Byredo La Tulipe – the nice person at Barney’s sent me a sample of Byredo Tulipe after I ordered a bottle unsniffed ( I know, I know, I never learn, but it worked out okay, as you’ll see!). From the PR – “Notes of rhubarb, cyclamen and freesia and a heart note of tulip. Green base notes of blond woods and vetyver.”
Not that much rhubarb on the open of Byredo Tulipe, which is a shame, I love rhubarb, but it wouldn’t have been appropriate for this scent. The freesia is tamped down on the sweet, which is normallly the thing I hate most about freesia, it’s just too much. Not sure how they got the freesia in there without OD’ing on it. Someone has a light hand here. Anyone know the perfumer?
What puzzled me most is how they were going to do tulip. Tulips don’t have much of a smell – it’s like this vaguely chilly green note. They fall more in the “iris in a bunch” category. You put a lot of them together, and it is a distinct smell. And lovely. And springy. And who can figure out how to capture that? Nobody’s managed yet to get the Iris flower bunched together in a perfume, just the root.
Nicely done, Byredo. They got it as an abstract. Byredo Tulipe is light, it has that vaguely plasticky earthy note a tulip has. It’s been blizzard after blizzard here in Denver all through March. We get three days of 70 degrees – hope for spring blooms! – and then a foot of snow. This is normal March, complete with the up and down hopefulness that soon the snow will stop, the beautiful weather will hold, and spring will be here. So every year, it is the tulips and the daphne and cylamen and hyacinths that make me smile because they know, better than I do, that spring will arrive.
All of the spring is in a bottle of Byredo Tulipe. It is light and effervescent, slightly earthy. My only complaint is that it’s not a long-laster, but it does seem to have some waft to it. I’m doing clothes spraying now to see if it will hold there, and I think it will. Unfortunately, because my sample showed up in yesterday’s mail and I only got to sample it for a couple of hours last night then this morning, I can’t tell you what the lasting power or waft is on it. But you know what? I don’t care. I’ll spritz this 40 times a day if necessary. For me, it is spring, and I need that right now, and that makes it perfect.
And champage. Spring (okay, not JUST spring) turns me to champagne. I just ordered in some of my favorites because it was back in stock – the Launois (if you haven’t had it, don’t ask questions, just get some, you won’t regret it), and a Marguet Pere rose. I also love Tarlant and Billecart Salmon, but tend to buy fewer of those because they run at the high end of my price tag or out of my price range. Champagne also goes with Byredo Tulipe, which is how this got thrown in this post.
Any other suggestions for champagnes I really need to try? Don’t get too crazy on the price. I don’t do uber-expensive champagne. Weirdly enough, it just bugs me to drink $200+ worth of stuff. I’ll go up to $60 a bottle for something really good, but like to stay in the sweet zone of $20-40 a bottle most of the time. I found a couple of less expensive champagnes that are perfection. I was going to tell you the name, but it appears I swigged those down first and need to go find them on the K&L Wines website since I can’t get the name from the bottle. Ariston Aspasie Brut champagne. $24.99 a bottle, great stuff, everyday champagne in my house. They also have a brut Rose which is amazing for $32.99.
So that’s my favorite champagnes. What are yours? We’ll do a drawing for 3 samples of Byredo Tulipe! My bottle should be here this week, I’ve about consumed this sample already, threw it in a spray and have been happily spritzing all morning. Poor people in my meetings today might ask me to sit at the far end of the table.
You can get a Byredo Tulipe sample at Surrender to Chance
I would love to try La Tulipe. I so miss living close to the Beverly Hills Barneys. Once in awhile I make it up to the Seattle store but they don’t carry nearly as much (but I can get my Malle fix & buy Cire Trudon candles which I love). Have not been able to try any of the Byredos yet. Anyway, I agree with the recs for Perrier-Jouet. I also used to really enjoy Freixenet in my 20’s when I was broke. Come to think of it I should give that a try again! 🙂
I love La Tulipe! I tried it at Esxence 2010 in Milan last week, after meeting the incredibly handsome Ben Gorham. I found myself returning to the Byredo booth each morning of the fair, just to annoint my wrists with this lovely, easy to wear fragrance. Definitely FBW. Looking forward to the next Byredo – a very interesting citrus. Definitely a citrus trend going on out there in Niche Perfumeland.
