Unlisted Brand • Mary Chess - White Lilac • Fragrances

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*TOP REVIEWER* prettykitty1 on 3/9/2012 11:16:00 PM more reviews by prettykitty1

Age: 36-43   Skin: Combination   Hair: Brunette, Straight, Medium   Eyes: Other    

Recently, I had the good fortune of finding a brand-new bottle of Mary Chess White Lilac toilet water, still in the original box. Neither the bottle nor the box bear a five-digit ZIP code, so it must date to an earlier time.


The fragrance bears an uncannily realistic resemblance to fresh lilac blossoms still on the tree. There is even a strong suggestion of dampness, cold, and earth, like the way the air smells early in the morning when the grass is covered in dew.


For a toilet water, this is *extremely* strong. It wears like an EDP or parfum. Ironically, if there is only one drawback to White Lilac, it's the scent's enormous strength and linearity. Pure lilac soliflores have a way of smelling prim, funereal, or just plain soapy, depending on your personal associations of the scent. And sometimes, if you sniff it long enough and hard enough, lilac can even remind you of the sickening smell of a vinyl shower curtain, inflatable pool toy, and even pool chlorine. Mary Chess White Lilac is no exception, beautiful though it may be. Still, it's an amazing, high-quality fragrance, and the extreme intensity and linearity of the lilac is not a shortcoming at all. In fact, it's a boon, considering how hard it is to find a vintage toilet water or cologne with any sort of oomph to it.


Those who don't care for an in-your-face lilac could easily layer this scent with other fragrances, but in my opinion, this one is worth experiencing alone. It isn't often that you find a vintage scent of such quality, realism, and strength. I honestly like how it smells at every stage, from the fresh, wet-smelling burst of flowers in the top notes to the strangely soapy vinyl finish. The way I see it, these lilacs have been sleeping silently in their bottle for over half a century, and now they want very badly to be heard, loud and clear. Who am I to stifle their message or disrespect it by layering another fragrance beside it? Some things are meant to be appreciated exactly as they are.

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