Group is closed -- 3 discontinued perfume decants to pass around

Very generous of you and exteremely thoughtful! Thanks for such an opportunity.

Me, please? Still the same address, in IA.

Oh..I have just read this thread !I would like to participate in this!
Would you mind shipping in Greece?
I like Annick Goutal's perfumes

I'm in please! Thank you so much! How wonderful of you!

Me, too, please 30 roses. Love to try these! Thank you....

I'd LOVE to participate. Thank you for your generosity.

Meeeeeeeeeeeeeee, PM-ing my address ok?

Yes please, me too.

I'll play if you still have room. I live just outside Nashville.

Sent from my SPH-M900 using Tapatalk

Newbie here and I would like to participate and will follow the rules.

Not here yet, but bumping the whole thread up for early next week when they will have arrived.

Will let you all know if and when.

Thanks for the excellent followup communications.
Most important of all: have fun!

Sorry, this week has been crazily busy for me and hot too. I have received the samples on August 3rd and picked them up on the 4th. I wore vintage Lanvin Arpege parfum yesterday and Annick Goutal Des Lys today for work. None of these two are new to me, but they were both delightful.

30R.'s Arpege is nicely preserved (as opposed to mine) and through the aldehydes and greens, it is very enveloping and fuzzy even, thick but not burdensome. One has to appreciate aldehydes to fully let it develop on one's skin and mine bears aldehydes well. Arpege is complex and multilayered just like older Worth Je Reviens, but greener and with more white florals. At different stages of its wear I was catching the whiffs of lilacs, tuberose, ylang-ylang and jasmine, but they are not very straighforward /in your face (Jardins de Bagatelle, #22 even) rather as seen through the light green gauze scarf. Very nice.

Des Lys -- I have e-mailed the company and they have not responded yet. I have been a proud owner of F.Malle Lys Mediterrainee until last week, and I thought FM was "it" as for the lilies. There are other lily scents around, but SL Un Lys is not for me. Mediterrainee is all about watercolors and freshness, Des Lys -- in its turn -- is like a botanical chart of a sweet lily with fruity undertones.

I will write more in a bit, gotta go right now.

Twolf, thank you so much for great and considerate reviews! You got me salivating now about vintage Arpege. I love aldehydes and they seem to love me back for the most part (with a notable exception of Chanel #5, and I suspect something else might be at work there), so vintage Arpege sounds lovely to me by all counts! Have great fun with these!

Many different reviewers seem to compare and liken Arpege with Chanel #5. Not me, though. They can't be more different, IMHO. Aprege is warm, suede-like and full-bodied, #5 is cooler, haughtier and sweeter. Many people also speak about powderiness (Je Reviens, Soir de Paris) or squeaky cleanliness (White Linen) imposed by the aldehydes, but none of these two can be found in vintage Arpege. There are also well-pronounced nuances of dried roses and soft sandalwood-vetiver in the dryout. It lasts all day and on the clothes -- after the laundry.

Amouage Gold, you said? There was a thread a few weeks ago where I wrote that I definitely find it similar to Madame Rochas, which is quirkier and better overall. Now that I smell your vintage Arpege and Gold, I definitely see some notes overlapping, although with very little sameness, whereas both Guy Robert's fragrances -- for Amouage and Rochas -- are surely related.

Nettie Rosenstein Odalisque (1946). I kept putting off and off reviewing it, I wanted to get my homework done first. Once on our SotD thread I described it as "big, no huge". Odalisque (having nothing to do with the fragrance of the same name by Patricia de Nicolai) is endlessly various and fascinating in its forms, complex, and uses eminent quality igredients. It feels good to feel so good again in a nice smelling, American produced, superbly preserved fragrance that you do not have to finally adapt to and make do with. Odalisque is flamboyant and radiantly beautiful. It loves my skin and my chemistry, I would like to hope.

Several indepth thoughts:

1) Nettie Rosenstein herself -- there is an article on Wikipedia and a few other links to other articles (one being from The New Yorker magazine) at the footnote of that Wikipedia article. Everything is new to me, every piece of information. Who was she? An Austrian immigrant who tried to poplularize M'lle Coco's idea of la petite robe noire with the American upper crust -- mind you, not your working masses. She succeeded too until the year 1961 when she withdrew herself from dress making and concentrated on making jewelry and purses. "Miss Rosie" was never a woman to miss a trend, they pointed out.

2) My next step was to find out about Nettie's fragrances in general. There is a nice lady and a BN member who writes perfume guides for eBay under the name of Cleopatra's Boudoir, and on her page there are four fragrances listed:
-- 1946 After Hours,
-- 1946 Odalisque,
-- 1948 Tianne (still available online "for men and women", although heavily reformulated I suspect),
-- 1961 Fleurs d'Elle.
There are no notes or noses listed.

3) What can't one buy on eBay these days? The real Odalisque prices vary, but there is always NellButtler with $135 per 1oz. and higher for larger amounts. What shook my world was the quantities of Odalisque magazine advertisements with the photograph of a nude model (right after the end of WW2, gasp!) basking in the sun on the seashore. How could that be possible? There is another print ad -- more modest this time where the model is dressed in a bathing suit, and this one is from 1948.

4) There is a nice writeup about Odalisque in general on ParfumeSmellingThings, by Donna, dated Dec.03, 2008 -- she goes on and on how rich this fragrance is and how it made her smell like a million dollars. Together with another favorite fragrance of hers -- care to guess? (or go to PST and check it yourself)

4) Among other Basenoters, only three or four people tested it -- 30R., Q., Brielle and that's about it. In Q.'s Tested section of the Wardrobe I found a list of notes (same as on the fragranceshop.com site). My know-it-all Estonian source did not have it in their database: Lavender, jasmine, rose, carnation, lily of the valley, cedar, tonka, musk, sandal.
You guys got any questions thus far? I have!

With a set of notes like this (fougere? floral? semi-oriental?) Odalisque can fall into each or several of categories. Lavender, however, on this skin, had a very brief but prominent duration -- together with the dirty scank of civet, underlayer of softest vetiver and almost unfathomable caress of incense (notice how these three do not appear in the semi-official pyramid?) -- and it is done in a lower octave and warmer manner, not your high-pitched and soapy lavender of, say Jicky. I wore Odalisque twice -- one spray for one day and two sprays for another day -- so are the rules, correct? -- and both wears lead me to believe that it belongs to Floral Category, green floral with chypresque tendencies (no rockrose or oakmoss to be a chypre). It is smooth and solid with hyacinth stems, green leaves, raspiness of wood and, moreover, lacking that bell-like clarity that many florals manifest. There is an undeniable rose-jasmine-lily of the valley trio here, but -- once again -- done warmly and in the lower register which gives incredible soul to the whole composition (deep, dark, soulful florals of Clinique Aromatics Elixir came decades later). Musk -- and many of you know I do not "do" most musks -- is easy here, as muffled by sandalwood, vetiver and incense.

If I were to compare Odalisque to any fragrances I know, it would be early Diors (remember, Nettie did not miss a trend -- florals of Miss Dior, opoponax of L'Heure Attendue or vetiver of Ma Griffe?). But it is a solid and overlooked fragrance in its own gorgeous self.

If I were to find a musical background to it, it would be Lisa Gerrard's Sanvean (idioglossia, anyone? in contralto dramatico? ), it is on YouTube, very available and very free.

Odalisque -- historically and culturally trapped in the myth of her lustrous beauty -- beguiles. She remains elusive. As always.

Twolf, when it comes my time to sample these, I'm just going to write... "What she said." And I will feel infinitely smarter than I actually am.

Glad you are enjoying my thoughts and experiences.

Planning to put the package in the mail today -- I know it is a bit earlier than the rules, but I hope other people would do the same while the moment is fresh and the interest is high. I will also put in another 5ml decant of a discontinued scent that had never been very popular to start with -- it is in Brielle's Wardrobe, BTW -- Prince Henri D'Orleans Lys Bleu, so that you guys can sniff the two discontinued lilies side by side.

Thanks, TWolf! If you mail the package today, it will fit perfectly in my schedule. I will be away for a week of August 17th and then back home again for the week of August 23 and then off again! So, I will have a chance to receive the package while I am still home and mail it forward either before going or after coming back, either way won't take me more than three weeks.

And thanks for including another lily! I love sniffing things side by side, thanks for giving all of us this opportunity!

Dear Group,
today is August 13th and I am holding in my hands a beautiful package. I am pretty smelly right now and I want to be sure that none other perfume interferes with these rare discontinued fragrances. I will start sampling and posting my thoughts and impressions.

I am excited! Thank you again for a rare opportunity, 30 Roses, and thank you TWolf for adding an extra decant and TLC!

I will not be able to post for several days starting from today, so I want to give my initial thoughts of the rare/discontinued/vintage beauties I was able to try thanks to this group project.

I apologize in advance about an eh... elusive nature of my reviews -- these are based on one spray on my arm, so they are more like first impressions rather than a serious investigation.

I will be back in a week and will mail the package further. Sorry can't do it now before leaving, but I haven't tried Odalisque yet.

Vintage Arpege - what a quiet and understated start for a floral aldehyde! My first thought was: does it really have aldehydes? Usually aldehydes in top notes give me an instant lift, a jump, a glass of champagne as a sign that a celebration has started. With vintage Arpege I was sniffing my arm wondering, "when it's going to start?" It didn't, not immediately, that is. This was like a garden party in a dream -- sniffing, I felt as if I lift the veil over a picture, stared intently at the picture to find out what's there... and I didn't notice when I became inside the picture, in a flower garden, smelling a delicate bouquet of flowers as someone else said on the BN forums "flowers preserved in aldehydes". Oh yes. This is a floral aldehyde alright. The flower bouquet was beautiful, delicate, invoking tenderness and reflection, not passion. This is a second flower bouquet that works for me. Other florals like Jardins de Bagatelle or Quelques Fleurs l'Original are harder for me to pull off because they give off a smoky/tobacco leaf note which makes the flower bouquet larger than life and certainly bigger than me. Arpege is a bouquet of the right size for me, and it does not dissolve in my skin the way Fleurs de Rocaille does. It remains itself, here's me, here's my bouquet. It lasted a whole day on me (usually I don't have problems with lasting power) and I could smell a beautiful lily of the valley note in it.

It is gorgeous. Now I am interested in everything about it -- how the new one is different from the vintage, and yes, I will be keeping my eye on it.

I wore a spritz of Des Lys and Lys Bleu on each arm and compared. This was a lot of fun! They are unmistakably lilies, but they are two very different lilies, both a true artistic renditions. I guess if I were to give a prize for art and originality, I'd gave it to Lys Bleu, but if I were giving a prize for natural beauty, Des Lys would get it. They are amazingly different. Des Lys is a fresh garden lily growing in a dewy forest, its smell mingles with cut grasses. Bleu Lys is a lily whose smell fills up a baroque boudoir, curtains, sweet powders, sweets and a little bit of human presence dominate the smell of the flower at first. But when Des Lys disappears from my skin (very quickly for me) Lys Bleu comes into its true Liy stage. At that point the lily note is gorgeous! It hits the bulls eye and it touches the heart.

Both of them are so worth exploring more! I would wear my remaining two spritzes of each by themselves to appreciate them for what they are rather than comparing.

It was a true joy to discover these new fragrances, I never tried any one of the four.

Thank you, W.! I really enjoyed your comparison of the two lilies -- you said the words that were on the tip of my tongue but never materialized -- and also, we must have similar skin for these two lilies -- you and I.

Could you please inform me who has the decants right now and whose turn is for having them next?
Thank you

Right now they are at Warum's, and she is still on vacation (as per #36). According to a 3 week rule, she can have them until September 03 -- and then forward them on to coopmom.

