WWYW- Birthday Party edition

By Tom Today I went to a birthday party. It was at Spago, where I'd never been before. I was the only man in a group of about 40. I am friends with about half of them and was invited by the birthday girl, who jokingly said "are you sure you'd like to be alone in a roomful of women? (Husband) wouldn't on a dare." Of course I answered "well I consider myself one of the girls.." Of course being ladies from the real Beverly Hills they ran the sartorial gamut from just-came-from-elementary-school jeans to Chanel suits. I recognized a few scents that I really love: Joy, Fracas and (the real, original) Chanel No 19 I recognised, all applied in the proper "you can only smell me if I choose to hug you" daytime strength. There were others I didn't recognise, but they were lovely ones. I'll have to shoot off a few emails to find out what they were. I wore nice Khakis, a blue blazer and a tie. Oh, and one spritz of Féminité du bois. What would you wear to a ladies who lunch lunch? Wolfgang Puck came through at one point to say Happy Birthday to the birthday girl and clapped me on the shoulder on his way out of the room, saying in that singular accent "How'd you manage to be the one man in this group of women?" My answer? "Blind luck".. Image: Basenotes

Monsoon Beach Party! Sira des Indes by Jean Patou

By Marla Jean Patou, that once great French house of perfumery that has become a subject of controversy in recent years, released “Sira des Indes” about 5 years ago. The official notes are: champaca, banana accord, bergamot, pear, red berries, cardamom, musk, amber, vanilla and sandalwood. After my recent mind-expanding experience with L’Artisan’s PEAR perfume, Mon Numero 1, I couldn’t resist trying a perfume that championed both the loathesome pear, and the banana. Synthetic banana flavor or smell induces severe nausea in me. Seriously. Why? Let’s just say that university students can be tragically experimental, a banana liqueur does in fact exist, and sometimes, students have access to really nasty things like banana liqueur at fraternity parties. You really don’t want to know the rest… OK, back to Jean Patou. “Sira des Indes” is actually a fabulous summer beach party scent, one of those rare fruity florals for grownups. The red fruits are light and fresh, and pear is crisp and green, and the banana is a natural accord, and very subtly laid on; I really like what it adds to the composition. Cardamom adds a cool note. The heart is full of white champaca, which is lighter and brighter than golden champaca, and the musky drydown is heavier on the vanilla and sandalwood than the amber. It’s more light and transparent than sweet, like a very sheer cotton dress. This perfume is fun! And girly! I want to go down to our local beach in a hot pink sari when I wear it and dance Bollywood style on the beach with Karan Nath. Maybe this weekend, I will, if I can just find Karan, he’s gotta be on Facebook, right?? So what perfume have you fallen in love with, or like with, that has a list of notes that originally sounded quite vile to you?

Jean Patou Ma Collection - Chaldée

By Marina Hyacinth is a paradoxical note. It is simultaneously leaf-like, at times herbal and vegetal - and floral. Its greenness can appear, in the same breath, airy, fresh - and fleshy, thick. It is both sharply dry and husky-sweet, like bitter, smoky honey. Its powerful, seemingly earth-bound aroma, somehow soars as light as a feather. Chaldée, an inexcusably discontinued Patou scents dating to 1927, which features hyacinth throughout two-thirds of its development, is a paradoxical perfume. First introduced as a suntan oil, Huile de Chaldée, the fragrance seems to promise, to a contemporary tester, a sweet, tropical quality. It delivers, in fact, a traditional and, despite the Babylonian inspiration behind the name,  "European", floral-oriental composition with the proper structure of the fresh top notes, floral heart and rich, ambery drydown. The composition in which, the floral notes (orange blossom, lilac, jasmine) lead by hyacinth balance the velvety, fleshy, honeyed base with their airy, at times sharp fragrance. The flowers make the intense, seemingly earth-bound Chaldée soar as light as a feather. Perhaps the perfume only seems to me paradoxical in the context of our very different time, where suntan equals coconut, and the new fragrance structures, spirals, octagons, pentagrams, what have you, have been gradually replacing the time-honored pyramid. Chaldée is in fact not paradoxical. It is classic. It can be found on ebay and some discounters. I am still hoping that one day Patou will bring back the discontinued scents from "Ma Collection".

