We’ve all been there: I was standing at the Lancôme counter at Saks Fifth Avenue and asking for a sniff of a new fragrance, in this case Lancôme Peut-Être. The sales associate said, “Ah, yes, it’s so beautiful!” She sprayed it on my arm, and a few seconds later I lifted it to my nose. “What do you think?” she said eagerly. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
The fragrance was barely dry, and I wasn’t ready to say anything about it, really. But the ambery mix I smelled wasn’t what I’d expected at all…
Miss Marple, where were you when I needed you? Late last summer I stalked department stores in search of Cuir de Lancôme, a then-recent addition to Lancôme’s La Collection range of vintage reissues. The word on the street was that it was supposed to be released in the United States sometime in early fall 2007. A sales associate at Saks Fifth Avenue rifled through some Lancôme sales packages and found something claiming that Cuir should have been released in spring 2007. Another sales associate, this one at Nordstrom, looked at me like he believed I was making it all up and proffered a bottle of Lancôme Sikkim with a busted atomizer. A lukewarm review over at Perfume Smellin’ Things did little to chill my ardor, and news that Lancôme eventually decided not to release Cuir in the United States only made me crazier for it. I had to have a bottle of Cuir de Lancôme…
In late 1999, Lancome launched 2000 et Une Rose to celebrate the turn of the century. The fragrance was developed by perfumer Christine Nagel, and included notes of rose, amber, vanilla and musk. 2000 Et Une Rose was a limited edition, but you could still buy it at the Lancome Institute in Paris even after it was discontinued in its original teardrop-shaped bottle; still, fans in the United States could no longer pop down to their local Lancome counter to replenish their supply. Happily, last year Lancome reissued the fragrance as part of its “La Collection” series under the new name Mille et Une Roses…
Lancome has relaunched Mille et Une Roses as part of La Collection Lancome.
The fragrance was originally released in late 1999 as a limited edition to celebrate the turn of the century. It includes notes of rose, amber, vanilla and musk.
A 50 ml bottle of Eau de Parfum is $125 at lancome.
Update: see a review of Lancome Mille et Une Roses.
Named for a legendary Himalayan kingdom and originally released by Lancôme in 1971, Sikkim was reissued last year along with Climat, Magie, and Sagamore as part of La Collection, a special edition series of fragrances celebrating “70 years of perfume excellence”. Sikkim’s original composition had notes of aldehydes, ylang ylang, bergamot, galbanum, gardenia, thujone, carnation, jasmine, narcissus, orris, rose, amber, castoreum, leather, moss, patchouli and vetiver.
Sikkim is a surprising chypre of monumental proportions, and I found it stunning right from the start…