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Ever wanted to know how a straight chypre smells like? Try Aromatics Elixir.

post #1 of 25
6/10/11 at 7:49pm
Thread Starter 
Chypres are defined as the product of blending oakmoss, patchouli and rose. Today, at a perfume course, we went over this accord and we tried these oils separately in blotters. Once getting the description of these three, we joined the blotters in order to get an idea of what a chypre is... and there it was, Aromatics Elixir.

In the case of chypres, sometimes some notes are added in order to enhance top or base notes. Thus, even though Cabochard is classified as a leather scent, the point it can be considered a chypre due to the presence of roses, oakmoss and patchouly. Well, a chypre in disguise, that is. In the case of Aromatics Elixir, all you get is a straightforward chypre.

I really like this last one, but the blend does feel quite butch-like. The roses might give it a lighter feeling, but the oakmoss and the patchouli are sure responsible for its manly character. This left me wonder about the original Chypre by Coty... I could not imagine women of the early XX century wearing this, unless it were with the sole intention of hiding some odours. Or, given the case, Mr. Coty enhancing some floral notes.
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post #2 of 25
6/10/11 at 8:29pm
Pollux, this has been a real treasure from Clinique.

It's an "older" scent and not a lot of young women like this, but it's great for men and sophisticated women.

Cabochard is also sold as a feminine but worn by many men.
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post #3 of 25
6/10/11 at 8:47pm
Thanks pollux,

Most schools in France would be interested to hear that. As well as Jean Kerleo (Osmotheque), and many others.

Since the creation of Francois Coty's fragrance called Chypre de Coty (1917), the term chypre has always been defined as an accord of bergamot-labdanum-oakmoss. Some like to add patchouli to those three, but according to Francois Coty, who's fragrance Chypre de Coty defined the genre, it was never part of the basic accord. For him the the accord was always bergamot-labdanum-oakmoss, and most of the French schools have always taught it that way. Coty even gathered the oakmoss himself in the forest of Fontainebleau, to be sure to get the quality he was looking for.

Or, another way of saying it: There were several compositions going back to the 1200‘s that used bergamot, labdanum, and possibly oakmoss. But it wasn’t until Francois Coty made a fragrance called Chypre de Coty (1917) that the term chypre was coined. " “Chypre was based on a three component accord so perfect that it remains unsurpassed and fertile in new developments ninety years later: bergamot, labdanum, and oakmoss. They smell respectively citrus-resinous, sweet-amber-resionous, and bitter-resinous. Picture them as equal sectors making up a pie chart, sticking to each other via the resin. The resulting genre, now called chypre, has two fundamental qualities: balance and abstraction.” Francois Coty talked about it a lot. The accord has always been bergamot-labdanum-oakmoss. Many people want to include patchouli and other notes, but they have been supporting notes, never a part of the original accord. New chypres are a different story, often substituting the oakmoss with more vetiver, patchouli, spices, etc in order to create the effect. 31 Rue Cambon (Chanel) is probably the best example. There are green chypres, floral chypres, leather chypres, citrus chypres, fruity chypres, etc.

AE is excellent but more of a dry woods green floral chypre. For a pure (mossy woods) chypre I'd suggest Chypre de Coty, vintage Mitsouko (pre-2005), older bottles of Pour Monsieur, Acqua di Parma Profumo, and Knowing (Lauder), to name a few.

AE is one killer fragrance, though. It's easily one of best chypres, it's still excellent, and it's one of the best things you can ever smell on a woman. It's too bad more of them don't wear it.
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post #4 of 25
6/10/11 at 8:53pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks Pluran! The way it smelt was not what I expected of a blend dating form the early XX century. Still, I will do some research as for its definition. I will post as soon as I can.
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post #5 of 25
6/10/11 at 9:27pm
Very interesting and informative.
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post #6 of 25
6/10/11 at 9:53pm
I don't like that many feminine scents much, but I think that Aromatics Elixir is very good.
How would the masculine version, Aramis 900, rate in your chypre analysis?
Regards,
Renato
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post #7 of 25
6/11/11 at 4:34am
Thread Starter 
Renato, no idea: a kind fellow BNoter sent me his bottle but it seems someone working in the postal system thinked it was darned good so it never arrived. Maybe someone else can give as an account of how it is like...

Hednic, thanks! I have to confess, I was awed at the similarities.
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post #8 of 25
6/11/11 at 7:21am
Very interesting ! The smell of Oakmoss in Chypres is one of my favoties notes , ...... amazing !!

