Rive Gauche Yves Saint Laurent

Rive Gauche EdT

Rive Gauche, which means “Left Bank”, refers to the left bank of the river Seine in Paris, which is considered the trendy and hip boho part of town where Yves Saint Laurent first opened his boutique in the early 1970s. I came across this little gem through a fragrantica swap about a year ago. I never would have tried it otherwise, I’ll be honest here. *sigh* Though you should never judge a book by its cover or a perfume by its bottle for that matter, I am, nonetheless, drawn to perfumes not just by the notes but also from the aesthetics. I mean, come on, who doesn’t love a pretty perfume bottle on their boudoir, right? And I hate to say it but for a women’s fragrance, it isn’t contained in the most attractive bottle. It’s metal and looks more like a guys fragrance. It actually reminds me of those aerosol canister body sprays that were so big in the 80s and 90s. Malibu Musk anyone? Anyone? Bueller? haha But I supposed it was something different at the time it was released, way before Malibu Musk.

The one and only Malibu Musk in a can

Aside from the bland presentation, the juice itself is a really nice clean fragrance. This has got to be the epitome of an aldehyde if I’ve ever smelled one. It opens with a burst of soapy aldehydes and damp green oakmoss. The heart develops into a slightly metallic, herbal floral musk which is also very powdery from the iris. I can faintly detect vetiver but it’s very light. I can definitely smell the rose, though it is fairly tame. The overall feel of the perfume is a lightly green and powdery soap. This fragrance won’t offend anyone, though some people find aldehydes migraine inducing. But aldehydes are top notes, so unless you spray it on right then and there, you shouldn’t have a problem. Aldehydes themselves are a rather soft, airy type of perfume material, so even an overload doesn’t mean powerhouse, because Rive Gauche is anything but. If you aren’t sure what aldehydes smell like, think Chanel No 5 which is also an aldehyde bomb. It’s the waxy, clean soapy smell that permeates the top notes, before the florals really bloom.

About four years into my fragrance journey I swapped a few perfumes I wasn’t wearing for a perfumers kit, complete with 2 different aldehydes (there are many different types of aldehydes) so I’ve become familiar with how they basically smell as singular notes. And from what I can tell, Rive Gauche is composed mostly of aldehydes and oakmoss. Those are the two main notes I detect front and center stage. The rest of the notes play minimally supporting roles, though the nuances ARE there.

Though it was produced as edt, edp, and parfum, I believe only the edt remains in production. It was also reformulated since it was first released in 1970. The edt is very easy to get online at fair prices but the edp’s have become very rare since being discontinued and the prices for them have skyrocketed. I own both edt and edp, and they are so similar that I don’t think it’s even worth the trouble or money to hunt down an edp. I acquired both of my bottles through swaps, otherwise I would surely not have the edp. But I’ve hoarded it away as a collector piece and never wear it though I tested it a few times after receiving it.

Rive Gauche EdP

If you enjoy Chanel No 5 and enjoy clean laundry type fragrances, I think it’s a safe bet to say that you’d probably like Rive Gauche as well, though keep in mind Rive Gauche is much less sweet and floral than No 5. There’s a bit of greenness to it from the oakmoss and it wears on the powdery side from the iris. It’s considered a feminine fragrance but I think in this day in age it’s fairly unisex since it’s not overly floral or sweet, plus I think the bottle would appeal to guys too. Overall, it’s a very simple, minimalist fragrance, though timeless and classic and easy to wear.

Year: 1971

Season: Year round

Top: Aldehydes, honeysuckle, peach, green notes, bergamot, lemon

Heart: Magnolia, iris, gardenia, jasmine, ylang, lily of the valley, rose, carnation

Base: Oakmoss, sandalwood, tonka, amber, vetiver, musk

Femme Rochas (vintage)

I was introduced to this frag about 5 years ago by a fragrant friend whom I consider my perfume mentor though I was in no way ready for it back then. It smelled sweaty and dirty. But I’ve come a long way in the past 2 years as far as chypres and animalics are concerned and this one is loaded with both!

Though it’s considered a chypre fruity, and it really is fruity for a chypre, it’s also loaded with cumin that gives it a real dirty twist. Fragrantica has it listed as a “leather” note but I couldn’t disagree more. I own lots of leather goods and have worn many leather frags and this is definitely cumin, not leather.

