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Guerlain Pour Troubler ~ fragrance review

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Guerlain Pour Troubler

It’s been a long time since a new Guerlain fragrance tempted me. Even Guerlain old timers have fallen out of favor. I’ve found vetiver perfumes I prefer to Guerlain Vétiver. Mitsouko is now used in my house more as a home fragrance than a perfume to put on my person. Jicky don’t smell like Jicky no more (sounds like the title of a 1920s song, doesn’t it?) The only Guerlain survivors pour moi are Habit Rouge and Les Eaux — Eau de Cologne Impériale, Eau de Cologne du Coq, Eau de Fleurs de Cédrat and Eau de Guerlain.

I came across (and bought) a small bottle of Guerlain’s 1911 Pour Troubler1 Extrait years ago…

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Galanos by Parfums Galanos ~ fragrance review

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Parfums Galanos

For me, vintage clothing falls into two categories. The first category includes dresses that make a statement because of their obviously unfashionable color, print, and/or cut.1 A Nixon-era shift in a daisy print might fit here, or a full-skirted 1950s day dress. The second category encompasses clothing that seems just a bit out of style from its color or hemline, but that’s easily absorbed into a modern wardrobe. Examples here would be a 1970s saddle leather handbag or a vintage cashmere twin set. The quality of the bag tells you it’s no modern-day mall purchase, and the offbeat robin’s-egg blue of the cashmere cardigan reads more as Doris Day than Taylor Swift, but is easily worn with whatever pair of pants you pull out of your closet.

Galanos from Parfums Galanos fits neatly into the second category…

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Jean Patou Moment Supreme ~ perfume review

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Jean Patou Moment Suprême, vintage advert with background extended

Pardon the name-drop, but a little more than three years ago, through a lucky set of circumstances, I met Thomas Fontaine, the Jean Patou house perfumer.1 For me, it was an amazing afternoon of seeing what a real perfumer’s lab looks like, tasting jasmine and rose Pierre Hermé macarons, and talking fragrance with someone who lives and breathes a world I’ve mostly only read about.

One thing in particular sticks in my memory. Talking about Joy, Fontaine mentioned walking past women — mostly older women — in the street and inhaling their lush, complex sillage, “like a fur.” He described this style of fragrance as “old fashioned.” I bet Fontaine would say the same thing about Moment Suprême…

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Dana Ambush ~ fragrance review

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Dana Ambush, vintage advert with background extended

In perfumery, lavender has mostly been set aside for men’s scents — for fougères in particular. Lavender-focused fragrance marketed to women is scarce enough that we can practically count them on one hand: Christian Dior Dune (the moody stalwart), Jean Patou Moment Suprême (the one that got away) and Vero Profumo Kiki (the new standard). You might be able to toss in a few others. To this list, I’ll add the original Dana Ambush.

Ambush, created by the legendary perfumer Jean Carles, launched in 1955…

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Ciro Danger ~ fragrance review

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Two vintage adverts for Ciro Danger

Perfume lovers seem to fall into one of two camps about vintage fragrances. Either they seek them out, eager to try many iterations of their favorites; or they avoid them, fearing that they’ll fall in love with a perfume they’ll never smell again. I fall into the “better to have loved and lost than never loved at all” camp. Usually, that’s fine. I mean, there’s always another good perfume coming along, right? But when my 1.25 dram bottle of Parfums Ciro Danger extrait runs out, my heart will break.

Danger, released in 1938, is a rich, dark rose with an animalic edge. I have to wonder if it was inspired by Schiaparelli Shocking, released the year before. The big difference is that Danger’s rose is balanced by helpings of cinnamon and lavender. The result is seductive and romantic, but intriguingly odd…

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