I would also ask everybody to speed the whole thing up and to NOT use the whole three alotted weeks -- I have been involved in a few Group Activities where people lose interest and patience because the whole holding time was becoming too long.

Thank you Twolf
Hope everyone 's hurry up and we all have the chance to try them very soon...3 weeks is a long time..it will take me 10-14 days ,i think

I promise to sample and send them on quickly when they get to me.

I just had a chance to sit down and read the reviews so far. I have a sample of the modern Arpege, so it will be interesting to compare them. I'm afraid my reviews won't be up to par with Twolf and Warum!

Sent from my SPH-M900 using Tapatalk

Don't worry about "up to par" thingie -- neither me, nor W. is a native speaker of English and you think we do not worry? -- just jot down your thoughts and impression and try to organize them as you type here, OK?

30 Roses,
perfect timing!
The package is in the mail right now. I am sorry I could only mail it today, but I've been away, then my husband got sick (alright now) and we're both leaving. So to make sure that there is no further delay I sent the package priority with a selivery confirmation. I will PM the number to coopmom and will be back to write about Odalisque later.

Thank y'all for being so patient!

TTT for coopmom in case there is any news in her mailbox.

Warum received the package on the 13th of August, so it has been more than three weeks. Just saying.

Sorry guys, new job is cramping my style here....I will be mailing to Sophi probably by the 1st of next week, and will let you all know when the package is out of my hands. Thanks for your patience!

Do you like any of them? Do they remind you of anything you have tried before? Will you be looking forward to trying other discontinued scents or searching for any of these four on eBay?

Actually, I haven't had a chance to try the lillies yet - I'm going to sample those this weekend.

But the Arpege was interesting - not for me, I don't think, but I'm glad I had the chance to try it. It was pleasant...but it wasn't a "wow" for me. In general, I'm not a big fan of the aldehyde-type fragrance. I've re-read both Twolf's and Warum's reviews as I'm writing this, and I feel kinda cheated that I didn't get that same experience!

But the Odalisque.....now that was a wow. I never knew what people meant when they said "skanky" until now. I definitely got . skanki-ness in the middle of the fragrance. Apparently I've either never smelled the civet before, or didn't know what it was I was smelling....but my education is definitely progressing! I really liked the way things went from one stage to another. I also learned I don't like civet. In both fragrances, I enjoyed the dry-down the best, but I like sandalwood a lot, so that figures.

So there you go. A beginner's very brief review of the ones I've tried so far. I don't think I can say (as I promised Twolf I would) "what she said", because my experience was different - but I'm really glad 30 Roses allowed me to learn some more. That's why I enjoy this craziness so much!

Thank you for your account!

Civet -- or any animalic element -- is acquired taste (remember, we have a BNer with the nickname IHateCivet), I still have not come to terms with too much musk in everything after sniffing many fragrances, it is like caviar -- nobody is born in love with raw, salted and greasy fish eggs. That said, I adore civet as support to floral or fruity elements, especially if paired with cedar or sandal.

I mailed the samples to Sophi this afternoon.

I spent a day sampling the lily fragrances in the package. Now, even though my avatar is a lovely lily from my yard, I generally like to look at them a lot more than I like to smell them. So it was with trepidation that I sat down to pay attention to what I was gettint from these two. Des Lys was dry, not too sweet, and somehow cool. I wish it had lasted longer, but it was fairly fleeting. Lys Bleu, however was sweeter, and much longer lasting. Sadly, Des Lys was over before Lys Bleu really got started. Of the 2, I liked Des Lys better, but both were lovely. I didn't expect to enjoy these as much as I did! In fact I may even join the email campaign to bring Des Lys back.

Thank you again, 30 Roses for the opportunity to try these beauties, and to Twolf for contributing to my education as well. It was a delight.

You are welcome and thanks for finding time and reporting. Special thanks for having mailed them out after less than a week of hosting them, like pointed out before -- interest fades with too much time anticipating. And then again, wanting is better than having, they say.....

Hugs!