The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Mon Premier Parfum Edition Limitée 2025 marks Annick Menardo's return to the note that started it all. The 2025 limited edition, housed in a collector's spring flacon, reimagines the house's original licorice-anise signature for a new chapter. Menardo, who composed Lolita Lempicka's debut fragrance in 1997, built that composition around an unusual quartet: anise, licorice, violet, and vanilla. Twenty-eight years later, she revisits the same accord with cherry, labdanum, and praline added to the palette. The result feels less like a reissue and more like a director's cut, same obsession, updated tools.
The licorice-anise combination is technically challenging because anise can tip into medicinal territory while licorice can go flat and dusty. Menardo bridges this by anchoring the top with cherry, a fruity note that adds sweetness without softening the anise too much. Labdanum, a resin from cistus rockrose, provides body in the heart that orange blossom alone couldn't sustain. The real success is the transition: many gourmand fragrances feel disjointed between heart and base, but here violet and tonka bean share a powdery kinship that makes the shift feel inevitable rather than abrupt.
The evolution
The opening hits sharp and aromatic, licorice candy dissolves into anise, that distinctive black-drops feeling that either grabs you immediately or takes some getting used to. Cherry arrives within minutes, adding a jammy sweetness that tempers the anise without diluting it. The heart blooms slower than expected. Violet emerges gradually, its powdery floral character warming against the labdanum resin underneath. Orange blossom keeps things bright without becoming indolic or heavy. By the drydown, three to five hours in, vanilla and praline take over. The tonka bean adds that characteristic creaminess, a sweet finish that stays intimate and close to the skin. No fireworks. Just a warmth that lingers into the evening like the memory of someone's collarbone.
Cultural impact
Mon Premier Parfum Edition Limitée 2025 arrives as a revival of Lolita Lempicka's most iconic accord, one that first disrupted French perfumery in 1997 when licorice and anise were considered masculine territory. The 2025 edition honors Annick Menardo's original vision while updating it for a generation that embraces gourmand warmth without apology. The fragrance has become a collector's piece as much for its Mon Printemps bottle as for its ability to spark conversation about what feminine scent signatures can be. This edition brings Menardo's signature accord back into cultural conversation, inviting both longtime fans and newcomers to engage with a fragrance that challenged conventions decades ago and still carries that disruptive energy today.