The play of cumin on oakmoss reminds me of Alexander McQueens Kingdom, though Kingdom is much drier, brittle, dusty almost. Femme is humid, chewy, and rich in comparison. ¡Muy rico!

But Femme gets compared to Mitsouko the most and while they are both fruity chypres with peach notes, Femme has a lot more going on than Mitsy, being much more fruity since it also features a plum note not to mention all that cumin. The fruity notes give it a chewy, jammy, boozy feel.

Did I mention the cumin? Haha I read a review on Fragrantica recently where one perfumista compared Femme to the smell of her armpits after eating curry hahaha. I died lol. French perfumes are known for layering the sweet over the skank, most immortalized with the use of civet in the icons Shalimar and Chanel No 5. Femme followed right in their trails, being released roughly two decades after them.

Femme is NOT for everyone clearly as she is no dainty lady. She’s a femme fatale, but classy, sultry, and not afraid to get her hands dirty. She works for a living. She’s on the go, never idle. That dirty note can only be compared to the infamous Putain des Palaces from the House of Etat Libre d’ Orange, ohhh la la! Haha. While these two fragrances do not actually smell similar at all, I do think they have a comparable level of the skank factor. PdP being a leather note and Femme being cumin.

After coming around to Mitsouko the last few months I HAD to revisit Femme, which I still had that sample given to me 5 years ago and this time around I fell head over heels for it. I went online and ordered a vintage bottle right away. The bonus here is that it’s not expensive at all but definitely does not smell like a cheap perfume. I paid $40 USD for 100ml, “new old stock” vintage with the gold cap.

Josephine Baker with her pet cheetah, “Chiquita”.

When I think of Femme, I think Josephine Baker but not in the banana skirt. No, she’s a little older here and on the run during WWII after her beloved France was under German occupation. She’s in North Africa, fighting for the French resistance, using her celebrity status as an entertainer to gather intel, a spy of sorts in the tradition of the one and only and oh so infamous, Mata Hari. She’s still a lady but she’s working up a sweat, but not from dancing but fighting for the things she believes in.

Femme is not some damsel in distress, teeny-bopper syrup spray. This is a classic chypre for the people, it’s affirdable, attainable. It’s a favorite pair of broken in dress flats, it’s lived in, comfortable, sexy, and so very feminine. This is leather and lace and will make you smell sophisticated and even a little intimidating. Femme is the scent of a confident, independant, intelligent woman that knows how to handle her business. She is her own boss though men still trip over themselves trying to open the door for her. And best of all, it’s soooo easy to get your hands on. I feel zero guilt spraying without reserve. Grab yourself a vintage bottle before I buy them all 😉 lol.

Year: 1943

Season: All

Top: Cumin,Apricot, Plum, Cinnamon, Cumin, Peach, Bergamot, Lemon, Rosewood

Heart: Rosemary, Carnation, Cumin, Iris, Jasmine, Clove, Ylang, Rose, Cumin

Base: Leather, Cumin, Amber, Patchouli, Musk, Benzoin, Vanilla, Oakmoss, Cumin

Mitsouko Guerlain

When it comes to writing down my thoughts and feelings about perfumes, I never approach the task flippantly, most especially when it comes to the older iconic fragrances. It took years before I felt I was ready to opine on Shalimar, for example. It’s been around longer than my grandmother after all and what could an inexperienced, beginner perfumista have to say about it anyway? Nothing, that’s what. Nothing worthy of paying any attention to anyway. And Mitsouko is even older than Shalimar, being released in 1919. I just don’t form opinions on things I don’t understand. And it took a long time for me to “get” Mitsouko, but alas, I finally understand.

When I was first introduced to this perfume over 5 years ago by Johnathan Nieto at the Guerlain boutique in Palazzo Vegas, my only thought was why on earth would anyone want to smell like this? I ended up buying Mon Precieux Nectar that visit lol. I knew nothing about Mitsoukos historical context, or what ingredients were even available at the time of its creation, nor the inspiration behind its name, or even its predecessor, Chypre de Coty. No, I knew none of these things and didn’t even consider their existance. All I knew was that it didn’t smell like the squeaky clean, sweetened concoctions that had been in vogue most of my life. To me it smelled sour, musty, and very very dated. And while it IS dated, now that I really understand oakmoss, it no longer smells sour and musty, but sweet and woodsy. I’ve actually grown to adore Mitsouko.