Pineapple wars: Jean Patou Colony versus the modern world (And a giveaway)

By Donna Pineapple is one of those fragrance notes that seems to elicit strong opinions, Either you love it and can’t get enough, or the very thought of it makes you back away slowly from the offending perfume as if it were radioactive. I am firmly in the former category myself, being a fan of pineapple in virtually all of its forms and uses, with the notable exception of pizza – that’s just wrong. From piňa coladas to Thai food, everything is better with pineapple. Of course, there are also a slew of cheap and artificial pineapple-scented products around. Pineapple suffers a fate similar to raspberry, orange or rose, where the bad synthetic renditions give the whole group a bad name. I will studiously ignore these and concentrate on actual perfume. The undisputed dowager queen of all pineapple scents is Colony by Jean Patou, one of the twelve resurrected and then sadly discontinued Ma Collection scents, and my other favorite of that group in addition to Vacances. It was first released in 1938 during the Golden Age of French perfumery, and upon smelling it is immediately apparent that it is a beautiful relic of days gone by. It is actually a chypre scent, probably the only pineapple chypre ever made as far as I can tell. It is endowed with a heavy, syrupy and languid helping of pineapple, spices, carnation, iris, ylang ylang and a perfectly divine overdose of oakmoss that keeps it sophisticated and tamps down any excessive sweetness. Any astringency comes from all that oakmoss, in fact, as the pineapple is very concentrated and has no trace of the fresh, raw fruit in it. I cannot tell you how much I adore this perfume; it is so very sexy and grown-up, yet it has that hint of tropical romance to it that gives it such a charming character. The reissued version may not be an exact replica of the original, but the Ma Collection fragrances were probably the most accurate renditions of vintage formulas ever made. Skip ahead several generations and its descendant in the House of Patou is Patou Forever, a much lighter fruity-floral composition, but the pineapple is there. It is more realistic pineapple, not too sweet, but it’s sharp and fresh and yet not acidic or thin. It’s a perfect summer scent, greened with vetiver and embellished with other fruit accords. I will need to get some more of this once my Colony runs out; sadly, it’s only a matter of time before it’s gone forever. Most other pineapple themed fragrances available today all seem hew to the light and fresh style, at least in my experience. Ananas Fizz by L’ Artisan Parfumeur is ethereally light, so much so that it is very fleeting on my skin, which is a pity as it is really a very nice fragrance. It is not strictly a pineapple “soliflore”, but that is one of the dominant notes. It is complemented by citrus, coconut, vanilla and light woods. It is eminently suitable for summer as it is about as sheer a scent as I have ever tried, and typical of the lovely and transparent creations Anne Flipo has done for L’Artisan. On the sweeter side, Comptoir Sud Pacifique has Vanille Pineapple, with the fruit accompanied by frangipani, coconut, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, passion fruit and musk. As with most CSP scents, the top notes fade rather quickly, leaving the vanilla, coconut and sugar to duke it out, and in this case the top note is just pineapple. It’s a fun perfume, make no mistake, but not everyone wants to smell like pineapple upside-down cake all day. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Which brings me to the opposite end of the pineapple spectrum from Colony and another discontinued scent – Bath & Body Works’ Fresh Pineapple. I was doing my usual smash-and-grab stocking up at the semi-annual sale recently and picked up the shower gel, which I had not tried, then I saw a little bottle of cologne on the clearance table for almost nothing. I thought, why not, it’s pineapple and coconut, what could go wrong? As it turned out, the shower gel was pretty decent, but the spray cologne was pretty thin stuff – it started out with an in-your-face gush of freshly cut pineapple, joined quickly by coconut, but the pineapple turned harsh and a bit sour, and there was an unpleasant interval while that fizzled out; definitely a synthetic pineapple accord. It was not too bad after that, but it was mostly coconut by then and I don’t think that is exactly the real thing either. This is one of those photo-realistic modern fragrances that are made to literally smell like the picture on the bottle – that can be fine, and this is probably better in hot and humid weather when something so simple is all you want. To illustrate the evolution (or should I say decline) of pineapple in perfume, I am offering a sample each of Jean Patou Colony and BB&W Fresh Pineapple. Both are discontinued, but for only one of them is that a tragedy, and when you try them side-by-side you will see why. If you want to be in the draw please indicate in the comments. The winner’s name will be selected the week after this post appears. Image credits: Vintage Colony bottle from collector site passionforperfume.com. Pineapple upside-down cake, photo by Tina Cornett at myrecipe.com. (I am totally going to make this – it has macadamia and cardamom in it.)

