Oohing and Aahhing Together on my Favorite Chypres Fragrances

Chypre perfumes are what I grew up with. They form part of my heritage because I practically grew up in the greater part of the world where they were conceived originally, the Eastern Mediterranean. Coty's version was a re-imagining. They also smell familiar because practically all the women in my family (and a few men) favored them. For us Southern Europeans the scents of powder, of dryness, of bitter-like scents, and associatively of lack of perspiration, indicate grooming and an immaculately polished appearance. Despite or perhaps because of the region's cultural preponderance to both a groomed rigidity and a carnal sexuality that oozes through every sweaty pore, chypres with darker, animalic elements have seemed both right and alluring. It's a paradox since high temperatures also favor a lighter scent; yet chypre fragrances have the added advantage to not only cut through the heat but almost alleviate it a bit to both the wearer's and the sniffer's mind thanks to their highly volatile citrusy top notes and their starched, mossy undertone.
In short they fit like a glove.

I like them all. Tailored chypres, classic chypres, nouveau chypres and patchouli florals too!

Initially my concept into sharing some of my personal favorite fragrances, as requested by readers, was to highlight less well known specimens. And in part that's what I did with my rather eclectic mix presented in my previous post on A few of my favorite less celebrated fragrances where I also matched them with some of my favorite verse. Chypres however for the reasons I have explained in that previous post have gained a status of rarefied "against the grain" chicness amidst the market selection.


Mossy fragrances can sometimes appear out of step too, dragging the "old lady perfume" stigma with them. I'm brushing that thought away with an assured "hell no care" shrug of the shoulders and I suggest you do the same. The truth is this fragrance family has included some of the most masterful perfumes in modern perfumery. And we can collectively sigh with pleasure at unapologetically liking them.

Here a few of my favorite chypre fragrances in alphabetical order.
NB. I did not include true leather scents though because technically these are a breed apart (though sometimes conflated with chypres). For leather scents please consult the Leather Series. Also discounted green florals, such as Chanel No.19 (which I love in summer heat) or Cristalle for similar reasons.

Armani original eau de parfum pour femme
I wore this in high school. A girl was so inspired she copied me relentlessly. Needless to say I'm heartbroken it got discontinued.

Aromatics Elixir by Clinique
Practically my very definition of a true chypre. Huge patchouli beast with rose, an enchanted forest. I first fell with love it in junior high. Almost every woman in Athens has worn it at some point or other. Huge best-seller and the most delicious trail on any passerby.

Bottega Veneta eau de parfum by Bottega Veneta
Rich prune fruity compote with a troubling under torrent. Delightful.

Cabochard by Madame Gres
My mother's beloved in its original formula and for that reason a poignant and sweet

Bandit eau de parfum by Robert Piguet
The scent of a dominatrix is also a fiercely green mossy one.

Deneuve by Catherine Deneuve (distributed by Avon in the US market)
What would you have expected from perfumista-celebrity La Deneuve? All that and more.

Diorella, Dioressence and Miss Dior (original) by Dior
I have covered all these in my Dior series. Linked above are detailed reviews & historical snippets.

Diorling by Dior
Cusp between leathery and chypre. Smooth as sin, beautiful like an angel.

Doblis by Hermes
La douleur exquise. Don't get me started. It's criminal that this smoothest of chypre -suede compositions isn't (and isn't going to be) re-issued.

Femme by Rochas
As feminine as its name suggests, as streamlined as a tailleur. I love the modern re-edition by Cresp where the note of cumin boosts the sexiness hundred-fold.

Jean Louis Scherrer I (original) by Jean Louis Scherrer
Liquid emeralds. This.

Jubilation 25 by Amouage
Proof that modern fruity chypres can be made to perfection.

Mitsouko by Guerlain
The reference fruity chypre with a mouthwatering (to me at least) cinnamon-clove addition, especially perceptible in the lighter concentrations such as the eau de toilette and eau de cologne.

Paloma Picasso (Mon Parfum) by Paloma Picasso
This is one of the loveliest, dense yet wearable chypre in existence. I don't know why people don't wear it more. It also lasts for eons.

Une Rose Chypree by Tauer Perfumes
Another modern fragrance that proves one can do a fabulous chypre with today's materials. My bottle has run out.

Y by Yves Saint Laurent
The most polished chypre gem. From the most elegant couturier to walk this earth. Deep love.

Concluding, it's not a coincidence I have reviewed in detail and referenced all of these perfumes many times. They resonate.









Feel free to add your own (or your own experiences with them) in the comments!

A few of my favorite less celebrated fragrances

Since almost every perfumephile agrees on the trancedental character of Bois des Iles (Chanel) or the easy swagger of Tabac Blond (Caron) and the quirkiness of Bulgari Black or Bandit (Piguet) there would be no point to regurgitate a list of "sign me up as a parfumista" fumes. Yes I do happen to love all of these celebrated perfumes. To prove one's mettle is the game of the novice and here at Perfume Shrine we're 10 years old.

