Câline (1964)
by Jean Patou

In very much the same family as other spicy-ish, mossy-ish, fresh greens Ma Griffe, Coriandre and Ivoire de Balmain, Caline is a great one to add to your collection if you're a fan of any one or all of those scents. Me, I don't love any of these, and Caline's no exception; the coming together of certain combinations of notes disagrees with me and that's the case here with the meeting of basil AND iris AND moss AND coriander. There's an odd sense of viscousness I get from this and I just don't care for it. That being said, I refuse to give this a negative review because I consider it a classic; just because it doesn't agree with me does not, in this case (or the case of any of its smell-alikes, for that matter) cause me to regard in any lesser way. Call me biased, but Patous, Carons and Guerlains can do no wrong in my eyes! Besides, I've only worn this a few times and think I could grow to at least like it, if not love it, once I got used to its particular nature.