Les Violettes du Loup
Molinard (1917)

MOLINARD – VIOLETTE DU LOUP (1917)

Violette was originally launched in 1917 by Molinard as Les Violettes du Loup, and is a floral, earthy, woody, musky fragrance. This rare and highly collectible perfume is made from the real thing, violet flowers and violet leaves. Re-formulated in 1994 with synthetics.

Violet leaf lends a cut grass and sliced cucumber note to fragrances, quite different from the sweet and powdery scent of violet flowers. Egypt is a major producer of violet leaf absolute today. The leaf is an exceptional addition to the perfumer's palette and synthetics do not offer the same diffusion or colour. Along with galbanum it also offers the only other natural green tint that can be used in perfumery.

Today there is no sufficient cost-effective oil from the violet flower and perfumers routinely use synthetic molecules, called ionones, to render the violet note. The violet leaf note does yield a different oil, which can be used, but the effect is different.

Above historical information on this scent provided by perfumista and collector, Alexandra Star.

Top notes: Violet; Iris
Heart notes: Violet Leaf; Orris Root
Base notes: Heliotrope; Musk

This is quite a different violet scent, being strongly influenced by the dry suede note of orris root. One is reminded very much of Serge Lutens' Iris Silver Mist in its concentration of orris. The pure violet leaf oil provides a green freshness that does not hinder the true oil of the violet flower from floating over all.

The effect is that of violet oil having been rubbed into a suede jacket. At once green, powdery and dry, this is a very sophisticated and modern scent, which would be quite unisex and quite at home today in the upper echelons of fashion. Molinard would turn to the violet again in 1935 and yet again in 1994, but the second is more traditional in its feminine powdery violet sensation and the latest is all chemicals, more “suggested” than an actual experience of violet.

This is a very unique violet and worth seeking out among private collectors.