Initio Parfums Privés Lift Me Up Extrait de Parfum

What It Smells Like

Initio Lift Me Up is a creamy vanilla and ylang-ylang fragrance. Launched in 2025 in the Hedonist collection as an extrait de parfum, it is described by the house as a floral amber that captures the warmth of the sun, and that is close to how it smells.

The opening is magnolia and bergamot. Magnolia is a creamy, lemony flower, and with the bergamot it makes the first minutes bright and smooth.

The heart is ylang-ylang and tonka bean. Ylang-ylang is a tropical yellow flower with a rich, banana-like, slightly spicy sweetness; it is the note that gives many classic perfumes their sunny, suntan-lotion warmth. Tonka bean adds an almond-and-hay softness underneath.

The base is vanilla and musk, simple and enveloping. The vanilla is creamy rather than sugary, and the musk keeps it light on skin. Fragrantica's community ranks vanilla as the leading accord, followed by sweet, musky, powdery and floral, and rates it 4.15 out of 5 from about 950 votes so far.

Who Made It

Initio does not name the perfumers behind most of its fragrances, and neither Fragrantica nor Parfumo lists one for Lift Me Up. We would rather leave the credit open than guess. The house presents its fragrances as the work of a collective, with the materials and their effect on mood placed ahead of any individual signature.

Who It's For

Lift Me Up is for people who love soft vanilla and warm florals and want a fragrance that feels cheerful. Fragrantica lists it for women and men.

If you enjoy solar, creamy scents, the kind that remind you of a beach holiday, this is a refined version of the idea. If you want a dark or boozy vanilla, Narcotic Delight is the one to try. Within the Hedonist collection it is the sweetest and warmest.

When to Wear It

Fragrantica voters place it in spring and summer, with fall not far behind, and day about twice as high as night. Vanilla usually belongs to winter, but the ylang-ylang and magnolia keep this one bright enough for warm weather.

Wear it in the daytime, on holiday, or on a grey day when you want something sunny. As an extrait it stays close and wears smoothly through the day.

About the House

Initio Parfums Privés launched in Paris in 2015 with an unusual premise: that scent acts on mood and attraction before we consciously register it. The fragrances are built around materials chosen for that effect, such as musks, woods, resins and the jasmine-like molecule hedione, and they are grouped into collections with a stated purpose: The Absolutes, The Carnal Blends, The Black Gold Project, the Hedonist collection and Supercharged.

The bottles are heavy, square-shouldered flacons with a metal medallion on the front, and the compositions tend to be concentrated and long-lasting. Initio is a boutique-only house at Redolia. It is sold at our perfumery at 92 West Main Street in Somerville, New Jersey, and not through the website. Read how our boutique-only houses work, then come in and try it on skin before you decide.