Occasionally reviews describe a fragrance as smelling “vintage.” To me, it signals that the fragrance follows the conventions of a classic perfume style, like a floral aldehyde with a musk-sandalwood-vetiver base, or a mossy chypre. Besides that, it often means that a perfume simply isn’t fashionable.
Olympic Orchids Tropic of Capricorn smells vintage, in the animalic, leathery way of Caron Narcisse Noir Extrait. It’s definitely not fashionable, but it has a lot of style. This is a perfume for Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard…