Un Deux Trois Soleil

Un Deux Trois Soleil means "one, two, three, sun" in French. It is also the French name for the playground game known in English as Grandmother's Footsteps or Red Light, Green Light. Bastille built the scent around the warmth of a childhood afternoon and a snack taken on the sly while no grown-up was looking.

Bitter almond sits at the centre. Before any marzipan roundness comes through, it opens with the slightly bitter edge of an almond kernel. Heliotrope, which shares the heart, wraps that outline in a soft, powdery floral texture. Incense, the third heart note, draws a dry, resinous shadow across the sweetness, and that shadow is the main reason the scent never reads simply as confectionery.

The top notes are bergamot, pink pepper and grapefruit. Their citrus brightness and light peppery prickle tighten the sweetness of the opening. In the base, vanilla, tonka bean and benzoin take over. The tonka has both almond and hay facets, and benzoin adds a balsamic sweetness on top of it. Together they let the almond and vanilla melt into a single warm finish.

The perfumer is Domitille Michalon-Bertier, who describes the scent as "warm, smells like summer, joyful". Bastille states that 95% of its ingredients are natural, and bitter almond and vanilla both appear among the natural oils and extracts it lists.

The sweetness is clear, but the citrus and incense give it backbone. It suits people who like gourmand scents yet find a straight vanilla too round. The bitterness of the almond and the dryness of the incense are what make this one distinctive.