It's oh so quiet...shhh, shhh...it's oh so still...shhh, shhh.....
March 2024:
Well, it was on sale so I finally bought a cute (very cute!!) little bottle containing 30 ml. I just wanted to explore this better and for a longer period of time.
It actually is quite pleasant in a strange way. This is what I would call: an abstract kind of scent. I think this is very appropriate for work without it being too dull or unremarkable. The top notes are mesmerizing/confusing/unique (in a good way), then something darker starts which disapears again, reveiling a faint, but still lively, memory of those lovely topnotes. And then it stays that way. I do get that powder everyone is talking about, but it's not the powder as in the 'usual' powdery scents: less sweet and less 'baby-whipe-like' in my opinion. Unless you're someone that prefers the fruity, gourmand or dark, vanilla kind of perfumes, you may like this.
Remember the song from the add long ago?
Well I think that song does justice to the fragrance. I find it a very quiet, polite and modest fragrance. I can't remember the original from the seventies, because I never liked it enough from first spray then to give it a proper try (the adds then were even more beautyful though: very romantic, vintage styled actresses in beautyfully designed old bathrooms and, because of that, I so much wanted to love the fragrance, but I didn't). I tried it today in a shop after al that time and I don't dislike it now. Ofcourse my olfactory preferences have changed or maybe the scent has changed for the better, I'm not able to tell.
In the opening, I smell the LOTV performing like soft and gentle aldehydes and a touch of jasmine and rose and hyacinth, but very faintly so. The drydown is more chypre, but not as 'chypre' as most chypres. It stays quiet all the way.
Nothing is 'bossy' or making a statement here.
I'd say this would be a great 'beginners chypre' actually.
I always loved that bottle and I still do :-)
Here in the Netherlands it can be bought for a song in drugstore chains sometimes,
I won't buy it though, because it doesn't really thrill me.
Thank you for your review. I love your use of the word "modest" to describe it. Perfect.
I too was sure this scent wasn't for me. Like you, I then found an inexpensive and pretty little 30ml bottle, and decided to risk a blind buy.
It is such a classic (albeit confusing, since the OG is sold as Anais Anais (1978) whereas "Anais Anais The Original" came out in 2014. No idea what the Anais Anais version in either EDT or EDP are like).
I agree with you too about the powdery note. The powdery accord in vintage Chanel No. 5 or Shalimar are very different powdery accords than the one in this. I was hesitant to buy this due to its being labeled as so prominently powdery. Thank heavens, it is not. At least, not so aggressively! Just, as you say, a whisper, in the background.
To me, it's mostly a nostalgic spring floral / white floral fragrance. For day / casual wear, spring and summer. Pretty, clean, and fresh in, yes, a modest way.
Thanks Azahar81. I always try (don't always succeed though :-)) to approach fragrances not too unkind because it is just 'my humble opinion' and many others may love it...In this case it wasn't difficult, it actually is not a bad fragrance :-), but just not what I would buy. Have a nice evening!
I too was sure this scent wasn't for me. Like you, I then found an inexpensive and pretty little 30ml bottle, and decided to risk a blind buy.
It is such a classic (albeit confusing, since the OG is sold as Anais Anais (1978) whereas "Anais Anais The Original" came out in 2014. No idea what the Anais Anais version in either EDT or EDP are like).
I agree with you too about the powdery note. The powdery accord in vintage Chanel No. 5 or Shalimar are very different powdery accords than the one in this. I was hesitant to buy this due to its being labeled as so prominently powdery. Thank heavens, it is not. At least, not so aggressively! Just, as you say, a whisper, in the background.
To me, it's mostly a nostalgic spring floral / white floral fragrance. For day / casual wear, spring and summer. Pretty, clean, and fresh in, yes, a modest way.