Aromatics Elixir , Aramis , Mitsouko , Vol de Nuit ...

not chypres but lovely oakmoos Annick Goutal Eau de Monsieur , Hermes Eau d Orange Verte ...

some interesting Chypre recipes : whitelotusaromatics
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post #9 of 25
6/11/11 at 7:52am
Yes, try Aromatics Elixir, young Basenoters, and then run away screaming from the chypre genre, never to return! Bwah hah hah! Your powdery Gaultier masculines won't save you now!

Aromatics Elixir don't play, kids. This stuff is for advanced students only. And your grandmother, who took the prerequisite (ie. wearing chypres since she was a teenager).
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post #10 of 25
6/11/11 at 8:52am
Aromatics Elixir is the first perfume I ever bought, about 10 years ago, when I didn't know anything about perfume and wanted something to wear to the opera and other "dress up" occasions. I still have it, but haven't resniffed it since I started my new perfume obsession a few months ago. I have no memory of how I got it, except that I probably just went to the Clinique counter since that's where I got my makeup and skin care at the time, and I knew I didn't want something called "Happy", so that was probably the only other option. I was certainly the definition of "unsophisticated" as far as perfume is concerned, and I probably just thought it smelled "perfumey", which is what I was looking for. Now that I read BN, I'm kind of scared to sniff it again.
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post #11 of 25
6/11/11 at 9:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Renato View Post

... I think that Aromatics Elixir is very good ...

I agree.
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post #12 of 25
6/11/11 at 10:31am
Don't fear the AE! Just hang in there past the initial aldehyde slap in the face.

My husband's love-on-first-sniff favorites are Angel and AE. He's not an advanced perfumisto but he is a great cook...these things are related.

I'm not a grandmother but I am just old enough to remember that mass market perfume didn't always smell like candy, laundry soap and nothing.
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post #13 of 25
6/11/11 at 6:48pm
Thread Starter 
IMHO, something strange happens with AE: it is a bold scent that might make the wearer uncomfortable (patchouli and oakmoss is truly a "punchy" combination) but it smells quite well as per the opinions of others. This is what happens when I wear it - first impression is "I cannot wear THIS", which is completely changed when people compliment on it.
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post #14 of 25
6/12/11 at 2:33am
I like chypres, but AE is one of the few chypres I really hate with a passion. Go figure.
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post #15 of 25
6/12/11 at 7:08am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugandaraja View Post

I like chypres, but AE is one of the few chypres I really hate with a passion. Go figure.

Sugar, you are entitled: the first time I tried it I had the feeling that it was way too much. Not an easy one, really. Still, I do know I have weird tastes, and when it comes to perfume... this is even more so.
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post #16 of 25
6/12/11 at 2:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugandaraja View Post

I like chypres, but AE is one of the few chypres I really hate with a passion. Go figure.

I can't stand it either. Smelling this fragrance makes me shudder. I actually saw it at a discount shop, and on purpose, moved it to a bottom shelf and hid it. I want no one to wear it in my city.

That being said, I do find the knowledge this thread brings forward about chypres to be interesting. Thanks Pollux.
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post #17 of 25
6/12/11 at 4:08pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Surfacing View Post

I can't stand it either. Smelling this fragrance makes me shudder. I actually saw it at a discount shop, and on purpose, moved it to a bottom shelf and hid it. I want no one to wear it in my city.

That being said, I do find the knowledge this thread brings forward about chypres to be interesting. Thanks Pollux.

Well, a better move would be to buy them all and burn the whole stock, LOL. Thank you for your keen sense of humour!
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post #18 of 25
6/14/11 at 6:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by subhuman85 View Post

Yes, try Aromatics Elixir, young Basenoters, and then run away screaming from the chypre genre, never to return! Bwah hah hah! Your powdery Gaultier masculines won't save you now!

Aromatics Elixir don't play, kids. This stuff is for advanced students only. And your grandmother, who took the prerequisite (ie. wearing chypres since she was a teenager).

Totally agree. That stuff is admirable but IMO a tad unwearable.
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post #19 of 25
6/14/11 at 6:22pm
My mom's best friend (a woman in her 50's) has worn Aromatics Elixir for years and I personally find it too overbearing.

That being said, you may very well enjoy it, but it's not for me, and I agree that an exemplary chypre would be vintage Mitsouko or Chanel Pour Monsieur.

The Perfumed Court sells decants of Chypre de Coty in all concentrations. I plan to get a decant soon.
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post #20 of 25
6/15/11 at 4:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pluran View Post

Thanks pollux,

Most schools in France would be interested to hear that. As well as Jean Kerleo (Osmotheque), and many others.

