26 June SotDD #1 1880's

Oh I actually have a couple of the list!!!!! Two of the Crowns.

Crowns in samples and JICKY in EDT and PDT.
Hope it will be Jicky!!!

Jicky is my only choice too - but I love it, and I have never been in any situation where it was out of place, so that's allright.

I'll get a problem next month though, as I have absolutely no fragrances from the 1890's... [smiley=shocked.gif]

It has to be Jicky for me too [smiley=smiley.gif]

Looks like there's gonna be a cloud of Jicky hanging in the air! [smiley=vrolijk_1.gif]

JAG

Dorthea,
I've already started looking at the scents of the 1890's, and it looks like we'll all be in the same boat: we'll sort it out then (and I'll get out my bottle of Roger & Gallet Lavande Royale, since I can't find my sample of Eau du Coq. [smiley=wink.gif])

Jicky for me too, being the only one I have from the list.

I believe I may have a Crown sample whose beginning falls within our first Scents of the Decade Day timeframe; however, one spritz of Jicky and I knew I'd wear it today.

My first brief sampling of Jicky over two years ago was unremarkable -- I simply thought it soapy and very synthetic or artificial smelling, and very fleeting. I also thought it a little "too fougere" for me at the time. Curiosity got the best of me over time and I ordered a bottle. As it turns out, Jicky is quite amazing to me. For me it opens very citrusy, lemon and lavender being the first notes I notice; then there is a hint of some spicy-ness and finally a powdery sweetness. That's a simplification of a most unsimple fragrance. I find it elegant and refined and I find it sporty and fun; like Tig said, "... never out of place, no matter when and where you wear it."

Like moonlight and love songs, Jicky is never out of date, though someone sampling it for the very first time today may think it so. For those new to the world of fragrance, if you don't care for Jicky on first sampling, I suggest you put it away for a few months and try it again. I love Jicky. More importantly I love me for loving Jicky. I'm so proud of myself for not dismissing this fabulous creation. I'm so grateful to Tig and others who would continually list Jicky on their favorites or greatest fragrances lists -- a puzzlement to me, of course, but it kept my curiosity aroused.

Aime Guerlain rocked the perfume world with this historical creation. Jicky rocked mine.


Many thanks to Fufu for her fabulous idea of historical scents day, and many thanks to Tig for putting it all together! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Crown PerfumeryÂs Eau de Quinine

An initial, intense blast of what indeed reminds me of Quinine water. Â*Then add some citrus and IÂm thinking of a souped-up 4711 at opening. Â*It gets refreshing right away and IÂm already congratulating myself on my choice for this hot and sticky day in the Northeast. Â*It has simplicity to it- not overly fussy or complex. Â*A lemon/lavender, nearly Mediterranean composition without the astringency I often associate with Mediterranean-type fragrances. Â*

While I can see the masculine appeal of this one, if I had been around in the 1880Âs, I would have been reaching right over my husband to get at his stash. Â*This one is easily unisex by todayÂs standards. Â*ItÂs sweeter than Eau dÂHadrien and Eau de Patou, yet falls short of moving into Baby Doll territory. Â*There is mostly only what I perceive to be opening and dryout as the heart and dryout are much intermarried in this one. Â*Here, it takes a softly powdery turn- IÂm thinking oakmoss probably with just a pinch of vetiver to ground the composition as the opening lemony notes move quietly into the background.

I find myself unable to wax exceedingly poetic about this one. Â*This scent is straightforward and doesnÂt have any airs or pretense about itself. Â*It knows who it is and presents itself plainly. Â*ItÂs fresh, clean, gentle and simple. Â*A perfect scent for the dog-days of summer, although like many of these cologne-types the lasting power is weak. Â*I like it far better than 4711 as the dryout doesnÂt go Chypre on me. Â*

A hearty Âthank you goes out to Mark, who made this olfactory experience possible for me!

Mark kindly sent me 4 generous samples from his 1880Âs stash. Â*Here are my impressions of them.

At first whiff, all seem like very well behaved, male grooming products.

1. Reve dÂOr being perhaps the most flamboyant of the bunch with its powdered carnation/clove notes. Â*It reminds me of a stronger Malmaison Carnation. Â*While I didnÂt find this one overly garish or stinky, I tend to think of clove perfumes as being more suited to winter time. Â*I donÂt think this one would behave kindly on me in hot weather.

2. The Crown Buckingham is gorgeous, strongly astringent and the most well-bred of the foursome. Â*I notice it has quite the masculine touch. Â*Into the heart it gets strongly soapy and even the dryout still reminds me of a soap and water type of fragrance. Â*It has a coolness and roundness, despite its non-sweet nature. Â*I think of that cliché phrase, ÂJust stepped out of the shower freshness.Â

3. Crown Fougere is perhaps the most masculine of the group with green, sappy and light, gingery notes. Â*The contrast between cool and warm notes makes for an intriguing juxtaposition. Â*The dryout has a plastic smell that I usually associate with tuberose, although I donÂt think I smelled much earlier in here that would make me think this fragrance has tuberose in it. Â*I think I would ultimately prefer smelling this one in cooler weather. Â*

4. Eau de Quinine is the surprise of the group (and the one I chose for the 1880Âs SS Day.) Â*I found myself quite taken with this one. Â*This is how I wanted Jicky to smell on me- soft lemon/lavender with gentle powdery dryout notes. Â*From Quinine I do get lemons and lavender. Â*This is a very familiar smell to me. Â*I find it clean, fresh, soothing but also invigorating. Â*It is the most casual and relaxed fragrance of the bunch. Â*I think I must have smelled this on an older, well groomed gentleman sometime during my youth- it is so familiar to me. Â*IÂm not sure I love it enough to seek out my own bottle, but there is something memory-worthy about this one. Â*I really like it.

