Stilettos on Lex is one of three fragrances offered by new niche line Jul et Mad and the first episode in the collection’s “Histoire d’Amour.” On the one hand, honestly, I’m a little weary of fragrance collections with destination themes and love-story themes. On the other hand, Jul et Mad describes Stilettos on Lex this way: “A haunting, captivating perfume… Its powerful yet refined personality enchants the lovers of timeless floral fragrances with a powdery touch. Nothing and no one can resist it, by day or by night. This enveloping perfume is a real ‘séducteur,’ pure reflection of the beautiful and mysterious silhouette encountered on this legendary New York City avenue…” “Lovers of timeless floral fragrances with a powdery touch”? That would be me. A New York reference never hurts, either.

The composition of this “chypre fruity floral,” developed for Jul et Mad by perfumer Dorothée Piot, includes top notes of lemon, pear, davana and plum liquor; heart notes of lily of the valley, violette leaves, rose absolute, heliotrope, iris and carnation; and base notes of musk, Madagascar vanilla, Indonesian patchouli and Atlas cedarwood. Its story is “the portrait of a woman, mysterious and beautiful, in New York City” or, more specifically, the impression she leaves on a bewitched onlooker. It’s certainly a feminine fragrance, although I’d think of it more as a “sophisticated fruity-floral” than a chypre…

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