I just walked into Barney’s sniffed La Tulipe and nearly fainted from joy. Pulp, which I expected to love, was not for me. What made me swoon was that not only it La Tulipe wonderful, but they also have body products now. (OK, not in Tulipe yet). I bought a bottle, cheerfully ignoring the price, and added a bottle of body cream in Green. The combination is enchanting. It is perfect for Spring. And Summer. It doesn’t last 8 hours on skin (it does on clothes), but when mixed the with body lotion, it lasts a lot longer. And to me, it smells like an expensive florist shop when the cooler door opens. Perfection!
Hello Patty! You are speaking my language- spring perfume and bubbly (i need to pick some up for the Easter mimosas)
May I suggest a wonderful prosecco I had the pleasure of drinking recently- Bortomoliol Rose- delicious :”>
Hey there! Glad to hear that the Tulipe worked out well for you… and sounds like so many people need that kind of springy thing.
As for sparkling wine (the California type, since I live there, and I try to avoid drinking anything hauled here all the way from France… or Chile or Argentina), for a good mid-price (~$25), I like Roederer Estate (Napa).
That sounds sooo good! No Barney’s near me, and so far none of the other stores I’ve called have it…(I have to sniff before I buy because a lot of perfumes hate me).
I love the red hair (and the Billecart Salmon) – I usually drink Perrier-Jouet though.
Sorry I don’t have any champagne recommendations. I hope you’ll still enter me in the draw:)
I’ve been aching to try a Byredo. This one, like Bal D’Afrique, sounds very intriguing. Please count me in.
La Tulipe! I’d love to try it. Aside from having delicious notes, my daughter was born during our Spring festival in Wellington, New Zealand, on Tulip Day. So tulips will always remind me of that day; just me, my husband and the tiny doll who prevented me from attending my favourite festival day that year. Oh, how I love seas of tulips!
Oh please enter me in the draw for La Tulipe – I’m a Byredo fan (at least of the ones I’ve tried – Bal d’Afrique and Gypsy Water). This sounds perfectly springy!
I have to say, I am rather suspicious of “the idea of a tulip.” But it could be fabulous. Curious to hear further reports…
Have nothing to contribute to the bargain bubbly reports, unfortunately. Found a great cheap red wine last winter, but it was a TJ special that is now all gone. Am very much enjoying what y’all have to offer on the bubbly topic. 🙂
Oh, I was going to suggest the Ariston Aspasie Brut!!!! Good stuff, that. My bubbly fund now pretty much all goes towards the ‘fumes, but we indulge now and then.
Tulips are a passion of mine, in all their phases. I used to spend a cool thousand a year on tulip bulbs…and then have to beg refrigerator space from friends and family all over southern California to give the bulbs the necessary 6 weeks of chilling. My husband and I recently bought our retirement home on 12 acres in northern Arkansas, and needless to say, I have Big Tulip Plans for that property. I am hoping I get at least a years’ worth of rebloom from them; here in LA I had to treat them as annuals.
Most orange tulips have a lovely smell, by the way!
I’d love to be entered in the draw…this sounds lovely!
I am a redhead at heart; I miss it muchly, but I never found anything that kept the color from fading quickly. I hated going to the salon constantly, so I finally gave it up. Please let us know how well these suggestions work…I’m lemming my red hair now!
Hmmm, La Tulipe sounds cool– I have a produce drawer full of rhubarb, waiting to be married up with some strawberries and baked with crumbly sweet spicy stuff on top. I love rhubarb. For sparklers, I have been enjoying Domaine Laurent Cremant for the last couple years, ever since I saw it featured in one of those studies of “excellent value” wines. Around $12.99 per bottle, usually, and always very elegant. Please enter me in the drawing for the sample of La Tulipe, and thanks for the fun review!Mary
Mary, you are one lucky lady, to have rhubarb at your beck and call. I, too, adore it, but alas, don’t have it very often. I’m a Midwestern-raised girl transplanted in the South where it’s often hard to find. Some years back, I asked a supermarket produce guy if he had gotten in any rhubarb. “Oh, yes, indeed,” he told me, and then proceeded to lead me over to the rutabagas. Talk about disappointed. Anyway, enjoy!
Ann–I was lucky– whenever I have to drive to Sacramento for work, I skip lunch in favor of stopping at Ikeda’s Market in Dixon on the way home– this time, they had fresh, pretty rhubarb which had just been cut. Love it! My Mom is from Ohio– perhaps it is in my genes! Gotta smell this perfume with a rhubarb note, though. Mmmmm. Thanks for the note and take care. Mary
Hi Mary, thanks for your nice note. BTW, have you tried Comme des Garcons Rhubarb scent? If not, and you’d like to try it (or if you have and liked it), I have an extra sample of it that I’d be happy to send to you. Just click on the “Contact Us” link at the top left of the blog and send your address to Patty and she (or someone at the Posse) can forward it to me and I’ll ship it out in a jiffy. Enjoy that rhubarb!
