Lilac & Lace
Bourbon French Parfums

LILAC & LACE (Bourbon French)

This is the same scent you will find listed under Bourbon French's soliflore scents as simply, Lilac, so no need to sample both. I'll place this review in both of the corresponding Basenotes pages for cross reference.

Lilacs seem to have gone out of favor these days. In the 19th and early 20th century, a bank of them seemed to be a standard of every yard and garden. Their sweet and slightly musty smell is one of the loveliest harbingers of spring, especially when warm winds waft their scent throughout one's home.

For many years, soliflore lilac scents proliferated in the perfume world, as well as being components of more complex compositions. Perfume Intelligence lists hundreds of scents named Lilac or the French equivalent, Lilas. One of the last I recall devoted to lilac was Caswell Massey's Daphne.

Bourbon French's take on the note appears both as a soliflore and within their Lagniappe Oaks Heirloom range as Lilac & Lace. The scent opens with a true whiff of lilac, which is then taken over by a mint note (this happens also with their Mimosa and their Wisteria & Lace), thus compromising the true lilac note. It is unclear to me why Bourbon French does this, which makes all three scents virtually the same – mint with a floral background – but this is not for me to judge.

As such, it is a pleasant scent, but being untrue to its name, must be given a neutral rating from me.