Amethyst
Lalique (2007)

It's a fruity berry scent, but it's neither sweet nor juicy - it is soft. Imagine all these black, blue and purple berries laid on a bed of cotton and yoghurt and cream. It smells very soft and gentle. I like it.

Lalique Amethyst opens like a basket full of black currants, blueberries and blackberries. And dare I say, the real berries! Not cloying sweet berry-flavour, but juicy, green, fresh, with a hint of acedity.

The transition to the floral heart is smooth. Without noticing, peony, rose and ylang-ylang are already there. The pepper adds some sharpness to the soft scent, like spikes on the stem of a rose. The delicious fruits are still present and smell sweeter than in the opening. But the sweetness is fortunately still in a subtle way, as if the berries have ripened during the development of the fragrance. The sillage is soft and the longevity is 7h+.

It's not a conventional girly floral-fruity fragrance. To me, it's an ode to the nature, the summer in forests. And I agree with tommy_girl that it focuses more on mind than body. I'd recommend it if someone's looking for a fragrance that smells like real berries. However, I suggest testing prior to buying as it's rather sharp during the first hours of development.

Originally written in 2013

I just can't wrap my head around this one. The fruits are so muddled. Muted. They have a waxy quality compounded by something resembling stale flowers. The base is flat, with an almost institutional cleaning-product sterility. Any vanilla or wood notes are unnoticeable here. If they were, this might have redeemed itself as a wearable perfume.
Unfortunately this is nothing more than a pretty, purple glass paperweight. My bad, on a blind buy last year.

It's berries without the syrup. The dark rose accord with the hint of salt and pepper really elevates this beyond a simple berry scent. Great sillage, pretty linear with a hint of musk on the dry down. It smells like a high-end hair salon. Lovely.

Genre: Fruity

Amethyst avoids smelling like Hawaiian Punch™ by dint of the tart, winy quality of its cassis and berry top notes. Unfortunately, the floral accord that fills Amethyst out underneath them is harsh and chemical, and the acidity that was so pleasant in the top notes only accentuates the deficiencies in the heart. The berries and flowers accord is staunchly linear, and goes from refreshing to tiresome to grating over its four hour duration. The drydown is soapy with a clean musk, which winds up smelling a little bit too much like laundry detergent for my liking. While Amethyst is a vast improvement over the run-of-the-mill syrupy fruity floral fragrance, I consider it a near miss, and I'd sooner wear Mûre et Musc or Fraîcheur Muskissime when I'm in the mood for berries.

Just like your great aunt used to wearThis is an old lady fragrance if ever there was one. Strong and sweet, the musk smell lasts longer than the berry scent which disappears not long after application. My first thought after application was of an elementary school teacher I had, no, wait, a lady in my mothers church group, no, wait, maybe it was my great aunt Norma. No matter, the fact that it stirred up memories of loud floral dresses and hugs I didn't want put me off it almost right away and by the end of the day all that was left was that awful sweet/strong musk. Maybe when I'm 80.