So you might ask, how on earth can something go from smelling bad to smelling good and the only thing that’s changed is a mindset? Well, the nose is funny that way. And really, it’s like anything else that’s an acquired taste. I mean, who really loves beer the first time they taste it? Or “stinky cheese”?

It wasn’t until I started tinkering around with essential oils and absolutes that I developed a love for oakmoss. And after I had tested an original, very rare-over 90 years old formula of Chypre de Coty, the original chypre of mass production, I was inspired to create my own chypre with all natural ingredients just to see what it would smell like. So I researched where to get the best (legit) EOs and Absolutes, researched basic chypre composition, and ended up ordering Patchouli and Oakmoss Absolute from Piping Rock and Labdanum, Cistus, and Bergamot from Gritmans along with a few others, and began my little experiment.

My chypre experiment

Oakmoss has been mostly banned from perfumes in the last 10 years or so due to alleged allergens, but after playing around in it for weeks, I can say I am in no way allergic to oakmoss. And what I discovered was that the Mitsouko I had originally tested was but a shadow of a ghost of its original self, for it contained little to no oakmoss. And oakmoss is an imperative ingredient in any true chypre. Like baking bread without flour, or spaghetti without any tomatoes, a chypre without oakmoss is not really a true chypre.

What I ended up creating over those few weeks tinkering with EOs, was a very “rough around the edges”, unrefined hint of what Chypre de Coty was and I ended up developing a real love for oakmoss. But my experiment was very much lacking, and compared to Mitsouko, the most obvious thing lacking was the peaches.

From my personal collection, Extrait & EdP Mitsouko, both vintage.

It’s funny how things are relative. Like how originally, Mitsouko was sour and musty to my nose with nothing sweet about it. But a side by side comparison of Mitsouko to Chypre de Coty, proved how much sweeter Mitsouko is than Coty because of the peach note. When you cut out all the sugar from your diet, things begin to taste sweeter. And that’s just what I experienced with my nose with my chypre creation experiments and wearing Mitsouko and Coty. I avoided all the sweet gourmands and orientals for a while to focus on chypres, and all the little nuances began to really shine within them.

Screenshot of notes from Fragrantica

The other facet of Mitsouko that I loved even before the fragrance itself grew on me, is the incredibly romantic inspiration behind the fragrance in the first place. Mitsouko was metaphorically meant by Jacques Guerlain, to ring in the end of WWI and to inspire hope for the future. The namesake, Mitsouko, came from the book, La Bataille by Claude Farrere. It is a story of forbidden love between two lovers whose countries were at war against each other. From wiki:

” The story of Mitsouko is found in Farrère’s novel La Bataille (‘The Battle’, 1909), which is a romance based upon Japan modernization and westernization during the Meiji period and upon the 1905 naval Battle of Tsushima when the Imperial Japanese Navy defeated the Russian Imperial Navy . In Claude Farrère’s book ‘La Bataille’, Mitsouko was a beautiful Japanese woman whose name meant both ‘honey comb’ and ‘mystery’, who was married to a noble Japanese Navy officer and who had an ill-fated love affair with an English officer. ”

So that brings me to how I grew to love and appreciate Mitsouko. And after swapping my reformulated EdP for a decant of Royal Extract, I decided to replace it with a vintage edp, that still contained all that glorious oakmoss. And I just looooove it!

Mitsouko is definitely an acquired taste for the young noses of today, that have been spoiled by clean sugary sweet, mass market fragrances. Not only is it an acquired taste, it can be somewhat of a difficult taste to acquire because Mitsouko can be a bit on the temperamental side. The notes that dominate can depend on the weather, humidity, and the moisture levels in ones skin. Sometimes I get lots of peaches and Mitsy is sweet and well behaved, other times, I get more bergamot and vetiver, which do not play so nice on my skin. So if you try it out and do not like it at first, do yourself a favor and try again at another time. I’ve known lots of perfumistas that disliked Mitsy at first, but I don’t know many that didn’t grow to just love it. There’s a good reason, after all, that it’s still in production after almost 100 years when many new fragrances get discontinued within a decade. Despite its temperamental nature, Mitsouko is truly an endearing classic fragrance that I’m sure will be around many more years to come.

