Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle ~ En Passant
It’s funny the way you can almost taste lilacs before you smell them. Some ghost thirst speeds ahead of your nose in similar shape and recognition to the real thing, then suddenly vanishes before you can name the sensation.
En Passant moves with the butterfly kiss of lilacs fluttering in the wind, brushing delicate across the tippy top of your nose in that split second when liquid cognition evaporates.
So what if the juice has all the half-life of paper in fire? En Passant stands for everything illuminating and ephemeral.
The shine off a stranger’s new shoes;
A slightly sweaty and urgent handhold of a couple just now in love;
The smile that bursts into an overheard joke.
These revenant moments hang brightly in the untranslatable space that floats between words and actions. They extend and shrink the world within a single but shared twinkling. Connect the dots and you will find a constellation of humanity shining back.
Time’s arrow occasionally forgets the curve of space, pinning fleeting experiences into something resembling what we like to call forever.
Eternity is not infinity, it is awaking to the realization of an instant.
Katie, it is so nice to see you back.
I had to look up the word ‘revenant’.
Robin
30 Jul 08 at 4:25 pm
ACH! You’re on to me! That’s my super-secret goal, this site’s not about perfume… it’s all about promoting the dictionary industry, heh.
Scentzilla!
30 Jul 08 at 4:37 pm
Katie, love the review. I can only describe En Passant
as achingly beautiful. I don’t wear my decant all the time because of that certain melancholy character. It really blooms in the heat, though. Stunning! Even a dab lasts forever on me. I love getting a whif of it throughout the day.
Parrotmommy
1 Aug 08 at 2:03 pm
Gorgeous review of one of my very favorites- my sample is “my precioussss,” and one of thse days I will have more. It brekas my heart and makes me laugh all at the same time, it’s so perfectly relaized.
Flora
14 Aug 08 at 9:35 pm
Gorgeous writing. I have tagged you, so I hope for one you don’t mind too much and for another you respond. Your writing is indeed gorgeous and it would be wonderful to get more of it.
My posting today tells all about it. It comes via Olfactarama who got it from Perfume Shrine.
We have a big crowd of old lilacs at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden which burst forth in April and May every year, from white to practically black via the lilac violet range. Now I must try En Passant, because I do like a melancholy tone in a perfume.
Lucy
17 Oct 08 at 10:41 am
Wow! this is what I call writing :)
“Some ghost thirst speeds ahead of your nose in similar shape and recognition to the real thing, then suddenly vanishes before you can name the sensation.”
Your post is a good example of blending poetry to fragrances.
Bobby
Make Homemade Fragrances
Bobby
28 Oct 08 at 3:02 am
Gorgeous review of one of my very favorites- my sample is “my precious,” and one of thse days I will have more. It breaks my heart and makes me laugh all at the same time, it’s so perfectly realaized.
Andrea
31 Aug 09 at 2:39 pm
Gorgeous review of one of my very favourites- my sample is “my preciousness,” and one of these days I will have more. It breaks my heart and makes me laugh all at the same time, it’s so perfectly realised.
Acaislim
1 Oct 09 at 5:41 am