an olfactory pet peeve of mine.

This is an interesting fragrance though, and I can how it would have it's fans. Springtime scents that I can wear, as a side note, are Apres L'ondee and... well, that's it actually

Amazing scent. I only have a tester so I have to be sparing with it, but my boyfriend can't keep his nose out of my hair when I wear it. My only complaint is that it doesn't seem to last very long, only an hour or two.

I used to wear this perfume in spring and early summer, it always made me feel so pure and sparkling. But once I felt I needed to put it on my skin on a winter day - and i realized how many things about this perfume I have missed for not wearing it in winter. It's like a light aquarelle or frosty pattern on the windows - transparent and amazing with its beauty!

When I was a child, I used to snug myself under a lilac tree with a good book in my hand and I spent my entire day preoccupied with an imaginary word and caught the breeze of the lilac whipped by the wind occasionally.

Olivia Giacobetti achieved to capture the lilac note truly , but it is more than a straightforward lilac scent because this fragrance evokes memories of my childhood.

The best time of wearing is when you don't feel like smelling perfume-y, just simple pretty.

En passant is really nice.It's fresh and soft and very light it's not really a parfume,it's more like a second skin.
I smell the cucumber and flowers(lilac).The rice make it soft.I never smelled such a fragrance really interesting.
I think it's a perfect fragrance for the spring and summertime,you always feel free and clean when you wear it.
A scent for all occasion and for every woman.It's not really powerful and last not such a long time but this is maybe interesting for some people which searching for a light,natural scent.The Bottle is great i like the Bottle a lot the clarity match good to the fragrance.

The best spring smell. For a long time searched for a gentle lilac.

It does smell like real lilac, right down to the woody branches and green rangy leaves. Don't get me wrong, I love lilac and grew up with lilac bushes in the yard, but there's a note the flowers get as they start to die, a sort of rotting sweetness, sad decay, and this perfume has that, too. I'd rather my florals were fresher and less close to turning black and falling all over the table.

I agree with all of the reviews so far, and especially with mademoiselle nicole's "heartbreakingly beautiful."

The top note of En Passant is gorgeous, perfect lilac, which is a multi-layered scent in itself. It reminds a bit of vintage Diorissmo, perhaps because I tend to perceive lilac and muguet as similar in nature: sweet, dewy floral over a polleny, dry, vegetal, gently earthy layer. En Passant is more restrained and less chilly than Diorissmo, and the notes of cucumber and hay (or rice? bread?) give En Passant a lasting outdoor warmth and freshness.

I simply adore this perfume and my only complaint is that I wish it lasted longer on my skin. It dries down quickly and almost disappears in about one hour. To get better longevity, I always spray En Passant directly on my clothing.

The fleeting quality of En Passant certainly fits its name. It reminds me of Baudelaire's "fugitive beauté" in "A une passante: "Ô toi que j'eusse aimée, ô toi qui le savais!" [O you whom I would have loved, O you who knew it!]

Smell of love and romance,sensual classic fragrance,not too heavy or too flowery.Love it! One minus-too pricey

Very nice "clean" and pure scent of white lilac, and though I don't like white flowers in fragrances, this one is an exception! It is so very radiant and serene.

pure and cristal-clear.
it is the perfect spring scent. soft and clean lilac with a slight touch of cucumber to give it an aquatic whiff.
it treats the beauty of this one raw material with the respect you find in a childs eyes when it observes nature.
heartbreakingly beautiful

Must have for spring :-) Absolutely natural lilac, with the fine green and juicy beginning.