Vintage Guerlain print Ad

Season: All
Top: Citrus, Jasmine, Bergamot, Rose
Heart: Lilac, Peach, Jasmine, Ylang, Rose
Base: Spices, Amber, Cinnamon, Vetiver, Oakmoss

Vintage Guerlain print Ad

Aventus Creed

Known in the fragrance community for its cult-like following and “batch hype”, Aventus has earned its infamy and rightfully so. This chypre fruity is nicknamed “the King” among its die-hard fans and even has its very own Facebook group, “The Aventus Lounge” dedicated to batch discussions, raffles, and batch swaps. Most Aventus enthusiasts own several batches from different years, and typically have a favorite batch. Quite a few other fragrances have tried to mimic the scent itself, most notably Club de Nuit Intense Man, though the dupes have failed to garner the love and following that Aventus has.

CDNIM, a cheap dupe of Aventus

Batch discussions in the fragrance community’s’ most popular forum, Fragrantica, have created much controversy and many heated discussion ‘reviews’ and stands as the most reviewed mens fragrance to date. Seven years after its release, this fragrance has only gained greater momentum and a larger audience. And for good reason: it’s fantastic!

Photo Credit to Daniel Faulkner from The Aventus Lounge

Aventus starts out with a fresh burst of citrus, green apple, and pineapple then gradually dries down to a crisp but musky birch base. Variations within the batches typically lean either towards being more fruity or more smokey, though the real smoke was removed from the fragrance around 2014, with a reformulation removing the greater amounts of birch tar due to IFRA regulations, giving rise to “vintage” batches known for the heavier smokey notes.  These vintage batches dating back from 2011 and earlier can sell for hundreds of dollars more than the current market price and a few batches, most notably 11z01, are considered the ‘holy grail’ of batches and are highly sought after. 

Aventus has become the epitome of a mans fragrance with many newcomers to the frag community claiming that it smells “generic”, though obviously ignorant to its many copy-cat dupes and outright counterfeits currently flooding the market and the many other perfumes that try to duplicate elements of this notorious fragrance.

But through it all, there is only one Aventus and die-hard “fumeheads” certainly know this as the fragrance is more in demand than ever. And I for one, can’t name any other mens fragrance on the market with its very own FaceBook group not to mention its own breed of memes. Yes MEMES! lol

Aventus makes an awesome go-to “signature scent” as it works great year round, in any weather or climate, and is appropriate for any occasion, though I would advise a light hand when applying for office wear as it can really be a powerhouse when applied heavily. The heat really amps up the projection so a lighter application is also recommended for summertime use, whereas in the winter, the cold suppresses the notes so a heavier application serves to achieve better projection. Longevity is good to even great, depending on whether or not your skin “eats fragrances”, with average longevity at 6 hours though some get 12 hours+. On me, it lasts a solid 8 hours on skin and I can still smell it on clothes for days.

Aventus is an easy to wear crowd pleaser though the price range does put it up there into the niche category, so the chances of bumping into someone else wearing it within your network is less likely though not completely improbable due to its popularity. One thing is for sure, this fragrance will get you noticed and compliments galore.

Season: All

Top: Bergamot, Black Currant, Pineapple, Apple

Heart: Jasmine, Rose, Patchouli, Birch

Base: Ambergris, Oakmoss, Vanilla, Musk

Attrape Cœur

I finally, FINALLY got my hands on a bottle of this insanely rare perfume and I’m just smitten. In fact, I got not one but TWO formulations of this rare elixir, that has eluded me for that past 3 years, popping up in eBay here and there but just out of reach since the listings typically go for around $800 and up. And that’s just beyond my budget, unfortunately. But I found one at a reasonable price and snagged it right up. I don’t think it had been listed more than an hour lol.

So the fragrance itself is exactly what I was expecting it to be: it smells like Evasion, but perhaps a bit less creamy. The top notes are subtly different and it really takes a few minutes until it gets into the heart of the perfume, for that familar, intoxicating fragrance to begin seducing the senses.