Since the creation of Francois Coty's fragrance called Chypre de Coty (1917), the term chypre has always been defined as an accord of bergamot-labdanum-oakmoss. Some like to add patchouli to those three, but according to Francois Coty, who's fragrance Chypre de Coty defined the genre, it was never part of the basic accord. For him the the accord was always bergamot-labdanum-oakmoss, and most of the French schools have always taught it that way. Coty even gathered the oakmoss himself in the forest of Fontainebleau, to be sure to get the quality he was looking for.

Or, another way of saying it: There were several compositions going back to the 1200s that used bergamot, labdanum, and possibly oakmoss. But it wasnt until Francois Coty made a fragrance called Chypre de Coty (1917) that the term chypre was coined. " Chypre was based on a three component accord so perfect that it remains unsurpassed and fertile in new developments ninety years later: bergamot, labdanum, and oakmoss. They smell respectively citrus-resinous, sweet-amber-resionous, and bitter-resinous. Picture them as equal sectors making up a pie chart, sticking to each other via the resin. The resulting genre, now called chypre, has two fundamental qualities: balance and abstraction. Francois Coty talked about it a lot. The accord has always been bergamot-labdanum-oakmoss. Many people want to include patchouli and other notes, but they have been supporting notes, never a part of the original accord. New chypres are a different story, often substituting the oakmoss with more vetiver, patchouli, spices, etc in order to create the effect. 31 Rue Cambon (Chanel) is probably the best example. There are green chypres, floral chypres, leather chypres, citrus chypres, fruity chypres, etc.

AE is excellent but more of a dry woods green floral chypre. For a pure (mossy woods) chypre I'd suggest Chypre de Coty, vintage Mitsouko (pre-2005), older bottles of Pour Monsieur, Acqua di Parma Profumo, and Knowing (Lauder), to name a few.

AE is one killer fragrance, though. It's easily one of best chypres, it's still excellent, and it's one of the best things you can ever smell on a woman. It's too bad more of them don't wear it.


Pluran is, as usual, right on target.
However, I would add that pefumes with the name chypre are much older. This is from David G Williams' superb book Perfumes Of Yesterday (Micelle Press 2004):
"Chypre, the French name for the island of Cyprus, was also, according to Piesse and other authors, the name given to a toilet water called Eau de Chypre brought to Europe by soldiers returning from the crusades at the end of the 12th century. All trace of this perfume and its formula were, however, lost and so its composition remains a matter of conjecture." (p.240)

"In the fourteenth century, a kind of incense, or fuimigating composition....known as "oyselets de chypre" became popular and it is known that these were prepared by mixing powdered calamus root and heating it with labdanum and styrax.....at the end of the fourteenth century, Oak Moss was added to the formula, and with this modification came the first step in the direction of the definitive Chypre-type perfumes of the twentieth century."(p.241)

He then goes on to discuss the coty fragrance and the subsequent family of fragrances inspired by it.
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post #21 of 25
10/30/11 at 8:25am
This post was hilarious!!
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post #22 of 25
10/30/11 at 8:29am
PS...I was referring to subhuman85's post.
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post #23 of 25
10/30/11 at 9:08am
I love AE; I have the parfum version. It really does start out like a bull-in-the-china-shop. But if applied judiciously, and given some time to settle, it's a thing of wonder.
Has anyone out there tried this new, limited edition version? It might be easier on the nose:
Aromatics Elixir Perfumer's Reserve uses cutting-edge molecular distillation technology from Grasse’s Laboratoire Monique Rémy to create a fresher, smoother, modern interpretation of Bernard Chant’s original. Rose, jasmine, myrrh and patchouli notes are cleaner, lighter, with a contemporary transparency. The addition of orange flower absolute and peach lends a creamy luminosity. The fragrance’s intoxicating sillage becomes tender, subdued, described as a whisper rather than a shout.
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post #24 of 25
10/30/11 at 7:44pm
Haven't tried the new version but I bought Aromatics Elixier EDT & Parfum and like them both a lot. I think it's great to have a relatively inexpensive 'straight up' reference chypre still available when the whole genre is now more or less 'illegal' thanks to IFRA.

I like oakmoss based stuff, I know a lot of people don't and that's fine, but it irks me a bit that the term 'chypre' is so loosely applied to newer stuff coming out that just isn't even close.

P.S. I wonder if the blurb for the new one is a nice way of saying 'we are reformulating and this is the new version'?
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post #25 of 25
10/31/11 at 3:54am
To get the whole story from the Bernard Chant's AE you have try the male counterpart he created with Aramis 900.
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