But readers kindly suggested I share with them which are my favorite fragrances; at least some of them. 

So without further ado below find a list of personal favorites. They may not be the most obscure nuggets in Fragoland but they do not get the praise they deserve. I wonder why. Maybe for those still in production this highly personal list might be the kick off to encourage more people to buy them and therefore actually keep them in production for awhile longer...At any rate I frequently use these and enjoy them.
I decided to match them each to a line of poetry I particularly enjoy. See if you do as well.

Acqua di Parma Blu Mediterraneo Ginepro di Sardegna
All the white horses are still in bed

Annick Goutal Myrrhe Ardente
And then she would smile to show me how and it was the saddest smile I ever saw.

Annick Goutal Musc Nomade 
But we loved with a love that was more than love.

Apivita Earth
Moss circled; female; promised land.

Boucheron Femme 
Rage rage against the dying of the light.

Chanel Antaeus 
(They've aged us prematurely Yorgos do you realize?)

Crazy Libellule and the Poppies Musc & Patchouli
I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.

Frederic Malle Lys Mediterranee
Hope is the thing with feathers.

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Guerlain Parure
For a moment you waved your bolero and your orange petticoat like banners. 

Guerlain Vetiver pour Elle
She seems celestial songs to hear.

Hermes Equipage
And I who longed to be buried one day in some deep sea of the distant Indies shall come to a dull and common death. 

L'Artisan Parfumeur Passage d'Enfer
A gloomy line of snuffed out candles.

L'Artisan Parfumeur Oillet Sauvage
But I shall write a sorrowful ballad for the forgotten poets

Lancome Miracle So Magic 
He kisses those adored lips; excites himself on that exquisite body.

Le Labo Gaiac 10 
And in a way I'm yearning to be done with this measuring of truth

Ormonde Jayne Tolu
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert.

Oriflame Amber Elixir Night 
Towards these isles of yours that await for me.

Paco Rabanne La Nuit
Misted the flowers weep as light dies.

Ramon Monegal Mon Cuir
Oh there is thunder in our hearts.

Serge Lutens La Myrrhe
You will not read the riddle though you do the best you can do.

Sonia Rykiel Woman Not for Men
Oh it's hard on the man. Now his part is over.

Valeur Absolue Sensualite 
My face became all eyes and my eyes all hands.

Zara White Jasmine 
Thy hair soft lifted by the winnowing wind.

BTW I noticed an interesting phenomenon by going through the list. There are almost no chypres there. [edit to add: I just thought that La Nuit could be classified as a quirky leathery chypre and Parure is a fruity chypre.] That's very odd because I ADORE chypres and I wear chypres quite a bit in my everyday existence! So what gives?

I came to realize that there are no "favorite less celebreated" chypres because all chypres have become celebrated in online perfumedom; even "chypres" that are not technically speaking chypres (Chanel No.19 I'm talking to you)!

This is what an avalanche of sweet tutti fruti scents does to the average perfumista; they retaliate by embracing the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Companies please take note. Therefore I couldn't include "less celebrated chypres". These will need to wait for a subsequent post of "favorite celebrated chypres" so we can all oooh and aaaah together in awed rapture...

Annick Goutal Les Absolus Ambre Sauvage: fragrance review

ISIPCA perfumer teacher Isabelle Doyen and art director for the Goutal brand Camille Goutal have proven their flair for the concept of an "oriental" perfume mainly through the collection Les Orientalistes some years ago. A trio of worthwhile scents came out in 2007 including Ambre Fetiche Encens Flamboyant and Myrrhe Ardente. The collection was augmented in 2008 with Musc Nomade a firm favorite of mine in the stakes of intimate musk fragrances. Their current output on the orientalist theme for their more upscale line Les Absolus(there's also Vanille Charnelle and 1001 Ouds) leaves me rather hesitant as to how much this is a corporate decision rather than an artistic one; especially taking into consideration the details surrounding Ambre Sauvage.

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One look at the luxurious packaging and the price asked (195 euros for 75ml of eau de parfum) suggests a target audience of wealthy patrons shopping for posh gifts; Cartier lighters and Tiffany's more serious silver pieces engraved for the ocassion. This is undoubtedly true for most niche fragrance brands nowadays; just look at the Section d'Or by Serge Lutens (including L'Incidiaire and all the others) with its stratospheric prices! It's not an easy to digest truth for readers of perfume blogs and fora but it is nonetheless true enough and one should at one point make peace with the facts.

But what about the scent?

Sauvage (i.e. wild) is a name brandished a lot in 2015 because of the masculine fragrance launch of the same name by Christian Dior and LVMH. Loosely based on part of the name of the classic Eau Sauvage from the 1960s the modern Sauvage is anything but. Similarly Ambre Sauvage (Wild Amber) by Annick Goutal is not to be taken literally.

