1969 Parfum de Révolte (2001)
by Histoires de Parfums

Light, soft peach opening that is made even more gentle by the light musk the fruitiness of this inhabits. Nothing loud or artificial about this: in fact, I find it a bit too gentle. It settles down to a skin scent rather quickly, despite my generous application of 4-5 sprays. The background is certainly darker but the notes themselves are too muted: there is chocolate there, but I'm not detecting much in the way of clove or coffee. It's 1969: social change is in the air, there's an element of revolt across cities and universities throughout the country...and this inoffensive, light and fruity scent is its embodiment? C'mon.

On the drydown, a dusty patchouli comes to the scene to accentuate the floral elements. Cardamom (seeds I'm guessing, not oil) come out as well to sweeten/darken at the same time, add a bit of spice. But this is all very faint, I'm down to a skin scent here within an hour. Projection is poor, as is longevity. We're talking a few hours at most.

$80 for 2 ounces seems like far too much: has a few interesting turns but is barely noticeable, not at all what I would expect from a scent hoping to embody a pivotal date/time across the country (and the world).

5/10

A delightfully explosive opening gives way to a kind of musty fruit smell. As with many of the Histoires de Parfums releases, it suffers from a kind of fuzziness in its construction. There's a frustrating imprecision to 1969's effects.

Creamy, nearly soapy fruits. Fruit as it would smell through a sheer, linen cloth. Muted fruit maybe? Mild rose. Mellow flowers. What I enjoy about this is the cardamom, clove, and patchouli notes. While chocolate and coffee bits throw themselves on the pile of goodness. At times I am reminded of a liqueur or cognac. Pretty good stuff here.

This is one of the more exciting fragrances I've tried from Histoires de Parfums. It has a nice peach note.

I wouldn't expect everyone to like this. The opening feels like it could go either way. I had flashes of No. 19 edp (the powdery opening blast that can almost be too much), and 4160 Tuesdays, including ones I like such as What Katie Did on Friday Night.

I like how this develops. I'm not detecting overused ingredients (aroma chemicals), which I was getting in the base of 1899 Ernest Hemingway. This smells like a quality fragrance as it develops, tasty and alluring.

A strong floral juice that leans feminine with nothing of note to my nose that would lead me to wear this again. Slightly sweet fruity florals at the start... this continues through out the scent for me. I don't get any of the clove nor coffee with this. I do get some patchouli and chocolate vibe but not like a nice chocolate... either way this is a try before you buy IMO...