La Tulipe Byredo 2010 Eau de Parfum

I love the morning. By noon, I’m always somehow tired, the morning and afternoon are filled with work, and the evening is for relaxing - but the morning is everything to me. The earlier, the better, especially in the warmer season. It basically starts as soon as it’s light early in the morning - then I love to get up and go outside. Whether it’s just with a coffee on the balcony, having breakfast in the garden, or taking the dog into nature - it doesn’t matter.

I love to see the fog rising over the river and the vineyards lying in shadow, only individual patches illuminated by the sun. I love the absolute silence, interrupted only by the chirping of birds. Above all, I love the crystal clear cold air on an early, sunny spring morning. This clarity, this purity, the sun still too weak to warm the air, so that with every breath I deeply inhale this diamond-like air - that is the metaphor for new beginnings. Whenever I have the chance for such a morning walk in sunny cold, I reset my life and start anew. Plans, intentions, goals - suddenly everything seems feasible, achievable. In the crystal clear morning, the geometry of my life unfolds in a completely logical structure - and I draw upon all the hope I can get.

On such mornings, there are only two spring fragrances for me that reflect this complete purity and clarity - one of them is La Tulipe by Byredo. It was through this fragrance that I first became aware of the niche segment. When I smelled La Tulipe for the first time, it was like a revelation to me, and I had high expectations of Byredo - an expectation that, unfortunately, has not been met for me with the other fragrances of the brand so far. They often seem synthetic and constructed away from nature. Quite the opposite is La Tulipe: The very first moment, the top note, is so perfect, so clear, so pure, so harmonious, so round. The perfect scent, crystal clear like fresh, cold spring water, floral-pure and deeply nuanced, without sweetness, without harshness. A completely soft, pure floral scent, a symbol of growth, a symbol of the moment when the bloom presents itself in all its delicate beauty. For the absolute freshness, it is the cyclamen and especially the freesia that are responsible; I know this note from other spring fragrances as a freshness carrier. However, the freshness does not give me the impression of fresh laundry; I cannot find the slightest, tiniest similarity to Blanche by Byredo. While Blanche really smells like the starch in my freshly ironed bed linen, La Tulipe is the freshness of pure spring water in the mountains. Then, when the tulip joins in the heart note, I can only agree with my predecessors: A real tulip is relatively odorless and cannot achieve the effect here. I also perceive a hint of lilac, but in a very, very moderate form and not to be compared with the sweet heaviness that lingers in the air from the lilac in my garden on summer evenings. The tulip here in La Tulipe is primarily a symbol of the materialized spring, of clarity, new beginnings, and purity. It is a wonderfully beautiful, round fragrance that is by no means synthetic in any way, which is only later softened by slightly harsher, woody notes after many hours. Perfectly fitting this experience are the completely simple bottle, the white label, and the colorless transparency of the perfume.

In this regard, I personally consider La Tulipe to be the true, underrated masterpiece of Byredo, to which no other fragrance of the brand can compare. How could it? No other symbolizes pure, fresh water as much as La Tulipe.