Lys Carmin
Van Cleef & Arpels (2009)

It's surprisingly lovely! Not the kind of scent I would expect to like: it's not only a floral, but also a lily scent that's made with significant amounts of tuberose and ylang, my old enemies. But apparently it comes out to be a truly lovely spicy-clean lily and it's such a happy, heartwarming, easy to wear scent that it instantly transports me to a sunny summer's day and makes me smile.

Straightforward lily scents seem to have become a bit of a niche cliche. Just add some melon and you've got yourself a modern aquatic floral. Thankfully, VC&A have put a little extra effort into their lily offering, so it comes out ahead of the pack.

Yes, Lys Carmin has a lot of upfront lily, but it's topped with a pinch of sparkling aldehydes and enough powdery rose to make it feel upscale and "perfumey" instead of just modern and aquatic. The lily itself is a bit dirty, with peppery wood undertones, and the whole thing has a bright green leafy quality which really adds a lot.

Given time, as the brightness and the powdery rose fade, everything gets sort of milky as a creamy vanilla slides in underneath. To be honest, I like this phase less than the first couple of perfumey green hours, but it's nice enough, and there isn't a melon cliche in sight, so Lys Carmin earns a thumbs up.

Really uncomplicated fragrance that smells finally as a decidedly smooth vanillic/floral with a lily/ tuberose exotic vibe. The smell is not linear at all as the beginning is sharp, aqueous and slightly dusty-prickly while the following development tends to be soothed and rounded by a plain vanilla with a ripe floral vibe and a delicious indolic spicy dry down with the pungency from a spicy/exotic lily/ylang-ylang. Pleasant and mysterious.

Very clear,.very crisp good lily scent.

My impression is all of the series are nicely done. Not cheap smelling or "off." I am not a white flower person, though contradictorily, I crave white flower smells. This opens with a spicy lily.
There is a raspy dry sweetness that reminds me a tiny bit of powdery candy. But do not take this to mean SWEET and STICKY and juvenile in the manner of most perfumes. The perfume I believe is offering some approximation of sweet skin. I agree with teardrop, it is linear and straightforward. Also, I agree it lacks the heart stopping heady element that delights some of us perfume folk. Therefore, I classify this as a calm florist shop mid summer morning kind of affair. Maybe on a man...it might be utterly intoxicating?

The spicy floral opening combines pink peppercorn & a green tuberose, to form an accord that suggests the pepperiness of Stargazer lilies, rather than the purity of white lilies. lt stays fairly linear for most of its duration, leaving an impression of sweetness on the skin after 6-7 hours.
This is certainly a pretty & very true lily scent, but it lacks the heady creaminess that l love in Lutens' Un Lys, & therefore l'm giving it a neutral.