This Bee Bottle flacon that I bought is, from my understanding, the second version of Attrape Cœur, aside from the other named incarnations. It’s a reformulation. The juice is golden yellow as opposed to that familiar shade of peach that I have become accustomed to from Evasion. But the scent itself is the same.

Now for the original formula, which I acquired as a 15ml decant from an incredible swap partner on Fragrantica. It’s incredible. It’s BEYOND incredible! This juice IS peach colored only deeper, darker than Evasion. It’a also a bit “dirtier”. From what I’ve learned, the original Attrape Cœur contained oak moss, which shortly thereafter production, became banned by the IFRA. So it was reformulated with a different tree moss. But the original is thick, syrupy and wears like an extrait. Perhaps it IS an extrait, I’m not sure, but it certainly feels like and wears as such. But it is amazing and I would consider selling a kidney to get a hold of a full bottle of the original haha.

Oakmoss. Photo Credit to Eden Botanicals

The reformulated version is definitely lighter, more effervescent and doesn’t have nearly the longevity of the original. In fact I think Evasion actually wears longer than the reformulated version, though the longevity IS fair for an EdP.

Photo Credit to Monsieur Guerlain

So now I’m left with two more versions of this precious liquid to try: Guet Apens and Royal Extract. Though there ARE actually several other versions of this fragrance that were released over the years, they were such limited and exclusive releases that it’s just not plausible I will ever get to try them. But I’m happy to say that I located and purchased a partial bottle of Guet Apens from a person in France, though it will be several weeks until I see it. But I definitely have something to look forward to!

For die hard perfumistas and serious Guerlain aficionados, there are only handful of perfumes from this house that are truly considered real unicorns, holy grails, the “El Dorados” of fragrance and Attrape Cœur is right up there at the top. It is truly a masterpiece and I hope Guerlain continues to tease us over the years with more mysterious releases of this elusive perfume. ❤

Guerlains limited release “Guet Apens” 120ml  blue lamp flacon 

Season: Any and every chance you get, but it wears great year round.

Top: Peach, Rose

Heart: Iris, Jasmine

Base: Vanilla, Amber, Oakmoss, Woods

Various flacons released containing this same fragrance. Photo Credit to Monsieur Guerlain.

Aria di Capri Carthusia

Though this isn’t the oldest perfume from this house, Aria di Capri is a very old fashioned style perfume and for good reason.  I love the history behind this house. From Fragranticas bio page for Carthusia:

“Legend has it that in 1380 the father prior of the Carthusian Monastery of St. Giacomo was taken unaware by the news of the arrival in Capri of Queen Giovanna d’Angiò and so made a flower arrangement with the most beautiful flowers of the island. The water was not changed for three days and, when the flowers were thrown away, the prior noticed that the water had acquired a fragrance unknown to him. He went to the father alchemist who traced the origin of this scent back to the “Garofilum silvestre caprese”. That water became the first perfume of Capri.

History, on the other hand, relates that in 1948 the prior of the Monastery discovered the old formulas of the perfumes and, with by permission from the Pope, revealed them to a chemist from Turin, who created the smallest laboratory in the world and called it “Carthusia”, i.e. Certosa.”

Aria opens with a burst of aldehydes and fresh zingy citrus.  The top smells like a floral chypre, vaguely reminiscent of Mitsouku only much lighter and without the peach.

Fragrantica has this classified as a floral aldehyde but when I think aldehyde, I think Chanel No 5 or No 22. I think Iris Poudre and Chamade.  I detect oakmoss in the top along with the mimosa. It may not have the ingredients to actually be a chypre in the purest sense but the accords translate to me as such nonetheless. Perhaps it’s the combination of the bergamot, bay leaves, and geranium that are giving an oakmoss feel.

After the top dries and the bergamot settles, the florals begin to really come out, especially the mimosa and geranium. There’s a soft, powdery feel to it but not a cold, dry iris type of powder but warm and a little sweet. I can detect the greeness of the petitgrain in the mix alongside this powder.  This is a very classy, mature fragrance.

I’ve tested 2 perfumes from this house thus far; Fiori di Capri which is labeled as a Chypre Floral and Aria di Capri which is labeled as a Floral Aldehyde by Fragrantica, but my nose is telling me that they are mislabeled. To me, Fiori reads as the Floral aldehyde and Aria reads as the Chypre. But regardless of the labeling, I really like them both and consider them “fbw”, which translates from perfumista as “Full bottle worthy”.