First I wanted to put Cerutti 1881 on ;-), since I did not have anything else from the list, but thought better of it and used a couple of drops of Jicky from the bottle found at an estate sale for the whooping 3 dollars! If I try real hard and do all the squeezing and shaking, I will end up with just enough to wear it one more time!

It is different from other Guerlains, yet not in an unpleasant way, just different, I guess. For my nose it is a fragrance for a lady who knows what she is and what she wants from this life. Julia Lambert from Somerset Maugham's "Theatre" would wear it with pride as her everyday signature scent. And yes, I agree that you have to grow into loving it due to its very intricate, although seemingly simple, structure.

On a funny note, I thought I was smelling Jicky on somebody else today, in a store. Well, I mustered up whatever there was to muster, came up to the lady and asked, and no, it was not Jicky. She could not remember the exact name, but said that she got that one as a gift. When she was about to leave, its name "dawned" on her, and she said it is French and the name is Poison. Go figure! :-)

I'm wearing Jicky today for the first time. This has been one that I have wanted to sample for a while but just hadn't run across it yet. The very generous Mark sent me decants of both the PDT and the EDT, with a note explaining the differences. He said the PDT might be a "bit scary" with it's distinctive civet note. Jumping right in, I sprayed the PDT on.

Smelling Jicky is like thinking of a past lover. It's wistful and full of longing, but also it's familar and comforting. It's so achingly beautiful but yet full of hope. Can you tell I'm quite smitten with it?

I am so glad to have the opportunity to find such a timeless gem such as Jicky.

Wow! I can't tell you how gratifying it is to read all your comments!

Key,
I'm so impressed with your reviews! I'm a big fan of Crown's men's line, but I always struggle trying to describe them for others. Borrowing your words: "fresh, clean, gentle and simple": perfect! I love the formal, unpretentious simplicity of many of the older English scents. I've posted several times on the Men's Board that I sometimes feel my "scent appetitite" behaves almost like my "food appetite": a day or two exploring one taste seems to whet my appetite for a contrasting flavor. A scent like Eau de Quinine almost seems to 'cleanse the palate' when I've been wearing too many heavy orientals.

In the past several days, I've sampled several different scents from the 1880's: I wore Crown Fougere as my SOTD yesterday, oversprayed it with Acqua Classica Borsari last night, and wore Jicky today. As much as I love Jicky, it was a little "too much" for me when I was running around this afternoon, and I took a shower when I got home. Of course, that didn't stop me from testing my new bottle of Shalimar Light. [smiley=wink.gif]

And that's what I wanted to write about: not one particular scent, but about the wonderful interconnectedness ([smiley=rolleyes.gif]) of these scents. Acqua Classica Borsari fits right into the great tradition of classic Eaux de Colognes like 4711 and Extra Vieille (except that it's an EdT and really does last longer.) The emphasis is still on lemon, bergamot and neroli, and there are other very old scents from Italy, Spain, France and other parts of the Mediterranean that are very similar. I thought that Houbigant's Fougere Royale was considered the first fougere, but I noticed that the Crown Fougere predates it by one year. If it really is the first fougere, it's the progenitor of all those 'aromatics' that have been such a staple of men's scents for so long. What I think Jicky manages to do is to take these two branches of perfumery and 'hybridize' them to produce something unique. It has the bergamot and rosemary that are hallmarks of an old-fashioned cologne, the lavender and herbal and woody notes that distinguish a fougere, then it adds a bit of tonka bean and even a little vanilla.....but it's not yet an oriental, either. And not only is it an outrageously attractive hybrid, unlike many hybrids, it's sired a dynasty of it's own: for example, Mouchoir de Monsieur is its less flamboyant younger brother. A big dose of vanillin produced the sexy and voluptuous younger (Oriental) sister, Shalimar. Shalimar has recently gotten a baby sister in Shalimar Light: a wonderful new introduction that deserves its own spot in the family gallery (and returns the emphasis to the citrusy notes). And Habit Rouge kicked away the few remaining vestiges of 'fougere' and became the first men's Oriental.

I'm really fortunate that I love the whole family, even the great-uncles and aunts.

I loved all the posts, but I especially want to thank Artisankey for her knock-out reviews of some 'fragrance antiques' and to FufuLarue for getting the ball rolling.

Hey- Thanks Mark and Tigs. It's always a pleasure to review something for the folks on this board.

Wish I could wear Jicky as it seems you all had an enjoyable time wearing it.

Will be interesting to see what the next SSDay will bring. [smiley=happy.gif]

For some reason Jicky has not yet rocked my world. Far be it for me to say what will happen.... Mitsouko was one that didn't do a thing for me until recently. You just NEVER know about those Guerlain's......I have come to greatly appreciate this house and the quality of their perfumes.