Eau Du Soir by Sisley, 1990

Lots of people can't stand it, but I love the sharp green top notes of Eau du Soir, especially the juniper. This is the Platonic version of a gin fizz, what we shold be drinking in the cave as we console ourselves with shadows on the wall. Although at heart I love the green, citrus, incense end of chypres, I've been through a recent Mitsouko phase of wearing softer, very slightly fruitier or more hortulan numbers (Eau Sauvage, Private Collection, vintage Miss Dior), and have not worn EdS for a while. Then I discovered the gorgeous Bandit the other day, and realised that what I love about it is the same sharp, almost aggressive, green coniferous notes I find in EdS. So I am writing this with Eau du Soir on my right wrist (the EdP), and Bandit on my left. I never thought I would say this, but Bandit is actually sharper; Eau du Soir has that softening syringa note in the heart which I never noticed, and makes it, weirdly, more of a floral than I ever realised. At the same time, Eau du Soir has a developing lemony citrus note in conjunction with the lilac which keeps it fierce. I love Bandit the way I love Timbuktu (probably my all-time favourite along with Sycomore) - that take-no-prisoners, militantly ungirly style of woody, incense-laden scents - and I'm adding it to my wardrobe immediately. But Eau du Soir, which has been standing forlornly at the back of my collection for some months now, is now immeasurably enriched for me in the comparison. Bravo Eau du Soir, and thank you, beautiful Bandit, for the felicitous rapprochement! Update - funny how people who loathe it think the bottle is pretty. I love the scent but think the bottle is astonishingly tacky (yucko plastic something-or-other, a gilded unpleasantness you would find on the pavement). Maybe Sisley spent all its development money on the juice and only had enough left for extruded plastic.

This is a classic, averagely sharp, green-floral-honeyed chypre of great sophistication that shows some similarities with the more earthy and aromatic  but less fruity-floral Aromatics Elixir which with Eau du Soir  shares many basic ingredients and a timeless elegance. The fragrance is heavy on moss, juniper, hesperides, obviously on flowers and musk. The combination of citrus, rose, juniper, ylang-ylang, a touch of honey, musk-moss and iris sets that sort of barely mild, soapy, almost neutral and opaque laundry atmosphere that is a tangy facet of the fragrance and constitutes a base on which the chord of rose, deeply floral syringa, jasmine, patchouli and iris roots  a tremendously  luxurious, discreet and womanly floral trail that turns out the  fragrance so famous and well valued among the women all over the world. Some well calibrated animal notes as ambergris , honey and cistus stress the spark of the  attractiveness while a complex spicy heart with a dominant note of pepper  stabilizes the level of sharpness and enhances the general depth and luxuriousness without instilling pungency while rooting a barrage to arrest the mellifluence. Some woody notes set stableness and balance. The outcome is a very classy smell of chic high class women full of charm and taste.