While the projection stays within arms length, the longevity is better than average. And for a small batch niche house, they have really kept their prices affordable. A 50ml flacon runs around $80 on LuckyScent.

If you love chypres or are a vintage perfume fan, this one is well worth your time to seek out for it definitely feels like a vintage chypre without the vintage price or lost top notes. Testers are available on LuckyScent for $3. ❤

Season: Spring/Summer

Top: Lemon, Bergamot, Petitgrain

Heart: Mimosa, Jasmin, Geranium, Rose

Base: Cedar, White musk, Bay leaf

Liaisons Dangereuses Typical Me By Kilian

Liaisons Dangereuses has been accused of being unsophisticated and immature by other reviewers but I think it’s gorgeous.  Even though it is a total peachbomb, it’s fantastic! And is one of very few bottles I’ve ever finished within a year, which for me is extremely rare. I just can’t get enough of it!

LD opens with sweet juicy peaches and ripe plums. It is rather sweet but nowhere near as sticky sweet as Love, Don’t be Shy.  It’s so fruity it is almost out of chypre territory, or at least from what I’ve determined to be chypre, but there’s just enough oakmoss in there to really tailor this into a classy creation.

There are a few notes in perfumery that are very difficult to pull off in any fragrance to be taken seriously by the fragrance community, namely coconut, strawberry, and peach. They tend to exist in niche fragrances only as supporting notes, like how the coconut in Carnal Flower supports the tuberose or the peach in Mitsouko serves only to sweeten the oakmoss a touch. But peaches in fragrances mostly fall into the teeny bopper Celebrity scents/ B&BW/ Victoria Secrets area of perfumes and body sprays. They are nice and smell good but they are not haute couture. Yeah, I’m getting a little snobby here, I know, but that’s how it is. In art you have “fine art”, “commercial art”, and “kitsch”. Perfumery is no different. And peach dominate frags tend to be in the commercial and kitsch areas of the market.

I haven’t been really captured by many of Kilians fragrances and tbh, think the packaging is a bit over-the-top and gimmicky, but I’m in total love with this fragrance😍. I found a tester sans packaging online under $100 and snatched it right up. And it has actually moved up into my top 10, knocking a beloved Guerlain off the list for this year. Eeek, I know. 

If you love peaches, you MUST give this one a good spray test if you happen to be by a Saks.  Even if it’s out of your budget to purchase a full bottle, this perfume has really raised the bar for peach dominate fragrances in my opinion.❤

Season: This works well year round

Top: Peach, Plum, Coconut, Black Currant

Heart: Cinnamon, Geranium, Ambrette, Rose

Base: Vetiver, Sandalwood, Oakmoss, Musk, Vanilla, Woodsy notes

Crepe de Chine F. Millot (1925) Vintage Parfum

Crepe de Chine was released in 1925 at the Paris Art Deco Expo at the same time as Shalimar. It’s obvious who won that one lol. But that’s not to downplay Crepe because it’s a beautiful fragrance.

I received a dram of this vintage juice along with a few other vintage samples as a bonus with a bottle purchase I made a while back. I’d been putting  off testing it because well, it’s vintage. What can I say that hasn’t already been said? Yeah, not much.

But as I was sorting my samples and decants I noticed the dram was almost empty even though I’d only opened it once. Turns out that teflon can act as a diffuser if its touching the juice and has a piece outside the cap so it had been evaorating out this whole time. Anyways when I opened the cap to fix it I ended up spilling the rest of the juice on my hands and on to the floor. Yay me. So now I’m writing this because I may never again get a chance to smell this perfume. It’s discontinued though there are still a few bottles on eBay.

If Mitsouko and Chanel No 5 had a love child, it would smell like Crepe de Chine. I’m almost tempted to go mix a few sprays of each. This also smells very much like vintage Miss Dior to me but only in the heart notes. It’s a very floral chypre but also very airy and a bit soapy with aldehydes. I’m almost certain Miss Dior was copying Crepe de Chine since Miss Dior was released more than 20 years after. 

