Happy May Day. The May Day / Labour Day celebration held today on May 1st in France is linked with the Muguet flower or Lily of the Valley, as it’s known in English. The tradition goes back to the days of King Charles IX. It’s said that in 1561 he received a Muguet flower as a lucky charm and then decided to offer a flower each year to the ladies of the court. Each May Day the flowers can be sold tax free and it’s the tradition to gift the flower to loved ones.
What are your favourite Muguet perfumes? I struggle with the smell in perfumery I admit. I’ve tried a few Lily Of The Valley centric perfumes and they are not for me. It needs to be a small part of the composition. Diorrissimo (vintage version) by Edmond Roudnitska is the accepted classic in the genre. But if you can’t track that one down what are your options?
If you are after a muguet that doesn’t cost the earth the Yves Rocher version, Muguet En Fleurs is not bad at all. If you spend 15 Euro today on their website (in France anyway) a 100ml bottle will be thrown in for free. Not bad at all. Oriza L. Legrand have Muguet Fleuri that is a great take on the flower. Hermes have just added a lily of the valley to their Hermessence line – Muguet Porcelaine (see Robin’s review on Now Smell This for a favourable review and Colognoisseur‘s who wasn’t a fan). Guerlain make a special uber expensive (430 Euro) Muguet issue each year that I have to say I pay little attention to, although I have read that the scent is beautiful. These limited editions are really targeted towards collectors. This year’s version is called Muguet Millésime.
On a side note, it’s interesting that pastel green is very much the colour code for Muguet in advertising (with the exception of the Le Galion ad). Hermes have brightened things up a little though.
Hope you are having a great May Day. It’s raining here and not yet conducive to buying the flowers but hopefully it will clear up soon.
What are your favourite Muguets? Let me know if you’ve tried something stellar.
Notes : Images : Vintage perfume advertisements : Pinterest : Flowers : Megan In Sainte Maxime : Hermes and Guerlain perfume images from the respective websites.
Megan In Sainte Maxime 
Happy May Day!
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Same to you!
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I plan to wear tomorrow to the office either Diorissimo, which I like but do not wear too often, or Penhaligon’s Lily of the Valley, which is quite nice (though I wouldn’t have bought it on my own if it weren’t a gift). I tried Guerlain’s Muguet (I think, it was 2012): it’s not bad but I’m not wealthy enough to collect those bottles (I would if I could – they are very beautiful) and the perfume itself isn’t worth its price – not even close, taking into the account that you cannot extract any plant materials from that beautiful flower.
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Hi Undina. Yes those Guerlain bottles are gorgeous but so expensive. Thierry Wasser was on the news last night talking about his Muguet creation. I must go back and take another look as the kids were drowning out what he was saying but I did like the fact that Guerlain made the 8pm news.
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