I have a mind that classifies — non-stop. With perfume houses, I often shove them into categories such as:
Holding Steady: Acqua di Parma; Arquiste; Goutal; Chanel; Diptyque; Etat Libre d'Orange; Frédéric Malle; Guerlain; Hermès; Jo Malone; Kilian; L'Artisan Parfumeur; Le Labo; Memo; Ormonde Jayne; Parfum d'Empire
Should Be Better Known: Aesop; Astier de Villatte; Blackbird; Cire Trudon; Salvatore Ferragamo; Vilhelm Parfumerie; Zoologist
Interested (But Hard to Find/Sniff): Carine Roitfeld Parfums; Celine; Maison Crivelli; Mizensir; Mugler Les Exceptions; Voyages Imaginaires (Camille Goutal and Isabelle Doyen's new venture)
In Decline (Coasting/In A Rut/Noticeable (unfortunate) Reformulations/Confused): Amouage; Comme des Garçons; Eau d'Italie; Etro; Maître Parfumeur et Gantier; Montale; Parfumerie Generale/Pierre Guillaume; Penhaligon's
Off My Radar/Whatever Happened To...? Frapin; The Different Company; Keiko Mecheri; Neela Vermeire and many, many others....
Kaput (a.k.a. "demolished" "ruined"): Comptoir Sud Pacifique; Serge Lutens (all my favorites have been reformulated into watery, inexpensive-smelling concoctions; why didn't Estée Lauder buy this brand instead of Shiseido?)
RIP/Gone But Not Forgotten: Crown Perfumery (bought and "deleted" by the less interesting Clive Christian); Gobin Daudé
To quote an ugly Zara jacket — I Really Don't Care, Do U?: Armani Privé; Bond No. 9; Clive Christian; Creed; Diana Vreeland (the perfumes, not the editor); Loewe (meanest SAs I've encountered in the world but that didn't influence its placement, I promise); Louis Vuitton; Roja Parfums; Xerjoff
Another category is "Heyday Before My Time" which would include Balmain, Jean Patou, Christian Dior, Molinard and...Caron.
When I started writing about perfume at Now Smell This, Caron seemed worn out. I remember ordering samples of all its fountain perfumes and being shocked at the treacly, cheap-smelling fragrances I received. I had better luck with Caron vintage finds (a 50-year-old bottle of Narcisse Noir parfum) and the men's line: Yatagan and Le Troisième Homme. I've not sampled a new Caron perfume or older (re)formulations since 2012 when I tried the dull Yuzu Man. The reason I have a sample of the new Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis is that I thought no one, even Caron, could go wrong with a rich combo of hazelnuts and vetiver (10% of the formula, according to Caron PR).
"Love me as I am" is a passive-aggressive statement, as much a command as a plea. It's a great name for a perfume, especially a perfume designed to be part aggressive, a dash demure, a tad sentimental, a soupçon needy. Caron's Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis possesses only an overriding desire to be inoffensive (and with me, even fails at that).
Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis opens with a sharp and metallic grapefruit-ginger accord — unpleasant, a mite aquatic, with tooth-abrading sweetness. The scent reminds me of the odors emanating from a Sephora store: sugary and synthetic. Popping up like annoying jack-in-the-box clowns are scents of cheap, artificially flavored hazelnut candies, sweetened tobacco and insipid, ersatz vetiver (only the tobacco note can compete with the strident citrus-ginger). After awhile a mediocre/tedious "woody" smell comes to the fore (with more sweetness: tonka bean). I didn't like any phase of Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis; after each "trial" for this review, I scrubbed and scrubbed to remove it (a hard task). After this, it will be difficult for me not to file "CARON" under my Kaput category. In response to Caron's "aimez-moi comme je suis" I must say: "Je ne peux pas."*
Caron Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis was developed by perfumer Jean Jacques and features notes of grapefruit, ginger, hazelnut, vetiver, tonka bean and tobacco. It is available in 75 (€75/$93) and 125 (€98/$122) ml Eau de Toilette.
* I can't.
So fun to read! Thank you Kevin 🙂
Nebbe, you’re welcome!
well these category names just made my day.
apsara: good! Ha!
A disappointing perfume saved by an engaging review. Yatagan is perennially in my favorite cheap thrills category. Lately, I’ve used it more as a room scent than a personal fragrance, but I wouldn’t want to be without a bottle.
Oakland Fresca: same here…I have one full bottle in reserve that I’ll probably never get to.
Loved the categories and completely agree with you!
Filomena: glad you liked them. This year has certainly tweaked my perfume relationships.
Those classifications nead a trademark on them, just saying.
I agree it is a great name for a perfume, I don’t know about the juice as I have not smelled this yet.
lucasai: I’m confident in saying you can rest easy if you NEVER encounter it!
After this review, tho it made me laugh, I think it’s the end of Caron ?
This made my afternoon. I concur heartily on so many of these points.
Ah, Caron…I can’t *believe* they’ve stopped making Nuit de Noel. Dropping Bellodgia was bad enough. Why not focus on reformulating and relaunching the classics (heritage!!) rather than creating boring new things?