Wow, Ann, that is so generous and kind of you! By coincidence, this afternoon, as I have been running back and forth performing my motherly duries (Cesar Chavez Day only means I don’t go to my OTHER job) I read an article about Jean Paul Guerlain and Thierry Wasser–and the article mentioned rhubarb as a fresh-smelling note for a perfume. I would love to try it, I have tried none of the Comme des Garcons line and they are on my list for my next perfume safari opportunity. Thanks again! Happy sproing, Mary:)
That sounds heavenly. Thanks for reviewing one I was curious about!
OOOh bubbly wine, we’re not allowed to call it champagne Downunder any more ( a bit like YSL and his Yvresse!)…but we produce oceans of it – everything from $5 bottles that are a heck of a lot better than the cheap French swill, to expensive stuff actually produced by French wine companies in say, Tasmania.
We’ve just discovered one called Zamphire after a trip to the wineries that is the most etheraly light dry fruity thing, totally different to the bready French style….but mostly I slosh away on Yellowglen Pink!
Ah and Byredo, the quintessential ultramodern light dry crispy scents! I’m coming around to the style, as exemplified by JC Ellena, to the point where I am actually finding vintage a bit thick, opaque and rich, but the few I’ve sampled are still in the too, too…crispy, or something…
Love the description “irises in a bunch” as that is one of my favorite springtime smells!
I’m still so traumatized by Pulp, that frankly I’m skeered to try any other Byredo’s! Seriously. Although it was a great review and your description sounded pretty nice.
Thanks everyone for the champers recs – I’m off to the liquor store now!
I would love to try La Tulipe, please do enter me in the drawing.
As for champagne, my personal favorites are Perrier-Jouet and Dom Perignon.
I’m new to this site, and absolutely love you all. I don’t know if I can be entered in the drawing, since I’m new, but a girl can try, right?
Some red hair advice: I’ve had every color in the book, and short of trying to get black dye out of hair, red is the hardest. I agree with the color shampoo and conditioner (Artek used to make a lot of different shades of red–I even mixed them to get the color I wanted–but they may be owned by L’Oreal now?), but a word of warning that if your hair was previously blond, the shampoo and/or conditioner will only cling to the part of your hair that was previously treated. (Or at least, it will take more heavily on those porous parts of hair.) The best advice I ever got was to mix demi-permanent dye with permanent dye. It really does make the dye last longer. I don’t know where you live, but you can get both at a beauty supply store. Lastly, if your roots start looking darker red than the rest of your hair, or the red turns drab over time, high-lift reds will brighten it up.
I’ll answer for Patty, since she’s swamped and I’m a busybody anyway;)
welcome! and you’re in the draw. Time Served has nothing to do with it!
xo >-)
Hi, Ms. Kitty…greetings from this angle on perfume!
I’d love to be entered in the drawing! I was thinking of buying La Tulipe unsniffed, myself!
I adore Champagne, but for an inexpensive bubbly alternative, I’ve been trying Spanish cava. My favorite: Segura Viudas Cava Brut Reserva. Creamy, not sweet, just YUMMY! And quite reasonably priced!
I’d love to be included in the drawing. I’ve never tried any of the
Byredos but this sounds lovely.
Sadly, my Champagne tastes tend to run towards whatever is on sale at costco. I’m only now getting my boyfriend to realize that wine can be better than beer, so I suspect it will still be awhile till we reach champagne.
I’ve never tried any of the Byredos — La Tulipe sounds so earthy, pretty and fresh. I’d love to have my name thrown into the hat. :”>
As for Champagne, my husband was in the military and stationed in Germany back in the 80s when the dollar was strong. They could buy French champagne at a French concern for less than $10 — stuff that costs about $60 a bottle here in the states nowadays. His favorite, and mine, is Laurent Perrier. He prefers the Tres Brut which is super dry, but I think the Brut is just fine.
I’ve been coloring my brunette hair for about 20 years. I started going grey when I was sixteen! I definitely recommend using shampoo for color-treated hair, and try to get by with only shampooing a couple of times per week. I like NouNou by Davines — their shampoo and conditioning pack.
Sample of Tulipe? Please include me! I loooooove Pulp. Green is a little too soapy on me, and don’t think I’ve tried any other Byredos but would love to.
For sparkling wines, I’d probably go with some prosecco or cava, but don’t ask me which. Good quality for low prices, in some cases, but I’m no expert.
Throw me in for the sample drawing. I haven’t tried anything by Byredo yet!
