Quartz (1977)
by Molyneux

My perfume bottle, simply labeled “Quartz”, is a juicy chypre, a variation in the genre of Chanel’s Cristalle which debuted 3 years earlier in 1974. Cristalle is a more angled citrus floral green chypre while Quartz is a more rounded floral melon citrus green chypre. I find the iris becomes stronger in the heart giving Quartz a soapy clean quality without becoming strident. Hillaire astutely points out the relationship to Le Parfum de Therese by Edmond Roudnitska for Malle. Testing them side by side I definitely agree they share many qualities and notes but Therese, a stunner, is much smoother, richer, rounder, and rosier than Quartz; a womanly siren versus an ingénue. If I lived in a warmer climate, I’d stock up on Quartz.

29th January, 2011.

This is heaven in a bottle!
For me Quartz smell like a Fruity Chypre fragrance, a tender watery-peachy-melon version of Yvresse.

The notes in this fragrance are so well balanced that they do not overpower but helps to harmonize and bring out the best of each other. I absolutely love its unique scent.

The powerlasting is good.

26th January, 2011.

'Quartz' is a wonderful, poetic, fruity-green chypre in the Roudnitska tradition.
Though it is lighter than they are, it reminds me very much of 'Diorella' and 'Le Parfum de Therese': it has the same peachy, "watery" introduction and the same warm, soft-handbag-leather drydown.

For the price, you cannot beat 'Quartz', and I promise, if you enjoy 'Le Parfum de Therese' but cannot afford it, 'Quartz' is a satisfactory surrogate.

Brilliant. Another under-appreciated, five-star classic from Molyneaux.

23rd January, 2010. (Last Edited: 15th February, 2010.)

Great citrus style scent overlooked by the masses. The fragrance is somewhere in between Bowling Green and Dolce & Gabanna Masculine... distinctly unique and one of my office wear favorites.

15th March, 2006.

Visiting my friend Marcel in his sanatorium the other day, I found that they had moved his bed out onto the balcony. A pale sun shone through the crisp mountain air and a few early flowers peeped shyly through the snow. I inquired as to his fragrance. 'It is Quartz, mon cher Nitram,' he whispered. 'I am not at all sure that I greatly like it but it is a perfect fragrance for an invalid. To me, it exudes the quintessence of the sanatorium: a chemical, medicinal smell interfused with pale flowers and long clean corridors.'

2nd February, 2006.

For some reason, I'm so drawn to these semi-forgotten, generally overlooked fragrance houses -the Weils, Worths and Molyneuxs of the world - and their creations. Molyneux Quartz is most definitely one; folks, this is a fruity floral that's more distinctive and exciting than 99% of those fruity florals that have come since! Quartz has some characteristics in common with the equally flawless Chanel Cristalle, the same general pairing of refreshing, rounded fruitiness and sexy underpinnings. But where Cristalle is lemony-mandarin citrus with a sprig of basil balanced on chypre and a mysterious lash of leather somewhere in there, Quartz is more about juicy, watery fruits - peach and melon - spiked with cassie and hyacinth and transitioning into a decidedly spicier, sweeter, more woody and even slightly incense-tinged base made up of, among others, amber, benzoin, sandalwood and cedarwood. If you enjoy Cristalle, I can't recommend Quartz (whose name, I'm convinced, derives from Cristalle, which was launched one year before; quartz, crystal - see the connection?) highly enough. It's the same yet different, and a definite winner for spring and summer wear.

26th August, 2005.