I second that, Jessica
Littlecooling, it’s a shame, isn’t it?
It truly is
A house with that history and heritage should know have a director that would respect the past but also release new, interesting and daring perfumes
If only Caron had been “maintained” like Guerlain. It’s hard to go back again.
Having already read the scathing reviews on Basenotes, yours did not disappoint. 🙂 Love the categories. And Caron is definitely kaput.
cazaubon: interesting…I was wondering if many people had sniffed this.
Alas. This was a great line, with a range of very well made scents. I wish I bought Narcisse Noire when I could have. I recall Aimez Moi as a Lilly of the Valley scent.
The story of this house is also inspiring. It was established in France, but relocated to the US when its owner had to flee the Nazis- a refreshing contrast from Chanel whose founder accommodated herself (at a minimum) to the Nazi occupiers and the Guerlains, who remember the date of the Nazi occupation by the pleasant family birthday which they held.
I have not smelled the current incarnations of their classic scents; nor tried the alleged vintages on eBay.
I honestly do not understand these companies which buy out classics only to issue bad reformulations and destroy the brand they paid for.
Dilana: I don’t get it either. Do they even make money?
I have a bottle of Aimez-Moi, perhaps 10 years old, and to me it smells like violets and licorice. I don’t get lily-of-the-valley at all.
I get violet and anise, too, as well as some vanilla. In fact, Aimez-Moi is one of only two perfumes in which I like the scent of violet.
What is the other?
My memory may be wrong.
Well here I go swimming against the tide again.
I bought this as a gift for a family member going through a horrible time and it had a very special meaning.
I did keep the 2 mls free gift for myself.
I liked it! Very much.
So did she. and so did he.
The opening is different and fresh and grabs your attention.
I loved the hazelnut note.
It was unusual enough and I particularly loved the name.
Glad I gave it when I did.
AngelaB: I’m always happy when someone disagrees with me…none of us are the Supreme Perfume Judge & Jury.
I agree with Angela! I took a leap and ordered this blindly and have come to love it. My first impressions were not that different from Kevin’s, but after four or five full wearings I began to get a better understanding of the interaction between the ‘blue ginger’ opening (really reminiscent of Pour un Homme Sport) and the woody-sweet hazel and Haitian vetiver heart. I now think it’s wonderful and my wife (who is not a huge perfume fan like me but has great taste) agrees. Anyway, contrary to the schaudenfreude-like pleasures of narratives of decline, I think Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis is a winner for the house.
Hugely entertaining article, Kevin – thank you so much! It is with much regret, having been a long time customer, that I have to agree with your assessment of the Penhaligon brand; & as for your categorisation of the much missed by me Crown Perfumery, it was a classic ‘swallow that mouthful of shiraz immediately or it’ll end up all over my keyboard & screen’ moment!!
Carolyn, Sigh and sob…Crown Imperial and Eau de Russe…!
Crown Ess Bouquet for me Kevin, all day long – although I did enjoy a few of the other samples that I was so generously given all those years ago – a stephanotis one, crab apple & also a lily one.
Total belly laugh.
Yeah Caron…what the hell?! You made friggin Yatagan dudes…where did you go astray!?
Mike, a miracle that Yatagan is still around…but haven’t smelled the current formulation.
What a fun read, thanks! The only Carons that really register with me were Parfum Sacre and Bellodgia, both gone now.
I bought Parfum Sacre 2 years ago at the boutique in Paris. It’s fantastic. If it’s since been discontinued that’s a crying shame.
Sariah…keeping track of Caron is exhausting! They need a serious revival like Patou.
Ringthing…Bellodgia is definitely not on the Caron website now.
Some of perfume houses in the “Holding Steady” are favorites of mine. I bought a Frédéric Malle fragrance sampler from Nordstrom online that is coming this week. I think the Estée Lauder company does a good job in my opinion at not reformulating their own and others perfumes too much. They seem to allow the perfume houses (Frédéric Malle, Tom Ford, Jo Malone, and By Killian) they acquire to keep their DNA and not mess them up. Yes, it would have been nice if they acquired Serge Lutens.
Tea Thyme…indeed…why buy a successful brand and cheapen it? Bad investment.
Oh, how sad. I love many of the older Carons, and had hoped that the new perfumer would revitalize the line
I Really Don’t Care, Do U?
Amazing Kevin. Two I’ve never tried on principal because of the price (CC and Roja), and Jerkoff because well…what are they thinking? I would add many designer exclusive lines that have popped up with multiple initial launches like YSL, Celine, etc….l can’t be bothered.
Masque Milano has really impressed me – my best brand discovery of the last few years.
SARIAH: yes…I like several from Masque Milano, too. But so far, no need to purchase anything. Full bottle purchases are rare these days as my perfume shelves teeter on the brink of collapse.
