I go back and forth on this one. On the one hand, it’s always nice to see a lily fragrance. They seem to have fallen out of style in recent years, but I’ve always enjoyed their innocent-girls-in-white-sundresses appeal. Unlike the ubiquitous rose, which is inextricably linked to the most generic kinds of romance, lilies evoke elegance and gracefulness. With Diorissimo reformulated and Donna Karan Gold discontinued, many of the once-great lily perfumes are now lost to us. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Cartier Baiser Vole is not the Lily Messiah. It is not the fantastic lily fragrance that will usher in the Second Coming of Diorissimo. It is a perfectly pleasant lily perfume, at least at first.
Baiser Vole starts out as a gorgeously ethereal lily scent, so photorealistic that you can almost feel the orange fur of the stamens. Unfortunately, after half an hour or so, Baiser Vole takes on a more artificial, scented-feminine-products vibe. I’m thinking that the budget ran out with the topnotes. Despite this eventual descent into Tampax territory, Baiser Vole is one of the nicer mainstream lily fragrances. As I said before, this ain’t Diorissimo, but it does have a prim prettiness to it. It strikes me as ideal for the kind of woman who doesn’t mind being seen as a bit aloof.
SCENTS OF SELF 
Not to be a party pooper, but Diorissimo smells mostly of lily of the valley. It’s a totally different flower and smell from the lilies in, say, DK Gold, Anais Anais, or FM Lys Mediterranee.
You are completely correct in lamenting the death of Diorissimo, though. It was the most beautiful of the LOTV soliflores.
Not a party pooper at all, thank you for the correction! If only I was technologically advanced enough to figure out how to edit my posts.
I’ve really fallen for this scent. Don’t get the Tampax accord (thank god). Hoping no one around me gets that either. 😉
I’m sure you wear it beautifully! I think it’s quite classy, really. The only thing I don’t care for is that odd bottle… it reminds me of the makeup remover dispensers at Sephora.
I actually stupidly like the bottle design, but yeah it does look like those makeup remover dispensers at Sephora. That said, I’ve been enjoying DK Gold quite a bit lately thanks to your review of it last summer.
I have a sample of this that I have yet to try. I love lilies, but I prefer them spicy and voluptuous, so I have my doubts that this will suit me as well as Gold.
Nope, none of that here. But let me know how you like the sample!
This blog is fab. Can’t believe I’m only just finding it! Love the J. Aniston post. I’ll add you to my follow list!
Thank you so much, Erin! And congratulations on opening The Crushed Violet! It sounds like a dream come true!
I like that weird flip-cap bottle, but the idea of the juice just doesn’t get mine flowing. Ha! I love DK Gold, but it’s the spicy amber that makes it work for me. Tampax! Oh man, you’re brutal Ari, but that’s what I love about your reviews! 😉
I didn’t even mean to be so harsh, Dee, I genuinely liked this scent! But I always want to be completely honest with y’all, even if it means that Cartier probably won’t be hooking me up with samples anytime soon.
The bottle looks gorgeous to me: the idea of taking a cheap shape and materialize it with material that at least looks precious is very interesting. And lilly is a favourite floral so I think I will try to find this and try it out. Thank you for the putting it in the spotlight.
would you say it’s a fresh scent? anything like Lauren by Ralph Lauren…which is impossible to find.
I haven’t tried this yet, partly because of the name. I just can’t get past ‘kiss a shrew’. (Though given that I know what baiser means when used as a verb in French slang, it’s a rather less delicate image I actually have in my head. :O)