The main notes I get are aldehydes, oakmoss, jasmine, ylang, and musk. It’s much more mellow, less crisp than Miss Dior but side by side my nose becomes anosmic to them both as they smell so very similar but only in the heart. Once Crepe gets to the base it really falls flat into a slightly spicy musk. It also doesn’t seem to last very long, maybe a couple of hours.

If you are a chypre lover and especially a vintage lover this is definitely one to seek out, especially while there’s stock. Though my dram doesn’t specify the concentration I am almost certain this is the parfum. It’s dark and almost oily. Extraits tend to hold up better over time, so I always recommend them when seeking out vintages when possible.

Bottom line: I’m super glad I was able to add this fragrance experience to my perfumista repertoire as it is a name that comes up from time to time, but I won’t be rushing out to buy a bottle. While it’s a gorgeous floral chypre, I have a few bottles of Miss Dior in EdT and Extrait and these perfumes are so similar it would be redundant to own both. But for the vintage enthusiast this would definitely be  a highly valued and historical piece to add to the wardrobe. ❤

Season: Spring/ Fall

Top notes: Bergamot, Aldehydes, Neroli, Basil, Peru Balsam

Heart notes: Jasmine, Gardenia, Ylang ylang, Rose, Lilac, Chamomile

Base notes: Oakmoss, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Vetiver, Benzoin, Vanilla, Musk

Chypre Coty (1917 formula)

First of all, I am very lucky to have been able to test this legendary fragrance in the first place.  This frag, especially the earlier stuff, is getting ever more rare and hard to find with each passing year.  The version I got a sample of is apparently from 1925 or at least that’s what’s printed on the card that came with the sample that I bought from PK Perfumes.  The card also has a picture of the bottle. As you can see, I only bought half a milliliter as it is pretty pricey juice at $24 US for just a few drops.

For being roughly 91 years old, the juice really seems to be in incredible shape.  Chypres are known for aging well though. But I have tested vintages half that age that were very “off” so this has obviously been stored properly and very well taken care of. Afterall, a lot can happen in 91 years lol.

Upon application, the dark juice is rather flat in the top notes but that was something I was expecting. Bergamot, and citrus in general, tend to be the first thing to go in perfumes. It breaks down faster and also evaporates faster. Even now, getting longevity with citruses remains a challenge to perfumers, but I digress.

The top is very heavy with oakmoss and rather tart and sour to my nose. But I wait and give it more time to dry before going back in for another sniff.

I have several oak trees growing in my backyard that are covered thick in oakmoss. The branches hang out over the swimming pool that we keep very lightly chlorinated. Occasionally a small branch will break off into the pool, saturating the oakmoss with water.  I try to collect those little branches to scrape off and save the wet, spongy oakmoss whenever I see a good piece floating. Oakmoss is much too leathery to remove from the branches when dry. But I love the way it smells naturally, even though I’m not a huge chypre enthusiast.  It’s sweet and earthy. Like walking through a damp humid forest that has a thick canopy.  Oakmoss is a lichen though, which is a type of fungus, so while it’s sweet and earthy, there is still a very slight truffle/mushroomy smell to it.   

My initial impression of Coty Chypre was of Mitsouko, only less sweet. Way less sweet. Ok minus the sweet altogether lol. Coty is much colder and more savory to my nose than Mitsy but they still smell very similar nonetheless.

After the juice dries and starts to settle, I can faintly smell the hint of rose, which was surprising because rose doesn’t typically age well at all.  I can also smell iris, patchouli, and carnation along with the oakmoss. 

The oakmoss stays prominant all the way through and after about 4 hours on the skin, the heart begins to dry away and the musky base is left. It’s a little bit smokey and slightly animalic.

I test it again, reapplying a dab to the back of my hand, only this time I dab my vintage Mitsouko extrait on the other hand to compare. I let them dry before sniffing.

In comparing the two side by side, Mitsouko is much sweeter, creamier, warmer, and rounder. The Coty smells a bit bitter in comparison, cold, and aloof. Mitsy also smells a little boozy next to Coty but Mitsy does contain peach and is a chypre fruity.

The influence is obvious though. Coty is definitely the stoic, austere parent and Mistouko, the carefree, adventerous child.

Personally, I think Mitsouko was an improvement, but that’s a story for another day lol.

Overall, I’m very glad I got to try this historical perfume. And even more so that I got to compare it side by side with Mitsouko as they are both legendary perfumes. 

