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Browsing by tag: edmond roudnitska

Hermes Eau d’Hermes ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 7 November 2012 38 Comments

Eau d'Hermès

I first encountered Eau d’Hermès at a huge perfume emporium in Tijuana, Mexico, when I was very young. I sniffed Eau d’Hermès and recoiled, thinking: “It smells filthy!” Over a decade later, on a whim, and at a steep discount, I up and bought a bottle of Eau d’Hermès. I hadn’t smelled it since Tijuana, and this time I loved it. Perhaps age (and feverish buying and sampling of fragrances for years and years) had altered my opinions of ‘difficult’ perfumes and helped me appreciate the “underside” of fragrances: the musks, the indoles, the rude spices.

Legend has it that perfumer Edmond Roudnitska aimed to capture the scent of an Hermès handbag, its insides, with Eau d’Hermès. Right now, I’m retiring my own “handbag” — a big black leather thing that I’ve had for at least fifteen years. My bag used to be handsome, “fit” and trim; now its zippers are failing, it’s more gray than black, and it’s “flabby” after years of being stuffed with my stuff. I call it my Blood (it’s been to the hospital with me many times), Sweat (so many trips to hot places) and Tears (lots of losses occur in fifteen years) Bag…

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Christian Dior Eau Sauvage Parfum ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 15 August 2012 29 Comments

Dior Eau Sauvage Parfum advert

Certain iconic fragrances have an army of supporters who despise any “fiddling” with their beloved perfume; Dior‘s Eau Sauvage by perfumer Edmond Roudnitska is one such fragrance. Released in 1966, Eau Sauvage has been getting lots of love for decades, even as the formula was tweaked. I like Eau Sauvage and enjoyed its variations: Eau Sauvage Extrême (1982 version) and 2007’s Eau Sauvage Fraîcheur Cuir (both discontinued). I’ll admit to getting a little excited at the prospect of Eau Sauvage Parfum (which is not, strictly speaking, a flanker, but a new concentration of Eau Sauvage Eau de Toilette).*

Featuring bergamot, vetiver, myrrh, woods and amber, Eau Sauvage Parfum was developed by perfumer François Demachy and is described as a woody-amber perfume (as opposed to the original Eau Sauvage Eau de Toilette, an aromatic citrus-floral); thus, I didn’t think for a minute that the new Parfum would be a “stronger” version of the original fragrance.

Eau Sauvage Parfum goes on watery and weak; my first thought on smelling it was: “Parfum?” Quickly, the fragrance intensifies…

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Rochas Mousseline ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 6 August 2012 118 Comments

Rochas Mousseline perfume advert

Clams casino, handwritten diaries, gold lamé house shoes, paper dictionaries: certain things are slipping away. To some of these I wave a hearty goodbye — that would be you, dial-up modem — but other changes I note with a pang. Sure, some of the regret is pure nostalgia. I love the full-throated trill of a dial telephone, for example. But some of it is a lament for changes in fashion, in what’s considered beautiful. That’s how I feel about some perfume. No publicly traded company in its right mind would make a heartbreaker of a chypre like Rochas Mousseline these days. That’s too bad.

Perfumer Edmond Roudnitska developed Mousseline, and Rochas released it in 1946, just two years after Rochas Femme. Information on Mousseline is scarce. My parfum is at least 45 years old — quite possibly older — but it’s clearly a fruity chypre and Femme’s little sister. My “flacon sac” perfume came in a tiny, black lace printed splash bottle accompanied by an inch-and-a-half long eyedropper for extracting the precious extrait.

I picture a woman settling into her car after a day of shopping…

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Dior-Dior by Christian Dior ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 16 July 2012 90 Comments

Rene Gruau Dior-Dior advert, detail

A few more spritzes from my sample tube, and there it goes — the last of my Christian Dior Dior-Dior. Finished.

Lately I’ve been working my way through the crystal cocktail glass storing my most precious samples. A few unexpected (and in one case, fatal) accidents in my world during the past few weeks have startled me out of complacence. We’re not going to live forever. Meanwhile, those few drops of old Guerlain Mitsouko parfum, that dram of Lanvin Scandal parfum, that tiny vial of Christian Dior Dioressence parfum, and, yes, a two ml spray of Christian Dior Dior-Dior Eau de Toilette were going unappreciated. I put an end to that. It’s hard to use a vintage, discontinued fragrance knowing that when it’s gone it’s likely gone for good. But enjoying a perfume sure beats simply having the perfume…

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Rochas Moustache ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 11 July 2012 38 Comments

Rochas Moustache vintage adverts

Most of us at Now Smell This have ‘suffered’ a Perfume Chain Reaction. Here’s my most recent:

1. I was looking at a glossy book about perfume advertisements and came across some ads for Marcel Rochas Moustache (introduced in 1948-1949);

2. I read that Moustache was formulated by one of my favorite perfumers, Edmond Roudnitska, who worked on the fragrance with his wife, Thérèse;

3. I went to the Rochas website to read about the current formulation and discovered that Moustache has been removed from Rochas’ fragrance line-up; so

4. I researched the fragrance notes online, liked what I read; and

5. I went to eBay to look for a bottle of Moustache;

6. I purchased a 100 ml tester of Moustache without ever sniffing it.

Today, in part 8 of the chain reaction (part 7 was wearing the fragrance for a week) I’m reviewing Moustache…

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