Anyway.
It is what it is.
I woke up this morning strangely full of energy, furiously pedaling in the beautiful sunlight down to the municipal gym in Kamakura where I worked out some of my frustration.
Afterwards I still felt like just cycling around this delightful ancient city with all its temples and meandering streets with bougie knickknacks and creperies, and wondered if I might not come across a cheap vintage perfume as a booby consolation prize.
Bingo. At a snooty little antiques shop behind the Enoden line was an extrait bottle of Ombre Rose, a soft, thickened, powdered, compressed gem of a beauty from 1981 by the legendary Francoise Caron that I am running out of and was very pleased to find a $10 replacement.
For those of you that don’t know it, Ombre Rose is a very unique perfume that nevertheless feels preordained and familiar. Some say it smells like baby powder but I don’t think so. The base is deeply musky; with vanilla, heliotrope, sandalwood, honey and cinnamon; the sloe-hearted rose at the centre licked with a hint of peach but freshened with Brazilian rosewood, and there is a saltiness rather than a sweetness to it that contributes a lot to its addictively warm enigma.
In my experience, the bottles in black and gold such as the one above – which I also have but have used up – are of the most haute qualité. A parfum vaporisateur in the same design I bought a year or two ago for next to nothing was also fantastically rich and spellbinding. Just a little is sufficient to swaddle you in scented cottonwool.
I always loved Ombre Rose
Yes it’s a nice soothing one for times like these.
I remember when Ombre Rose was introduced; it is a beauty. My favorite though was Ombre Bleue.
Ombre Bleue has brought out some of my most poetic responses ever – what a magical, weird, aqueous masterpiece ! Ombre Rose is much more wearable for daily occasions I find
Oh how I loved Ombré Rose in its early iterations. Now? Dear lord no. Thin, faded imposter!
I agree, price seems to be a benchmark of quality for so many people, but it shouldn’t be. This is a beautiful perfume. I just got hold of another cheap oldie, Kobako by Bourjois, and it’s fantastic. Conversely, recent samples from a very expensive brand were disappointing. I have been trolling for vintage finds on ebay for long enough to know that price is a poor indicator of quality.
my god yes
cheap oud chemicals and a blah baloney of overhyped copy and a $400 price tag ? I think not, when real olfactory art is waiting to be bought at a fraction of of the price