Vintage Perfume | The Scented Hound

Once again, I found an estate sale up in Maryland where there was going to be some upscale perfumes for sale. As the sale was to start on Saturday morning at 8am and they were taking numbers for first in the door starting at 7am, I made sure that I was up early to head 30 miles away to stand out in the dark to get one of the first numbers. To my surprise, my hubby wanted to come with me (getting up at 5:30am…I think my crazed madness for this all provides some amusement to him) and we were standing at the door at 6:45. You think that I would have been number 1, but instead my number was 9. The people in front of me seemed to be pretty innocuous and I was hoping that they were. My hubby for the past week was asking why we needed to be there early because who want to buy old perfume? He probably was right, no one but me.

So 8am sharp the door opens and who wants to buy perfume? Everyone wants to buy perfume. There was a mad dash by 4 people in front of me and they were hogging the space getting first grabs (OK, they were first so they got first dibs, but from my vantage point…well, you know). In any case, I ended up getting some sweet items, but what I really wanted was the unopened vintage Magie Noire’s, which there were 2 parfum extraits. I had to settle for the 7.5ml used version with the missing top. But for $5, who cares.

So what else did I get? A 7.5ml bottle of vintage Molinard de Molinard parfum extrait in a Lalique bottle that was still in its cellophane. It is a beautiful gem of a bottle and I love the juice, all smokey and leathery in the beginning, only to turn into a light fruity breeze in the end. I am more of a Habinita fan, but I love this little jewel.

I also got a 7.5ml bottle of vintage Lagerfeld, KL parfum extrait. Again, still in the cellophane. Deep rich and rather manly, I have the feeling that I’ll be wearing this alot.

And then there’s the 30ml bottle and 7.5ml bottle of Guerlain Samsara parfum extrait. I only had a tiny bottle of vintage Samsara EdP as part of my collection, so this was a real treat. And to be honest, I don’t need the 7.5ml bottle, so if anyone in the US is interested, I may be willing to part with it. Just drop me a line. Funny, I was able to check the codes to see what year they are from and both are from 1989. However, the large box has no bar code and the small box does, so it’s right in that period where bar codes started coming into existence.

Overall, I’m glad I got up early to get to the sale. But since I now know that there are other vintage perfume hunters out there, I’ll make sure that I get there at 6:30 next time rather than 6:45!

And I need your help on naming some perfumes. The following photos are for a sale coming up right around the corner in a couple of weeks. I believe the yellow box is L’Air du Temps but can anyone identify what else is on the table?

WHAT I SMELL: Parure starts off deep and when first sniffed it hits the back of your throat with an initial blast of heavy plum with a layer of bergamot on top. It’s somewhat medicinal and rather antiseptic, like what you expect a cleaning product for a doctor’s office would smell like. After a few more minutes it becomes almost lemony and fizzy and it begins to grow larger in its projection. To me, it’s very warm and cool at the same time as the green keeps it cool, but the rose and amber keep it warmed on the bottom. After around 15 minutes the fragrance loses the coolness and the oakmoss comes to the surface drying out the scent with it’s familiar woody powder. Add that to a very noticable, but sudued rose and that’s very pretty and a bit spicy. Funny, after around 30 minutes or so, the warm base begins to retreat but the fragrance retains the floral spiciness. In the end, it’s a very calming and pretty floral chypre that is not too dry. Wait!!! After around almost 1.5 hours the oakmoss really dries the fragrance out, but no worries, it’s still pretty and rather proper. Parure is perfect for the coming spring as I don’t really see that as a winter fragrance.

Parure Notes from Fragrantica: plum, bergamot, green notes; lily of the valley, rose, iris, lilac, jasmine, narcissus; and oak moss, spices, amber, rose and patchouli in the base.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: A pretty spring day, where there’s a dry breeze flowing through the flowers.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE PARURE: calming, pretty, reserved

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT PARURE: Yesterday’ Perfume, Eiderdown Press, Perfume Shrine

BOTTOM LINE: I have read so much about this discontinued Guerlain treasure and since I love my chypres I had to seek it out. I’m not disappointed as I love the fact that it’s not an uber chypre, but instead it is wonderfully subdued. Why did they discontinue it? Who knows, but I’m glad I got my hands on some. Now all I need to do is to find some of the parfum extrait!

Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Chypre Fruity
Classification: Leans feminine
Expense: Varied through eBay and other sources. Review is based on the Eau de Toilette version.