Amber by its own makeup is a scent produced by the synergy of two colliding forces; the dark resinous id of labdanum/cistus and the malleable softness of vanillin super-ego. I have elsewhere described how some ambers seem to be like child-POV engulfing hugs by well meaning aunts; too much of a good thing. Thankfully the refined French aesthetic of Doyen and Goutal ensure that their manipulation of the materials is never saturated. The raw materials become in their hands building blocks of a gouache where the colors melt into one another to the point where you can't quite discern where one begins and one ends. Doyen and Goutal have argued that basing their concept on the etymology of raw materials is a whole different ball game than working on memories; memories can only go as far in the pursuit of olfactory accuracy. By following the material's arc one can direct themselves into a mapped out path and deviate knowingly.

This is at once grace and irony in this case nevertheless: with sauvage in the name one expects something untamed and untramelled even by the codes of gallic civility and correct navigation. Neither the inclusion of patchouli (a lightly chypre facet) nor the wink of a leather-animalic quality in the top notes evoke a wildness that would be out of place in a salon. Ambre Sauvage is a classic refined amber rather than a poet maudit. Unlike Ambre Sultan by Lutens with its uncinventional aromatic impression of a Moroccan dish the Goutal fragrance is quite Parisian.

These two elements (leather and patchouli) do lend nevertheless a sophisticated character that cuts it above the soup of sameness among many ambres in the niche market. A delicious cooling smoke-chocolate hint recalls the treatment of lavender drawn through to its caramelic end of the spectrum in Doyen's L'Eau de Lavande for Annick Goutal many many years ago... The more Ambre Sauvage dries down the more it declaws itself; thanks to vanilla absolute coming forth creamy and smooth and mouthwatering but never cloyingly sweet. And it's perfect on a man as well. It's hard to dislike Ambre Sauvage.

Furthermore Ambre Sauvage smells dangerously close to Ambre Fetiche. Although the latter is among the better ambers out there (and one of the ambers I personally wear for that very reason) the launch of the former at this point in time suggests that a rather more concentrated edition with obviously high end packaging is meant to aim at more moneyied customers. Not necessarily more discerning ones. One might want to make peace with the facts at last.

Breaking News: Silk Scarves Signed by Serge Lutens

The maestro of Palais Royal forays into the the realm of style with his introductory 2 silk scarves (foulards) which have just been launched.

Constructivisme foulard en soie Serge Lutens

In two characteristic designs recalling familiar styles of either Russian Constructivism or Motifs Berberes inspired by the culture of Morocco they're available for purchase on the online boutique for 350€ each. Signed Serge Lutens!
Each headscarf is handcrafted in Japan from the finest silks using the chidori maki technique to ensure a perfect finish. Limited series for each collection.

Signes Berberes foulard en soie Serge Lutens

Reader's Mail: Suggest a Beautiful, High Class, Uncommon Perfume

Sweet husbands are worth their weight in gold. One of them, Ronald, wants to surprise his wife with a beautiful, high class smelling new perfume. He gives me a couple of pointers to work with: she likes Alien by Thierry Mugler, has liked the original Miss Dior Cherie eau de parfum and uses Tommy Girl for casual daytime.  Not bad; a perfume expert can work with these guidelines.

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I imagined the wife as a fashionable, but not too trendy, woman who enjoys a decent silk scarf and grainy leather handbag when she sees them, and has a mildly sweet tooth in what concerns fragrances. Without making Ronald jump through hoops I suggested the following rich-smelling and quite classy fumes.

First of all since she's already familiar with the prolific Thierry Mugler brand, why not upgrade to the truly gorgeous Thierry Mugler Alien Essence Absolue? It retains the jasmine and amber scent of the original Alien, and is not miles away in concept, but adds a soft luxurious undercurrent of resinous myrrh, orris and a leathery scent impression which nudges it into true luxury; the difference between an Hermes purse and a Coach one...

Next came the following recommendations I made.

Staying in the Mugler universe, there's Mirroir des Envies; still sweetish but classy and with a jasmine-y heart. Quite uncommon too!

Sarrasins perfume by Serge Lutens is jasmine scent heaven. The scarcity is also a plus in this instance. Not to mention it even has a soft fruity hint via osmanthus.

Exploring the jasmine and white floral theme with a cocoa-vanilla overlay: Christian Dior  Pure Poison Elixir. Less common than the original Pure Poison and a tad softer too.

On the subject of white chocolate (and the patchouli hinted at by her like for Miss Dior Cherie), I suggest the perennial classy favorite Chanel Les Exclusifs Coromandel. Drop dead gorgeous!

If a fruitchouli is considered, then Badgley Mischka eau de parfum is a good option, classier than most in the genre and not well known in order to smell herself coming and going.

Finally, for daytime, because a girl needs a clean floral sometimes, I went off the beaten track and suggested the ethereal Le Cheuvrefeuille by Annick Goutal. She might also like Gelsomino Nobile by Acqua di Parma. 

What do you think? What would you suggest he surprises her with?