I highly recommend trying it out for yourself if you ever get the opportunity. Though neither Coty Chypre nor Mitsouko are perfumes I would generally wear casually in my day to day, there’s no denying their influence on modern perfumery and for that I have great respect for these trailblazers.

I am not only a fraghead, I am also a history buff and exploring old perfumes is really a very special treat for me. Two of my favorite things collide in Vintage perfumes.  So for me this whole experience was a history lesson; a fragrant little glimpse into another time. Many thanks to Paul Kiler of PK Perfumes for giving me the opportunity to try this! ❤

Season: All

Top notes: Bergamot, Orange, African Orange Flower, Amalfi Lemon

Heart notes: Carnation, Rose, Ylang, Jasmine, Lilac, Iris

Base notes: Incense, Musk, Civet, Oakmoss, Patchouli, Styrax

Vol De Nuit Guerlain

Though Vol de Nuit and I got off to a rocky start, I’ve come to conclude that this amazing fragrance is the queen supreme of powdered iris, once you get to the dry down heart of the perfume. The opening galbanum is very strong, sharp, and metallic green, perfectly fitting the flacon, but once the opening phase is past, it transforms into the most beautiful powdery scent, that’s very,  lightly sweetened so it’s not too dry. I was a bit challenged by the top notes as a novice perfumista starting out, but over the years I have come to appreciate the full development of this iconic fragrance. The art deco styled “propeller” flacon, inspired by the book of the same name, is to die for and is hands down my favorite bottle design out of everything in my entire wardrobe. 

I have the EdT and Parfum concentrations but find the EdT easier to wear, and surprising, much more enjoyable, which is completly opposite to every other perfume I have since the parfum is usually the smoothest, richest, and least harsh. Both concentrations are more skin scents, with low projection. I find the edt projects more and seems much more powdery than the parfum. Not to mention the extreme difference in price between the two.  Though I’m sure that propeller flacon counts towards much of the cost, a new retail bottle will put you back $350 USD before taxes, and there are only a handful of high end dept. stores that carry it. The edt on the other hand, in the new atomized bee bottles can be bought online from many different discounters for around $50. 

VdN in both concentrations and I did get off to a rough start though.  It took some time for me to really appreciate the beauty of this fragrance, as I, coming of age in the 90’s, really got my start with perfumes that were highly sweetened, aquatic floral bombs. And VdN is none of those. Or really, the opposite of those, being very green at first then very powdery dry. But it’s a sophisticated, mature fragrance that IS somewhat haughty, as iris fragrances tend to be since they are considered cold. 

Another reason it took a while to really get this fragrance was because I didn’t give enough patience to wait for the dry down before passing judgment. The first 15 or so minutes, VdN is very shrill and metallic on my skin, in the same way that Nahema extrait is, and I had a hard time getting past that. I still haven’t got past it with Nahema but that’s another story for another day lol.

We live in an age of highly sugared, soapy clean, and fruity floral bombs.  They are very easy to wear and require zero sophistication.  They are a part of the “made for consumer market”, just as fast food and reality TV are.  But there is no artistry involved in them, any of them.  They’re easy to swallow, require no contemplation, easy to digest, and are created from a market tested approved cookie cutter production formula. 

Vol de Nuit predates this method of creation.  When Jacques Guerlain created this perfume, he had a vision and heart.  He wasn’t looking for anyones’ approval in this creation.  No true-to-self, authentic artist creates art for the sake of their audiences’ approval (commissions excluded, obviously).  This perfume is authentic art. 

I find myself coming back to revisit this one more and more frequently. In fact I’ve not only amassed a little collection of current and vintages, I’m going on my second bottle of edt! It’s really become a love. 

From my personal collection

Jacques Guerlain was a master perfumer who created some of the most iconic perfumes of all time, this being one of them.  Just having the ability to experience that history is reason enough for me to want to  wear it but I find it more enjoyable and lovely everytime I put it on. 

Season: Fall/Winter

Top notes: Orange, Orange blossom, Galbanum, Mandarin, Bergamot, Narcissus, Lemon

Heart notes: Aldehydes, Narcissus, Iris, Vanilla, Violet, Carnation, Jasmine, Rose

Base notes: Spices, Sandlewood, Musk, Orris, Oakmoss