Shocking (1937)
by Elsa Schiaparelli

My sample of the vintage version came from a generous Basenoter … I did not realize the extent of her generosity until I Googled for some information about Shocking and found that this is one of those fragrances whose values have soared. I was SHOCKed…

Sweet! Honey sweet… with lots of florals. This is an exuberantly perky, feminine, perky-feminine fragrance. The florals form a delectable bouquet of rose, jasmine, and lily of the valley. I can’t pick out the individual floral notes, but the group of florals smell really good. The base is as enjoyable as it is standard: It’s a nice smelling sandalwood / patchouli / amber / musk that presents no surprises, but had good sillage and longevity. Shocking is a bit synthetic and maybe even a little cloying (if over sprayed), but it also exhibits life and vitality in refreshing excess. It’s an enjoyable fragrance.

22nd June, 2011.

The thumbs-down is for the new, reformulated version of Shocking. I had bought a tiny bottle of vintage Shocking on eBay, and then bought a bottle of the new stuff. I can't tell you how different the new version is from the vintage formula. Granted, the original version could be construed today as an "old lady" fragrance, but beneath the prissy flowers that make it a somewhat grandmotherly fragrance, there is the deep sophistication of musk, spices, and aldehydes (all of the ingredients that made classic perfumes so great, and that are replaced today with more politically correct synthetic alternatives). The new version smells like it's eliminated altogether the civet, cloves, cyphres and aldehydes of the original. It smells strongly of white flowers before transitioning into an overwhelmingly powdery dry-down. Like one reviewer below said, it's ghastly. Without the spicy notes, the musk, and the aldehydes of the original, the new version lacks the depth and sophistication of the vintage version.

21st January, 2011.

YIKES! Shocking is a good name for this gastly juice, because let me tell ya, it will shock your socks off! I echo every word that Jemimagold wrote in her review, especially the spinster Aunt description, because that was exactly what my mind thought of when I tried out this dreadful scent. Beware!

21st November, 2008.

The only thing "shocking" about this is how shockingly awful it is. It has dusty musty notes of rose and incense, overlaid by a cloying scent of dark honey which gets to the back of my throat and just sticks there. Another way to understand Shocking is that it smells like the closet of a spinster great aunt where she saved every rose corsage and honey jar that came her way. After 10 minutes of wearing Shocking, it is clear that this is a scrubber (and gargler) par excellence. Ugh!

18th April, 2008.

I own the vintage and new editions of this perfume...the original is mysterious interesting, moody, exotic and very sexy it must have been so avant garde in the day, I can imagine Mercedes de Acosta [sic] a notorious lesbian in the 1930's and 40's and good friend of Greta Garbo wearing it....it has that adroginous feel silage is great you can use the EDP sparingly in the morning and still smell vestiges of it at night, it is one of those scents that gets you noticed in a room it's very sophisticated. Those buying vintage should be picky though as I have had bottles that are completely off or sour.
The new edition in my opinion bears no resemblance to the original at all !! it is completely different and smells like a cheap drug store juvenile perfume cloying sweet and musky I want to wash it off immediately it's like Jovan musk mixed with Revlon Charlie or Chloe no offense intended to those perfumes I realise lots of people love them but I don't, Shocking new is truly "stinky" and can not be compared to the original.

14th December, 2007.

Very sexy. In a hedonistic, 1930s way. Im not saying its too old or anything, I have enough good taste and class to see that sexy 1930s hedonism is fantastic.

Its very voluptuous, a deep, woody and heady spice, blooming into oily puffs of equally heady incense, blown gently across the room by as zephyr of honey and creamy blossoms...with aldehydes, oakmoss and syrupy sweet narcissus packing a timely but somewhat unfortunately persistant puch...

I like it, no, I love it, but it does give me a headache, to be bluntly honest...but a simple headache is bearable when my beloved Xiao Mei (half chinese gf) accompanies me wearing this voluptous heavy silk gown of powerhouse hedonism...Shocking is indeed a powerhouse perfume...

Some will find it unsettling, pervasive and sometimes "shockingly" rude...But I love. Especially on my Xiao Mei.

6th December, 2007.