Petits et Mamans Bvlgari 1998

Powdery, soft and delicately sweet but with a delightful freshness. It conjures up clean babies and young skin.
It's also such good value and the bottle is very cute too.

Cayennes, Land Rovers, and a few X6s are parked here in the second row. Inside sits a Managing or Executive Director, around fifty, in Tod's Gommini and a Woolrich parka, secretly glancing at his Blackberry - after all, it's Saturday! Next to him on the sidewalk stands a - mostly significantly younger - blonde (rarely brunette, but that happens too) in Size Zero jeans and Barbour or also in Woolrich, casually draping a Neverfull in Monogram or Damier over her shoulder - after all, it's Saturday! In between - in front of the open back door, in small Barbour or very similar jackets and Ralph Lauren sweaters - stand little boys and little girls.

I have often wondered, whenever I had the chance to take a whiff of Bvlgari's Petits et Mamans, if it is these mommies - definitely not the daddies - who spray their little boys and little girls with perfume in the open Cayenne door - perhaps so they don't smell too much like polo horse in the car? I don't know any children who are keen on such a perfume. The boys generally want nothing at all, and the girls - there is nothing pink about the little bottle, and it doesn't smell like raspberry and vanilla and fairy dust! This scent really can't be for these children.

And then - amidst the well-to-do family idyll - you sometimes see couples strolling - very similar in appearance to the ones described above - who are still out and about without a child, still 'in good hope'. They are in the process of setting up a lovely nursery - in French country style - and today they are stopping by Petit Bateau to check out a onesie or picking up the silver family baptismal bowl from Wempe after restoration. And then - among other pretty little things they still need to acquire - the expectant mommy, tempted by the pretty bottle (which would look so nice on the Biedermeier changing table), takes a sniff of Bvlgari's little, light fragrance. She briefly closes her eyes, dreaming herself into the yet-to-be-furnished nursery, lovingly cradles her belly, and then the arm of the soon-to-be daddy next to her. And then she looks forward to powder and anti-cradle cap cream. And simply takes Petits et Mamans with her.

Conclusion: a small fragrance that, in a not unpleasant way, smells like almost nothing. Soft and lovely. One that you spray into the air and then sniff with a dreamy smile. A pretty accessory, nothing more. For mommies, not for children.

Finally, I have my little ones in bed. They are no longer as fragrant, warm, and cuddly as they once were. Today, I am dealing more with little fire- and sulfur-snorting dragons. Exhausted, Maman lets herself fall onto the sofa. Stretching her heavy limbs. Calming her tense nerves. Sometimes I feel so burnt out.

In the past, there was always chamomile tea when I was exhausted, tense, or unwell. My mother would brew it and bring it to me. She would stroke my head with her hand, which always smelled a bit like Nivea. Along with the steam of the chamomile tea. "Take a little nap," she whispered to me. "Then everything will be alright again." Oh, how I sometimes wished on my sofa that it would be like it was back then. In such moments, I slip into the bedroom to my cabinet where I keep my perfumes.

There stands a bottle of Petits et Mamas. I bought it used a few weeks ago because the fragrance can no longer be found in drugstores. I spray it on my wrist. As soon as its alcoholic opening dissipates, it feels like my mother's hand, warm and soft. First, the soothing chamomile. Underneath, delicately, refreshing citrus, just strong enough for me to notice it. Distinct enough to give me the assurance that after a break, everything will be alright again. But not too strong and underlaid with a hint of vanilla, so that I won't feel awake or hyper. (Just Google "wake-up lemon." You will be amazed.) Finally, a hint of fresh flowers. Like back then, I feel comforted and relaxed.

This fragrance was not made for children!
It is for the child in me!
And the child in every woman who urgently needs a whiff of relaxation after work.

Petits et Mamans was a blind buy for me. I am quite adventurous in this regard; I rely on my instincts, which rarely let me down. Here too, I made a lucky find.
Petits et Mamans is said to be made for babies, but I believe that hardly anyone perfumes their infant, why would they?
Anyone who has kissed a newborn on the head knows that babies exude an irresistible scent that practically compels you to "love" them. I have often wondered where this scent comes from.
Do babies have special scent glands that then regress? Nature certainly had a thought behind it.
In any case, this scent does not directly remind me of the scent of a baby’s head.
Rather, it strongly reminds me of Nivea Baby cream, a light blue jar with little dots.
I don’t even know if this cream still exists. In any case, it smells wonderful.
If Nivea EdT is the scent of Nivea cream, then Petit et Mamans is the scent of Nivea Baby.
I have an opened alcohol-free splash bottle here.
From the aforementioned fragrance pyramid, I perceive delicate chamomile flowers right at the beginning, but a nice fresh one, not dusty, reminiscent of tea.
After that, a lot of iris unfolds; I would even describe Petits et Mamans as a delicate iris scent. Somehow, I perceive something like very subtle white musk in the base note, although it is not mentioned in the fragrance pyramid. Or maybe I am just imagining it, and it is simply the result of the scent interacting with my skin chemistry.
The longevity is in the medium range for me, as is the sillage.
The bottle is very nicely designed with its "baby blanket pattern" and yet not too kitschy.
I don’t find it that innocent; it is definitely made for adult women, and I can even imagine it on men.
For me, it is a well-groomed, clean, and yet not innocent scent that iris lovers might enjoy.
I still have a backup bottle, but I think I need to stock up on another bottle because I don’t want to miss out on this beautiful scent!

You dear little diaper poopers: Come all to Aunt Peanut. Aunt Peanut doesn’t go “Eww” or “Yuck,” but willingly changes your bottoms. Because Aunt Peanut loves to sniff talcum powder. Penaten, Johnson’s Baby, Bübchen -- everything!

But since Aunt Peanut is afraid of pulmonary fibrosis, she prefers to buy “Petits et Mamans” by Bvlgari. Because this little perfume is a dream of perfect baby powder, gentleness, purity, softness, tenderness.

Clearly: It doesn’t get any drier. After all, it’s powder, just for spraying. But all the more beautiful for it. The innocence of chamomile, the gentleness of sunflower, the cool dryness of iris. A combination to dream of, which I had the pleasure of discovering thanks to Lobelia and had to own in a mega bottle within hours!

By the way, quite an intense combination. As shy as it appears further down, it doesn’t seem that way to me. Maybe it’s due to the dryness, but more than three spritzes and you’re knocked out!