And as for champagne–ah, I’m a Chardonnay girl.
I love Veuve Cliquot and Shramsburg Mirabelle Brut Rose (which I originally bought because I liked the name :)) These are the ones I buy all the time. But I also love Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante which I could drink with a straw on a hot summer day! I would love to try the new Byredo.
Wow, I’ve never tried any of the Byredos (just completely off my radar for some reason), but your decription of La Tulipe has me jonesing furiously. I love earthy, springy smells and *tulips in a bunch* sounds about perfect right now.
As for the bubbly, Veuve Cliquot is my fave, but it’s getting close to $70 here in Canada, so not an everyday quaff that’s for sure. There’s a yummy sparkling wine from the Okanagan Valley: Stellars Jay Brut, that is my second favourite at about $26. Don’t know if you would find it where you live, though.
Oh please throw me in for that La Tulipe!
Forgot to add: Stellars Jay is from Sumac Ridge Winery. In case anyone wanted to look for it 😉
Ah, Patty, I feel ya on the meetings thing. And as a redhead (both by nature and with a little help right now to keep the grays from taking over), let me suggest that you use shampoo designed for color treated hair and reconsider makeup colors. the cool tones that flatter blonds can look harsh on redheads – go for earthy neutrals when you can. Redheads also look exceptional in colors no one else can wear well – brown and gray for example – and always, always black. The occasional pop of teal will help keep people from thinking you’re depressed. And now of course I want to try this scent because tulips ARE Spring to me, though I never really thought of them as having a scent…
My fizzy wine drinking is quite low budget, especially since I tend to make Mimosas in the faint hope that this makes drinking more healthy. Usually it’s something like Veuve de Vernay or a prosecco.
A tulip scent actually smelling of the real thing? Crazy, especially after all those cherry blossom perfumes smelling nothing like real cherry blossoms…
Hi Patty, I’m not much of a drinker but do love a bit of champagne on New Year’s Eve (usually something fairly inexpensive) and would love to expand my horizons, so thanks for all these good suggestions. The Byredo sounds lovely, so please enter me in the draw, if you will. And have a great week despite all the craziness!
I’m an inveterate champagne drinker, so much so that if there isn’t any bubbly at an event that by all rights should have some, I get pissy. I like to take the cheaper stuff and mix it with various liquers (the ginger cognac liquer and some champers is FAB! 😡 ). There’s a place here in DC called Napoleon Bistro which specializes in champagne-based mixed drinks (and crepes) that gets a lot of my $$$. I have a spendy bottle that I’m waiting to crack open for my birthday today, but I’ll be d-nded if I can remember the name of it–it’s very creamy, with a hint of oak, and an undertone of apricots, but not sweet. It’s about $120, which cheaper than Dom, and I like it better to boot.
I only recently tried Byredo and have been sampling Green and Bal d’Afrique. You are totally right, Patty, about the perfumeur having a perfectly light hand. The fragrances are graceful and nuanced and very comforting. I would love to try Tulipe.
As for champagne, I quite enjoy Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante – a cheapie, but fun. I’m looking forward to trying a few of your recommendations. 🙂
I’ll have to pop over to Facebook to see the new hair color. My hair is growing ever darker and I love what it does for my eyes. And, I can wear clothing colors that I never would have imagined. A bright tomato colored sweater! Wow!
I haven’t yet found a Byredo that works for me, but I would be happy to keep trying, so please enter me in the drawing.
Ah, I see you’re already discovered Billecart Salmon (I suggested it on your FB post). LOVE the Brut Rose!!!
I am a French Tulip fanaticista. And how I miss the SF flower market where you could buy stems for $1 apiece!!! No such luck here in Maine, though I could probably grow some if I had any gardening skill.
Would love to try the Byredo. Thanks, Patty.
That would be “you’ve” already discovered…not “you’re”
I’m not really a champagne sipper, so can’t help there, but I do find myself desperately in need of a shot of springtime hope! Please enter me in the drawing. 🙂
Back when I was a fiery copper carrot top, I loved the John Frieda Hair Glaze (despite the dismal reviews on MUA) to keep the colour perky. It would have the side effect of turning my hair more cherry red than copper, though, so perhaps not the best choice for strawberry blonde-ish hair.
La Tulipe is a great name, if nothing else. I’m trying to remember what tulips smells like, anyway (don’t let my grandma hear it or she’ll drag me to the Keukenhof). In short: Ii’d love to be in the drawing, thanks!
