One of the jewels of the XXth century and a true masterpiece of the 8th Art, Lilafleur was born in the labs of the very young Swiss company Chuit Naef, founded only 15 years earlier. Created somewhere after 1909 but before 1912, this astonishing composition represented the first major creative application of a recently synthesized molecule bringing a new dimension to the perfumer's palette. The legend says that Lilafleur was modeled after the Givaudan exquisite product called Lilas Fleurs, a part of a larger selection of floral reproductions, all ending in "fleurs", but I was not able to trace exactly the birth year for both products. The special quality of Lilafleur was in fact provided by Cyclosia base, a product introduced several years earlier by Chuit Naef, a special quality of hydroxycitronellal, undoubtedly responsible for the refinement of the floral reproduction. Both Givaudan and Chuit Naef were revolutionizing the world with their molecules and their artistic application in never-smelled-before compositions but I consider Lilafleur was far better, if it was really inspired by Givaudan. Using high quality synthetic molecules and several natural ingredients, they reproduced with an amazing accuracy the scent of the blooming lilac. One softly underlines the sweet anisic note of the flower with its light hyacinth aspect while the other emphasizes the jasmine note (there is even one lilac plant that smells like jasmine absolute). There are many types of lilacs and perfumers in 1910's where reproducing all the shades of this beautiful spring flowers. One of the most unusual for our perception of the lilac note was Lilas Pourpre (Coty). But Lilafleur, when compared to the other masterpiece, is something more than a simple lilac idea. It's actually a very well crafted bouquet dominated by the blossoming lilac where the lily of the valley with its sharp rosy accent represents the second theme. The differences in tonality, facets and their evolution contribute to the individual personality of each perfume base. The complexity of Lilafleur is revealed only by its slowly evolution in time and after several days the blotter reveals something amazing, a drydown where the accord between Cyclosia-PEA-indol is extremely close to the drydown of Diorissimo. The aesthetic ideas found in the masterpiece of Roudnitska were already blooming in Switzerland 35 years earlier in a collection of milestones of the 8th Art, now forgotten in Swiss dusty archives. Chuit Naef made several variations around the lilac theme and these were the products called Lilafleur P (greener), Lilantheme, Lilarome Extra, Lilas R. All were used in several famous creations from Guerlain and Houbigant. One of the most famous powders from Guerlain was using a massive dose of a Chuit Naef lilac composition, very well blended with the orris and the sweet ambery notes. Today, creating a lilac note is both easy and difficult - creating the illusion is not complicated but capturing all the delicate shades is less obvious because all these shades tend to reorganize themselves in the multifloral formula.
For a perfumer, building a simple lilac note is a test for his refinement - there are not many ingredients needed but the proportions and the interpretation are crucial. Lilafleur from Chuit Naef was for the lilac blossom what Diorissimo would be for lily of the valley and Mousse de Chypre was for the chypre note - the true essence and the most exquisite interpretation of an intellectual idea. Firmenich, the successor of Chuit Naef, has several amazing sleeping beauties waiting to bloom again in a creation when the world would be more interested by the true essence of the perfume.
photo: the garden of Therese Chuit and Phillipe Chuit, several years before he put the lilac note in a perfume
photo: the garden of Therese Chuit and Phillipe Chuit, several years before he put the lilac note in a perfume
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