The Green Goddess: Vacances by Jean Patou (1936) - And a Prize Draw

By Donna Vacances was introduced in 1936 by the famous perfume and fashion house of Jean Patou, in celebration of what is now a French and indeed established worldwide tradition – the introduction of paid vacations for workers. It evokes the feeling of a fresh spring morning in the countryside as the windows are opened to the rising sun. This was the Golden Age of French perfume houses, and one of its legendary creative collaborations was between Jean Patou and his great house perfumer Henri Alméras; this fragrance is one of the crown jewels of fine French perfumery. The House of Patou was once more famous for its couture gowns coveted by wealthy society women than it was for its perfumes, but the fragrances long ago eclipsed the fashions; led by the justly iconic Joy (1930). Sadly, Jean Patou died the same year Vacances was released, though the company was carried on by his sister and remained a family enterprise until it was sold to Procter and Gamble in 2001. Vacances is widely acknowledged by professional perfumers and expert “noses” to be the greatest Green Floral in the history of perfumery. Having tried many others of this style from the finest houses over the years, I must concur. This is a true work of art; and if I had but one perfume to choose to wear for the rest of my life this would be it. (Considering how many perfumes I have tried over the years, and what I currently own, that is high praise indeed.) It opens with a very sharp, fresh, almost peppery green burst –not black pepper, but rather juicy cut green pepper, as in bell pepper not spice, a quality it gets from a heaping overdose of the plant gum Galbanum-accompanied by the intense freshness of stunningly heady Hyacinth, twiggy/earthy Hawthorn and deeply verdant grass notes. As the opening subsides, something else wonderful happens – the arrival of soft, wispy Mimosa and the most ethereally lovely Lilac imaginable, an eternally fresh Lilac that never fades or becomes musty. This lingers a long time as the fragrance finally dries down to subtle woody notes. The lasting power is excellent, even for the EDT. It is a relatively simple combination of accords, but elegant in its perfection. To me it is not only green but all the colors of the rainbow, the essence of Spring itself. This is a fragrance of happiness and exuberance, but also of memory and intense longing. It has been known to elicit an unexpected emotional response when experienced for the first time. It was the first perfume that to which I ever had such a strong and visceral reaction that tears came to my eyes and I knew I had found “The One.” For one thing, it reminded me of the great hedge of purple lilacs that grew outside my childhood home. After a rain, the delicious scent would drift through the air, and I would shake the sweet drops that clung to the heavy flower heads onto my face and drink the perfumed water as though it were the nectar of the gods. That, mingled with the aroma of freshly cut grass (we never had a gas mower, so there were no fumes to ruin it), the damp earth and the rising breath of other spring plants as the sun broke through after the rain, is the soul of Vacances. This fragrance, along with eleven other historical perfumes from the Patou line from the 1920s to the 1950s, was re-released in the 1980s to celebrate the history and success of the Patou house. The gorgeous bottles were all of a similar style but had different color themes and package designs, and each bottle contained a matching silk pocket square. The reintroduced scents, known as Ma Collection and also once available as a coffret of miniature bottles of all twelve perfumes, are sadly now all discontinued again. This is very likely the last bottle I will ever have. Its like will not be seen again. I know I said I would stop reviewing discontinued fragrances, but I must pay tribute to my most beloved perfume before it’s gone forever and only its memory remains to me. All the scents in Ma Collection are very good to great, but to my mind this is far and away the most original and beautiful of them all. To honor this wonderful perfume, I am offering a sample of the Eau de Toilette. It was the last formulation offered when the scent was reissued; for a glorious time there was also Eau de Parfum, and a Parfum that defined the very idea of Beauty. Now they are all gone, victims of the times and the sale of the Patou company to Procter & Gamble, to my profound horror. Some of Patou’s recent offerings since this happened are nice enough, but nothing approaches their earlier releases, and the last really good ones, in my opinion, were Sublime in 1992 and Patou For Ever in 1998. If the new owners had any sense at all these classic perfumes would be brought back in all their glory along with the rest of the Patou back catalog. (You can still find them online, but bottle collectors have driven the price up to about $400 or more each and I would personally be very wary of eBay or other independent sellers claiming to have unopened bottles for sale, especially at a low price.) If you want to be entered in the drawing, please say so in the comments, and the winner will be announced the week after this post appears. Image credits: The beautiful Vacances bottle and box from perfumedistributor.com. Artistic rendition of the Elven Queen Galadriel (as portrayed by Cate Blanchett) from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy from calacirian.org