I have never tried anything from the Byredo line so would love to be included as this sounds perfect for spring. We’re living near the ocean in Florida for the first time and I must say I miss my daffodils, crocus and snowdrops poking through. We might want to head back north sooner next year. (Make that I might want to. My husband could stay here forever.)
Champagne is one of those things I never learned to appreciate. Alcohol consumption usually results in a headache so I avoid it. Doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s white wine, red wine, mixed drinks, etc. Have been able to turn this to my advantage when buying more perfume. “I never order a drink when we eat out like you do! Think of this as my beverage of choice!” Usually elicits a smile. Usually.
And may I add on the hair – can’t help you there either. Having trouble with my own blonde hair with all of this gray beginning to show up. I have white streaks showing up everywhere within 2 weeks of any highlighting or coloring. Thinking I’m gong to have to let it go at some point.:((
Billecart Salmon, baby. It’s the one. We will drink some in London when you come! Plus Taittinger Comtes de Champagne (but it’s too expensive unless someone else is paying).
The Byredo scents are all very well, but I think they are a bit nothingy, really, Tulips are amongst my favourite flowers, though, especially when they go all wild and droopy in the vase. Parrot tulips are the maddest and my absolute faves.
Good luck with the hair. I have no words of wisdom to impart.
A rose sparkler from California–J Rose is excellent and in your price range (the brut is, too). Please enter me in the draw–thanks!
bursztyn
I’d love to sniff the Tulipe, so please enter me.
I’m old-school — my favorite champagne is probably Veuve-Cliquot. I love the nuttiness I always seem to find in it. Schramsberg also makes some pretty good sparklers.
As for the hair, this curly, color-treated redhead evangelizes for Deva NoPoo. It takes a bit of getting used to washing your hair with no suds, but my hair loves it.
😮
I’m SO glad I didn’t see the whole post when I first commented – I’d still be on here! I am the Queen of Farmer Fizz, which is family owned/grown/bottled Champagne. Here are a few of my favorites
Ch Vilmart
Gaston Chiquet
H. Billiot
Cartogne-Taillet (prolly my fave of all the FF)
one of my absolute favorites for everyday guzzling is from a place just outside Champagne – Louis Bouillot. It can hold its own against any ‘good’ champagne, any day of the week. By ‘good’ we’re not talking price – we’re talking taste. It won’t beat a Bolly or a Billy but other than that…
I have an entire cellar full of Farmer Fizz – it is the Sunshine of My Life (and yes, poor El O is building me a new cellar in this ramshackle shackle, since I had to move from civilization and leave my house. And studio. And wine cellar. And friends.
:((
oh, wait. I promised I wouldn’t host that party anymore, didn’t I. Okay!
OOOOH! almost forgot! an incredible little gem, not from Champagne. Chateau d’Orschwihr, from Alsace. Hubert Hartmann knocked this one out of the BOX! I would drink this all day if I could. 😕
dang.
gotta get back to work. no fizz for me!
xoxo >-)
Hey A! I had no idea you were a champagne connoisseur. My husband sells wine for a distributor here in ME, so we have a mini wine obsession. He doesn’t care much for champagne, though. When we do buy it, we tend to steer toward el cheapo Saint Hilaire (purported to be France’s first sparkling wine, created by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Saint Hilaire), which is actually a pretty good champagne. As mentioned below, I personally love Billecart Salmon Brut Rose…
My dad, however, is French, and is fixated on Dom Perignon. He’s in his late 70’s and to him, Dom Perignon is the only champagne to drink.
At 70, your Dad is entitled to be fixated on whatever champagne he likes. Tell him Evil Auntie Anita said so!;)
xo >-)
I have been really interested to hear about La Tulipe…Thanks…I think I feel an unsniffed purchase coming on!! It sounds lovely and Sunday, Monday, Today and Tomorrow there is rain in NY!!!! I need some joy and light and this sounds perfect. Please let us know about its lasting power.
Also thanks for the champagne recommendations. We don’t do that Champagne, but really enjoy Prosecco…its fun to try out all the different brands, different bubbles, sweetnesses, etc. and they are not that expensive.
P.S. I am sure you’ll smell fabulous for your meeting..Good Luck…
Sorry..I forgot, please enter me in the drawing..
We had some fun with Prosecco a few months ago. Inspired by Kir Royales (cassis and champagne), we decided to mix prosecco with all sorts of different liqueurs and do a taste test. Best was Cointreau. Yum.
🙂
That sounds really yummy…we should try it!
:((
You do know that Every. Single. Byredo. hates my guuuuts, don’t you? I have tried ’em all and they all 8-x
with a knife.
which is a damn shame, as this one sounds really nice.
Dang.
xo >-)