Reviews of Rochas Femme (original) (1944)
by Rochas

THE most beautiful feminine ever created, by master perfumer Edmond Roudnitska.This scent is a generational thread on my mom's side. They may have been poor but they all wore this version of Femme. On my skin, the orris note is spectacular and the drydown of benzoin and leather is heavenly.this perfume is so precious, to me, my eyes well with tears when I wear it. G-d Bless Mr. Roudnitska

Just LOVE Ayala's review of this classic beauty - recently sampled as "vintage", which is not bad but does not live up to the memory of the Femme I adored in the (gasp) fifties. I was blessed that even as a younger woman (mid twenties) she behaved so wondrously for me. The voluptuous base of musk and amber with it's discreet hint of suede simmered under the most rapturous cloud of heady flowers and rich fruits offset with just a hint of citrus.

I'm not gonna mess with the current version.

I don't know how to thumb this one because my only recent experience is with this "vintage" sample..... guess I'll go with "neutral".

Unusual, sophisticated, and enigmatic. There are days when nothing but Rochas Femme will do. Having smelled both the vintage and the new, I must say that I like the vintage formula better. Rochas Femme is a challenging but well-balanced old-school chypre. The old formulation avoids unnecessary sweetness.
Even in its new formulation, it is one of the last of its type still available in this venerable, old genre. The new formula has more of a syrupy, fruity, amber plus an up-front cumin, which throws the composition a little off-balance, yet it beats any one of the members of the army of chemical-smelling clones perfumes that make up the bulk of today's commercial market.

I like a lot of vintage juice, but not Rochas Femme. It's too cuminy for my taste, with sharp, soapy notes (aldehydes?) and bitterly powdery notes (oakmoss?) Overall it's quite muddy, but that doesn't mean subdued, it's muddy with piercing topnotes, and it also smells quite flat and plasticky, which might be due to the age. I like the drydown better, it's dry and warm and woody with a pleasant bitterness. Not worth the wait though.

As the parfum is vintage, it is difficult to find a bottle that has not gone off, at least in the top notes. Bergamot and lemon do not tend to sparkle much after 30 or more years on the shelf, and the floral heart seems to have become bitter and odd, too. First applied, there is the realization of "Wow, this is some old juice"; however, once it dries, the base notes of my old parfum bottle have melded into a warm, leathery, spicy/musky prune scent. The clove, orris, and oakmoss are particularly evident, making for a dry, powdery, but not-too-sweet finish on the skin. In its day, it must've been a stunner, but until someone steals the recipe and creates the original anew, classic Femme is shadow of what it must have been when fresh.

Femme in pure parfum is a rare beauty that has become almost extinct. It is a different formulation than the more in-your-face sexuality of the modern reformulation of 1989 by Oliver Cresp – of both eau de parfum and eau de toilette, which still possesses the extreme individuality and general impression of the original woman, but has a significantly different (slightly plasticy) ambery base and daring top notes of cumin.

In 1943, Femme was created in the ruins of Paris during World War II. As the lotus flower stems out of death and putrefaction, Femme is a bright, warm-coloured coral found in the depth of a dark cold ocean amidst the ruins of steel ships and dead submarines.

And this happens also on the olfactory level: from the interaction between mundane notes of common spices (cinnamon, cloves), the dirty earthiness of patchouli, labdanum and moss, a few floral staples (rose, jasmine, ylang ylang, orris) and a few oily-fruity aldehydes which could have been discovered as a by-product of weapon development, a beautiful, golden flower rises:
It is modest and unusual, with a quiet presence that is warm, powdery and leathery all at once, yet it is a flower. The ghost of osmanthus. A flower that did not lend its essence to the composition of Feem, but nevertheless is the fruit of the lovemaking that occurs between strange essences in the privacy of the test tube.

Top notes: Peach, Plum, Peach, Bergamot, Lemon, Rosewood
Heart notes: Ylang-ylang, Jasmine, May rose, Clove, Orris
Base notes: Musk, Amber, Oakmoss, Vanilla, Patchouli, Benzoin, Leather