Perfume Review: Jean Patou Forever

Ever since Tom mentioned macaroons in his review of Kiki, I have been on a hunt for something elegantly sweet to eat and something sophisticatedly sweet to wear. I have yet to find the former but I happily recognized the latter in Patou's fairly obscure gem of a scent, Forever. With its leisurely, indolent, joyous vibe, the perfume also hit the right spot in that it reminded me that vacation is just around the corner. The fruity accord of pineapple, raspberry and melon is creamy, ripe, with a distinct boozy undertone. These are fruits gone bad, i.e into the liquor territory. And when fruits go bad, I go right after them. A very subtle floral undertone attempts to create a ladylike appearance but fails. Vetiver prevents the fragrance from being too sweet and adds a certain breezy feel to the blend, a certain salty freshness. Forever makes me think of sun reflected on the dazzling blue surface of an ocean, of barely-there bikinis, of white sand, of exotic cocktails, of skin smelling faintly of sea water and sunscreen ...it makes me long for the state of happy oblivion that is a perfect vacation. This escapist fragrance can be found online for as cheaply as $19.99 for EDT. Parfum, which is what I reviewed, is harder to find but is very much worth the effort.

Perfume Review: Jean Patou Divine Folie

Patou describe Divine Folie, created in the "twilight years" of the 1930s, as "a party mood of exquisite madness". The lush floral-ambery, spicy composition has the intensity, the desperate glamour, the fey feeling of a beautiful world coming to an end and refusing to realize it. The creamy nuttiness of ylang-ylang, combined with honeyed orange blossom, creates a sweet, slightly powdery accord reminiscent of old-fashioned powders and lipsticks, an accord that I adore. It sets the giddy, "dressed-up" mood of the scent, enhanced by the presence of over-ripe, ready-to-shed-petals rose and luscious jasmine. There is no mention of carnation in the list of notes printed on Ma Collection box, but carnation is there, highlighting the powdery aspect of the scent and infusing it with heavy-lidded, vaguely "exotic" spiciness. The perfume wants to be worn with a slinky, black silk dress, smoky eyes and dark-red lips...to an "exquisitely mad" party...it needs to be worn by somebody already desperately in or about to fall in a doomed, twisted and tainted kind of love. One of my favorite poems by Anna Akhmatova depicts the decadent setting for Divine Folie wonderfully well: We're all drunkards here, and harlots: how wretched are we together! On the walls, flowers and birds wait for the clouds to gather. You puff on your burnished pipe, strange shapes above you swim, I have put on a narrow skirt to show my lines are trim. The windows are tightly sealed. What brews? Thunder or sleet? How well I know your look, your eyes like a cautious cat. O heavy heart, how long before the tolling bell? But that one dancing there Will surely rot in hell! (Translated by Stanley Kunitz and Max Hayward) Divine Folie has been discontinued, along with other gems from Ma Collection, but right now it seems to be available at PerfumeMart, $59.00 for 2.5oz The image is by Gunther Sachs.