WHAT I SMELL: Vintage Chaldée opens with a deep warm full-bodied floral bouquet. I’m not sure if the top notes are still there as the perfume sets very quickly into the resin based floral presentation. The perfume is thick and rich with a deep lilac presenting itself as the floral star. But the lilac isn’t soft and gentle, instead its thickened with the opoponox. After a while, a dust covers the base of the perfume, giving it a vintage feel without making it feel like it belongs in another time. The dust then turns to more of a cotton and for some reason it reminds me if the smell of brand new white tube socks. After around 20 minutes, the vanilla brings an ever so slight sweetness to the warmed florals. Funny, after around 1/2 hour, a little bit of civet seems to creep in giving the perfume an added depth and dimension. Finally, the perfume ends it’s journey in this warmed and flattened bouquet that projects this beautiful and confident persona.
Top notes: orange blossom and hyacinth. Heart: jasmine, lilac and narcissus. Base: opoponax, amber and vanilla.
WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: A grand hat from a bygone era.
THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE CHALDÉE: warm, contained, deep
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT CHALDÉE: Now Smell This, Perfume Shrine, I Smell Therefore I Am
BOTTOM LINE: For an eau de toilette, vintage Chaldee has a large personality and is incredibly long-lasting. I recently had a chance to test the newly reissued version in eau de parfum concentration and it opened up grand and glorious much like the original. I was ecstatic. However, surprisingly enough, it didn’t have the lasting power and it turned rather dark on me. I do need to give it another chance though…but the vintage….oh my, beautiful. Thanks to Holly for this beautiful gift!
- Bone Rating: 4 out of possible 5 bones
- Scent: Oriental Floral
- Nose: Henri Almeras in 1927
- Classification: Leans feminine, but could be unisex
- Expense: Prices vary on eBay.
The Scented Hound 
May 11, 2016 at 9:21 am
You’re welcome!
I haven’t tried the current version, and it sounds like you were underwhelmed. Who carries these in our hood?
I’m wondering where I can go to surreptitiously sniff some white tube socks without attracting security. 🙂
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May 11, 2016 at 5:10 pm
Thanks again Holly…I wish I could say that I tested the new here in town, but it was at Bergdorf’s in NYC. I guess I should have asked for a sample huh??!
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May 11, 2016 at 6:23 pm
Well honestly, probably not since you weren’t impressed.
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May 11, 2016 at 6:32 pm
It is something that I would like to try again. The opening was incredible, just like the vintage and was really well done. It was until long after that it seems to go south. And of course I had a lot of other perfumes on my skin at the time so maybe that had something to do with it. I’m actually surprised that they don’t carry this over at Neiman Marcus.
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May 13, 2016 at 10:23 pm
I wonder if you could layer the new with the vintage? Would that be too much?
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May 15, 2016 at 5:10 pm
I wouldn’t ruin the vintage with the new. The vintage is all that you need!
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May 11, 2016 at 10:41 am
I was sent a vintage bottle of this recently and somehow dismissed it as being ‘vintage and fuzzy’, if you know what I mean. I need to sit down and properly reassess it.
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May 11, 2016 at 5:11 pm
Hell yeah!
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May 12, 2016 at 3:29 am
Lovely review, I will need to get Chaldee out again. Somehow it’s the one I wear least of the Patous.
I might remember wrong, as it is a long time ago that I sniffed the new version in a shop, and also with no chance of side by side comparison, but to me it seemed like the new Chaldee was very far removed from the 1980s version.
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May 13, 2016 at 5:09 am
Funny how we set aside perfumes, only to be sparked by interest by someone else’s comments. I have done that 100 times especially with some of these vintage classics.
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May 13, 2016 at 3:39 pm
It sounds like a very interesting combination, S, the lilac and opoponax together, not something I remember smelling before.
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May 15, 2016 at 5:12 pm
It’s so pretty, but don’t think lilac as delicate and fresh here, it’s very full bodied and deep.
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May 13, 2016 at 10:24 pm
I am positively loving the fact that for a moment this perfume smells like brand new white tube socks. 🙂 LOVE IT!
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May 13, 2016 at 10:25 pm
Also, can we all get together again soon? It was so fun…
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May 15, 2016 at 5:11 pm
I am ALL for it. I was looking at my sample collection and it needs to go! Maybe sometime in June??
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