I haven’t sniffed Aimez moi comme je suis, but as I haven’t enjoyed many of the modern Caron releases, I’m prepared to be disappointed by this one. But Kevin, I have to disagree with you on the urn scents. I know Turin/Sanchez have heaped weapons-grade bile on everything that Richard Fraysse reformulated for Caron, but I’m glad I didn’t pay attention. I adore all the older frags, and don’t find them at all treacly or sweet. My go-to scents most days are Tabac Blond, French CanCan, En Avion and Montaigne. They’re not vintage bottles, so I suspect they’ve been Frayssed, but I don’t get the hate. I love the ‘sour rose’ drydown that Tania Sanchez sneers at. I’m just glad that Caron is still in business despite not being something cultish like Zoologist (all of whose scents I find fascinating but utterly unwearable.) So I’ll try AMCJS and keep my fingers crossed…
Viburnum — I believe Jean Jacques has done recent reformulations and French CanCan and En Avion are no more. A pared back catalogue for sure.
While I got a cathartic thrill out of reading some of those categories, I must admit it was based mostly on an accumulation of second-hand information… I’ve never tried anything by Clive Christian or Roja Dove, for instance, so seeing them the subject of a head shake or skewering is me guiltily engaging in a variety of straw man schadenfreude so often enjoyed on the internet, albeit to the general detriment of forming an opinion based on lived experience.
With that out of the way, I thought that your take on Caron glossed over some context for the sake of generating an entertaining drubbing… Upfront, I will admit that I haven’t tried Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis. I know that it is the first attempt at what might be construable as a masculine pillar for Caron by their new nose, Jean Jacques, who was brought on after Ariane de Rothschild acquired the brand in 2018. As noted by Viburnum, the long-term nose when the Ailès Group controlled Caron was Richard Fraysse, who, while showing the forbearance (or benign neglect) to leave the ‘holy trinity’ of Yatagan, Le3 Homme and Pour un Homme de Caron mostly unharmed, was also blamed for what some regarded as poor reconstructions of many of the iconic heritage perfumes of the brand made for women, such as Bellodgia, Tabac Blond, etc. (for a detailed rundown, readers can find comparisons of older & new formulations of many Carons – and Guerlains for that matter – on Victoria Frolova’s blog boisdejasmin.com.) Fraysse’s most notable contribution to the masculine line, L’Anarchiste, was notoriously unusual (in mostly a well-received way) though it later suffered a dilution and dumbing-down after moving from the original ‘copper bottle’ formulation to a flaçon more typical of the line. Fraysse’s son William took on perfuming duties only shortly before the Alès group sold Caron but did produce two well received if insufficiently promoted flankers to its original pillar, Pour un Homme L’Eau and Pour un Homme Sport; I had a 5ml sample of the latter, and found it not my cup of tea but certainly neither boring, poorly constructed nor pandering, especially for something marketed as a ‘sport’ fragrance.
So… while AMCJS (the product of a new nose with the house under new ownership) may sound a bit mass-market, I wonder if Caron can be accused of anything worse than Guerlain did when they released L’Homme Idéal. I acknowledge that I have no opportunity to form an opinion of AMCJS (you can’t get a sample of it shipped to Canada for love or money just yet)… I also believe that you are entitled to your opinion (which I have learned a lot from in the past), but I still question how poor this composition can really be…It currently enjoys a healthy rating of 4.28 on Fragrantica (based on only 60 reviews but, given how difficult the stuff can be to acquire in North America, I have to wonder how many of those reviews are written by fragheads/Caron fans who took the trouble to hunt it up and so may have high expectations.)
One last note: It seems peculiar to me that in referencing your own prior experiences of the house, you made no mention of Caron Pour Un Homme, despite having written a long and perceptive review of it nine years or so ago for this blog… I have often thought of your comparison of the caramel-like sweetness that appears in CPUH to the immortelle flower as one of the most insightful observations I have read about this fragrance. I could not agree more that the market trend of venerable and/or niche houses being bought up and diluted by larger corporations is incredibly regrettable, but I respectfully question whether this larger concern with the fragrance industry as a whole has overshadowed your writing on this composition and this house.
Update: I took a gamble and purchased this un-sniffed from a European seller. Initially, I was disappointed; I thought that the scent profile borrowed too heavily from current trends and that this was simply Caron’s attempt to stay relevant and attract the youthful buyer by reaching for ‘generic’ materials and accords. I feel differently now, having really come to appreciate the subtler nuances as well as the ingredient quality of what I now consider a favourite of my Autumn-Winter rotation. I have to say though that if I hadn’t purchased the bottle and spent time with it in a variety of situations, I would not have had to ‘listen’ to this composition more closely through many full wearings and a bit of bottle maturation as well. As it is, I’ve come to love it. My wife (who has more refined tastes than me) loves the sillage, so I’m grateful for that too. A winner in my book.
OK. I thought this review had to be overly harsh.
So I ordered a 5x5ml sample set.
OH MY.
The Tabacs…Exquis was a sweet synthetic smelling mess, and Noir was a slightly better but still seriously underwhelming affair. The Tubéreuse Merveilleuse was better, but not something I’d wear as a man. Then I *thought* I’d try Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis. Oh good grief what a stink! I looked more carefully. They sent me Aimez Moi EDP for women. Caron really are asleep at the wheel, and their fragrances have given me a headache. To paraphrase Gina Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight, ‘I let you touch me, Caron, I think I need a bath ‘