Note Pyramid
En Passant
Some fragrances smell like weather rather than like flowers, and Frédéric Malle En Passant Eau de Parfum 50ml belongs firmly in that group.
What it is after is the moment of walking past a lilac bush after rain, and the construction serves that image rather than the flower. The opening is cold and vegetal: cucumber brings water, galbanum brings the snapped green stem, basil adds a herbal sharpness and orange a thin brightness. There is also banana in there, which accounts for the faint doughy softness underneath the greenery and which nobody guesses until they are told.
Lilac itself is handled without any attempt at grandeur. It is powdery, transparent and slightly sad, and it never swells the way a floral usually does. Lily of the valley keeps it dewy, jasmine warms it, carnation puts a dry spice at the edges, rose rounds it, petitgrain adds bitterness and a very small amount of honey gives the whole bouquet enough body to feel real.
Underneath, sandalwood, cedarwood, amber, musk and vanilla are present in trace amounts only, enough to keep the flowers from vanishing but never enough to become a base in their own right. Olivia Giacobetti composed it in 2000 and it remains one of the most restrained things in the Malle catalogue. Expect four hours or so, intimate projection and a soft close. The 50ml bottle is the practical choice for a fragrance you will spray liberally and often, which this one asks for. It is unisex, it is a spring and summer scent, and it is one of the few perfumes that genuinely suits a hot office.
The house began in Paris in 2000. Frédéric Malle, whose family had been in perfumery for generations, built it around commissioning perfumers and crediting them on the label, which was close to unheard of at the time. Carnal Flower, Portrait of a Lady and Musc Ravageur became its best known editions, and the Estee Lauder group acquired it in 2015.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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