They say that smelling a fragrance you associate with someone practically summons her spectre. With that in mind, I waited impatiently for Moon Drops to show up in my mailbox. My beloved grandmother wore Moon Drops. Over the years I’ve smelled fragrances that brought her back — Miller Harris La Pluie was one — but I was never sure. Was it Moon Drops I was smelling or simply nostalgia? And if I did smell Moon Drops, would Grandma return in all her glorious polyester-clad, pickle-making, sweet-tempered, stubborn glory?
Revlon Moon Drops came out in 19701 and eventually dropped off the market. Prism Parfums relaunched Moon Drops this year in both Eau de Toilette and Eau de Parfum. This review is of the Eau de Parfum. (Prism Parfums also resurrected a few other discontinued fragrances, including the floral leather Geminesse, which I’ll review soon.) Prism Parfums lists the notes of Moon Drops as including lily of the valley, ylang ylang, balsamic notes, woods, jasmine, and “honeyed ripe fruit.”
According to 99 Perfumes, which is carrying the fragrances in the United States, “All of the fragrances are 100% authentic, same exact smells and notes as the originals.” The packaging mimics the original Revlon package, and the fluted columnar Moon Drops bottle is a slightly simpler version of one I’ve seen in old magazine ads. I’m impressed at the effort. But I was skeptical. Yet hopeful.
At last the package arrived. Moon Drops is a sweet, powdery aldehydic floral with a mossy whiff. It opens with soapy lily of the valley boosted, as advertised, by creamy ylang ylang. A thread of spice weaves through it, but the fragrance is petal soft — almost girlish. Within five minutes, the fragrance sweetens, and any green edge it held melts to clean powdered sugar with a floral, soapy edge. It never lasts long enough for me to suss out its purported balsamic, woody base. After two hours or so, it’s just about disappeared.
Go greener, sharper, and louder than Moon Drops, and you get Estée Lauder Estée. Go diva with white flowers and amp the volume, and you get Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds.
In brief, Moon Drops smells delightfully out of style. No fashion brand is going to rush to market with anything like this. It doesn’t read as “sexy” or “cool,” at least not as mainstream influencers define those things. And, no, the materials don’t smell like a jillion dollars, but the price is similarly modest (with a quick web search, you can get 100 ml of Eau de Toilette for less than $23). Moon Drops isn’t my style, but thank you, Prism Parfums, for offering it.
So, does Moon Drops smell like my grandmother? I’m not sure. Thinking back, I don’t know that she wore perfume much except for special occasions. I mostly remember Moon Drops from sniffing the solid version in a green marbeled compact she kept in her Virgin Mary jewelry box. One thing I can tell you for sure: character-wise, Moon Drops is nothing like Grandma. Moon Drops as I smell it now is gamine. Grandma had arms like hams and wouldn’t bat an eye at leveling a rifle at a rattlesnake. Then again, I remember her telling the preteen me, “Inside every woman is a cat.” To me, Moon Drops is a soft, fluffy kitten.
Prism Parfums Moon Drops is available in Eau de Parfum (shown; list price of $54 for 100 ml but can be found for less) and Eau de Toilette ($44 for 100 ml) at many online retailers.
1. Ed. note: and long before that, it was the name of a Revlon moisturizer.
I am dating myself as I remember the moisturizer and then the perfume! Nice to see that someone is bringing back some of the more affordable classics. What else do they offer besides Geminesse in their discontinued line up?
It is nice to see them! They’re doing Lutece and Raffinée, too.
I wonder if maybe your grandmother actually did have a fragile, feminine side and used Moon Drops to indulge it occasionally? Many of us wear perfume to create fantasies about ourselves, it’s just that we may be more likely to find perfumes that boost our confidence and stiffen our characters. Your grandmother might have been reversing that process?
I think you’re absolutely right. She went to beauty school in the 1930s, and she loved to dress up. She seemed tough (and loving!), but her insides were full of lilies of the valley and ylang ylang.
Great review Angela. I remember taking a whiff of Raffinee at a perfume counter as a preteen. I loved it at first whiff and hated it on the second. It was strong stuff. I could be all wet but remember hairspray and indolic Jasmin maybe? I don’t remember Moon Drops though.
I don’t remember ever smelling Raffinée, although I definitely remember seeing the bottle in drugstores. Jasmine and hairspray wouldn’t surprise me, though!
Beautiful post, Angela!
Gosh, thank you!
Thanks for this sweet bit of time travel! I used moon drops moisturizer. I’m certain I thought I was quite sophisticated!
You’re welcome! I adore the name Moon Drops. It has a lot of retro glamour to me.
I’d like to smell this one along with the others they’re releasing. I remember all of them and love to take a sniff down memory lane on occasion.
I agree. I’m sure the materials aren’t as expensive, but a photograph of the Mona Lisa beats no Mona Lisa at all.
Am I right in thinking that she is the grandmother that you have written about before? I can’t remember in which review but I do remember that she had stronger arms than your grandfather and uncles.
Either way, it’s a lovely review.
I just checked and it was in your review of Miller Harris La Pluie.
Yes, that’s her! She was the best. And, yes, it was La Pluie that reminded me of Moon Drops, I think because of the ylang.
Can someone do a layperson a solid and briefly explain or link to a primer about houses relaunching discontinued heritage scents? Are these always based on original formulations (that they’ve bought limited rights to?), or are they sometimes clever recreations? I’m having a huge lapse of memory here, because I can only ever remember Ulta (briefly) doing Jil Sander no. 4, but there’re probably many others.
Also, “exact smells and notes” from the 99 Perfumes copy: are they being weasel-y here, or does that indeed confirm that Prism Parfums have access to an original formula?
I’m not an expert, but here’s my understanding: There are a few ways to reproduce a fragrance. You can “dupe” it by analyzing it and reproducing it to the best of your ability (think of all those drugstore scents that say, “If you like Angel, you’ll love Phantasme” or something like that.
In this case, I’m guessing Prism Parfums bought the formulae, because they also have the perfume names. It doesn’t, however, mean that their Moon Drops is going to smell exactly like the old Revlon Moon Drops. Some perfume materials are limited now, by dint of industry regulations. Also, some bases that the companies used may not be in production or in Prism’s budget or may have been proprietary to the house Revlon bought them from. Plus–and this is a giant one–materials can be all sorts of qualities and costs. Finally, it takes a good perfumer to adapt an formula to new materials and a (likely) tighter budget.
That makes all kinds of sense. Thank you for that, Angela!
You’re welcome!
I had a bottle of Moon Drops back when I was about 12 or 13. A friend of my mother came to visit, and she had an 18 year old daughter, who was wonderfully glamorous to the 12 year old me. She wore Moon Drops, and so I had to have it too. I think my mother gave it to me for the following birthday or Christmas. I can’t remember what it smelled like, but I remember feeling so grown-up when I wore it
It sounds like Moon Drops is a wonderful memory for you! (There’s nothing like a 12-year-old who yearns for glamour.)
Oh my goodness, Angela, thank you for this piece! I wore Moondrops in my mid-20s if memory serves (a Christmas present from my boss, though why he chose this one I never knew) – a small rollerball bottle which was great for the travelling I was doing back then. I also remember Raffinee & Geminesse, though I’m pretty sure I never actually wore these ones. I’ll keep an eye on Prism to see what other past gems they intend to resurrect.
You’re welcome! Sometimes it’s fun to smell a resurrected fragrance. It says a lot about fashion and occasionally a particular time in your life. Plus, some of these old scents are great!