Wisteria & Lace
Bourbon French Parfums

WISTERIA & LACE (Bourbon French)

The scent of wisteria now belongs to history. The fragrant hanging flowers of this hardy vine used to be staples in nineteenth century and early twentieth century gardens and arbors, but it is a plant that has fallen into disuse and abandonment over the past seventy years. Even more so, the soliflore scent in perfumery. There are but 29 scents named Wisteria in Perfume Intelligence, the earliest dated 1908, with 16 currently in production, dating from 1997, according to Basenotes pages. This indicates a relatively newly rekindled interest in the scent.

BF's take is an interesting scent, heavy, sweet and minty, reminiscent of BF's soliflore, Mimosa. I recall the scent of the flower itself to be heavy and musky, in the way that Lilac shares these traits. I don't recall any mintiness at all, so this must be an added note. BF also mentions oak moss, but I do not detect any.

Wikipedia tells us that certain wisterias are sweet, others musky. There is no mention of mint in any of their scent descriptions for this flower, so what I am experiencing here does seem to be an added note. As such, it does not reflect the soliflore itself, but a blend. If you don't like mint, you won't like Wisteria & Lace. I consider this unisex. Difficult to know when and where to wear. An intriguing but odd scent.

I'm giving this a neutral review, since it is not pure wisteria, but it is a fresh, minty scent that is fine on its own without any comparisons.