Shalimar Cologne. Mitsouko Cologne. Madame Rochas Cologne. Nuit De Noel Cologne. All the classics used to have their own lighter, fresher varietals for daily wear – though Jean Desprez’s Bal A Versailles Cologne is notoriously the skankiest of the set. Infini I have in all the strengths, being particularly partial to the parfum de toilette, the first iteration I ever discovered, as well as the hyacinthine, narcissus filled parfum.I had never seen this particular box when I walked past a knick knack shop yesterday having walked away from the gleamier spanking clean department store that houses the cinema to the more laid back and human area we feel more at home in – and had to have it.
This morning I decided to do a live opening.
What would it be like inside ? The lady at the shop said it had never been opened. And I believed her.
Always something so magical and yet slightly disrespectful and desecrating about tearing open something that has lain undisturbed in its plastic wrapping, but obviously I wanted to smell it. At ¥5500, or 28 pounds, this was more expensive than a proper fleapit level bargain, but still hardly expensive for a vintage Caron.
As I opened the perfume I could smell it. Uh oh. Never a good sign.
But not old, congealed spillage.
New.
But fret not !
I am not delivering another of my perfect disasters – just a partial one.
The lady had not been lying I don’t think.
The perfume hadn’t been opened – look at the plastic sealer –
– but probably I had *just* been lugging it around upside or something and there had thus been some tragic seepage.
It is very nice. Soft musked sandalwood with a heart of pure garden rose I have not encountered in other editions as well as a very violety facet that I like very much indeed ( plus, there is another bottle there if I should so need it so weep for me not yet).
Plus !
At the shop down the street, a tin pan alley of kitchenware and old maps and fur coats and all the rest of it etc etc I picked up some other feisty treasure. It was almost 50 quid but what kind of perfume can you get for that these days when instead you can get
The L’Origan is fresh and powdery! Like a cherry maraschino compact. The Vol De Nuit is perfection. So is the Jolie Madame miniature – oh that violet leather base. We have a leather Montana coat upstairs so why not get a new bottle of Parfum De Peau for future extravaganzas ? And the Arpege.
THIS bottle.
I tried to hesitate to open it but you know me by now.
Best of all, smell wise, is the unbelievably gorgeous ur floral Gardenia by Forever Florals. I know I went through all of the available wares by that Hawaiian brand when I was in Honolulu last year and none were as gorgeous as this. It is so luscious you almost want to hang your head in shame as you feel so lifeless in comparison: it reminds me of a ylang perfume I once bought in Hanoi that had a similar effect, as well as the pure tuberose oil – which I have still yet to write about – that I got in Hawaii that was so heady complete strangers were clawing at me in Tokyo one evening desperate to know what it was ( honestly , the most extreme reaction ever elicited by any perfume I have ever worn.)
Ah, perfume. Ah, flowers !
Oh no, not a leakage …. but not too horrific. I used to buy all the iterations of Infini, and particularly loved the tiny weeny asymmetrical bottle of pure parfum from which I carefully dabbed my wrists, having already applied the edt generously all over. There was a lovely rosy depth to Infini in those days. Yes, you must get the other bottle!
I am very envious of your haul!
Seconding jilliecat. Please go back and buy the other bottle…
OK. That was also not full, and slightly cheaper – not boxed – but yes, I think you are right. One should not take the name of Caron in vain. Such precious perfumes now.
You know what? I might do one of my Frankenstein experiments, which actually often turn out rather marvellously. I could use the old cologne, and add bits of parfum and parfum de toilette, to get a kind of amalgam where all the best parts of each come together, because it is obvious that no bottle of Infini is perfect any more, they all seem to be lacking something.
Or would this be completely heresy?
Not heresy at all – it’s my philosophy!!!!!!
PRAISE BE
Bless you.
Oh my god vintage Vol de nuit!! what a dream. How did it smell? I remember the beautiful piece you wrote about VDN, the most mysterious of all Guerlain perfumes as far as I’m concerned. Seems like Japan is a real treasure trove for vintage perfumes, lucky you.. Not quite the same in Italy where I live, or at least not for scents as old as VDN…
It is a very good Vol De Nuit, nicely aged. Not as spiky and piquant as some of them where the jonquil and galbanum are really strident; I always think that Obsession was based on Vol De Nuit (shock horror!!!!) – immediately wearable on skin.
I lived in Italy but can’t remember seeing any vintage perfume places. What is the situation there?
Obsession and VDN, I would not have made that connection but need to re-smell Obsession….I’m in Rome and to be honest no, there are no vintage perfume shops per se. It’s the luck of the draw, you sometimes stumble upon a little “profumeria” that has some vintage perfume bottles in a drawer. Recently, in a panic after Chanel’s recent reformulations, I found an old 100 ml splash bottle of Chanel N.19 eau de toilette. It’s no VDN but it is n.19 pre-oakmoss ban and gorgeously green and hissy!
A little leakage. But so what! And all those other vintage beauties to behold.
Crazy, right? Is it literally only Japan where this kind of bounty can be found in this way?
I love VDN in any form. It is such a nostalgic perfume. Also, I agree with the others, buy that other bottle.
I wouldn’t have pegged you as a VDN person for some reason – I feel you wear more modern niche, or I may have just got that wrong – and am delighted, for some reason, that you are. It is another world, isn’t it? Another time.
And yet it still works perfectly in the present…
I suppose that is the essence of true timelessness.
I’ve been really loving Caron lately. After the rescue, the customer service is fantastic, and they now have refillable bottles. There was a nasty article on Fragrantica recently complaining about the reformulations of some of their classics. I get that, but the men’s line remains largely the same. I finally got a bottle of Pour Homme, which had been in short supply until recently, and it’s wonderful. Also, Santal Precieux, Tabac Exquis, and Poirve Sacré are just divine unisex offerings. Santal Precieux is especially wonderful — my choir director complained he could smell me from outside the church!
Thanks for this. I totally understand people who detest reformulated classics, but I was at Isetan in Shinjuku fairly recently and saw all these Carons. I had nose fatigue from having already smelled too many things – and there were also SO many perfumes that it was overwhelming! – but you have persuaded me to go back and smell them again.
I’m so glad you’re still finding vintage treasures! I live vicariously though you. I have one of the same small bottles of vintage L’Origan and I just love it. Yes, I think that L’Heure Bleue is more beautiful because it has that edge that transforms a pretty perfume into something extraordinary. But I find L’Origan far more wearable in everyday life.
Thrilled for you and being thrilled vicariously. And here I thought things were drying up. Glad there’s still the occasional trickle.
Still the odd hotspring of activity !