Violette Précieuse Caron 1913

Erneste Daltroff was a man known for his special sense and appreciation for beauty and the extraordinary. When he founded the perfume house Caron in 1904, not only did the era of a great perfume house begin, but also a story of love! Yes, because his love for the talented fashion designer Felicie Wanpouille plays a significant role in the development of Caron perfumes. Felicie was Erneste's precious muse and strongly influenced him with her unique ideas. Together, they created true masterpieces of scent and design. Each individual perfume from Caron is marked by events of this love. Thus, some names of Caron perfumes express a very specific mood of the two, shaped by the spirit of the times of their respective creative periods.
Why am I sharing this?
"Violette Précieuse" is an important part of this story, as this fragrance is a declaration of love!
Ernest Daltroff designed it in 1913 as a homage to his love for Felicie Wanpouille. Fascinated and touched by her unique charm, he created this fragrance based on violets, ...for the violet stands as an imperial flower for secret great love.
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"Violette Précieuse" is a typical violet scent from the old perfumer school. Here, the violet is in the foreground in every respect. All other ingredients are merely there to accompany and support the beauty of this flower in the background, balancing the delicate bloom from the top note to the base note. Now one might think this is yet another monotonous, boring violet scent that, while nice, still smells far too tame and is no longer wearable after the age of 17. But this is far from the truth, because while "Violette Précieuse" may be a soliflore based on violets, it is neither boring nor too tame. The violet starts off a bit musty for a moment, only to then bloom in all its fullness. A brief passage through the moss and before me, in the heart, a whole violet forest blooms on my skin, strong and radiant. Violets, wherever I sniff, violets in their most beautiful bloom! The base lingers with a balsamic-spicy finish for many hours, without losing the lovely charm of the small violet flowers…
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Conclusion:
I am a fan of violets and therefore somewhat biased.
"Violette Précieuse" dances completely out of the line of my beloved Caron fragrances, and thus I do not recognize a typical "Caronade." Nevertheless, it is the most beautiful violet scent I know. With a soliflore of this quality, I personally do not need an experimentally striking or adventurous scent progression, but rather focus on what matters: the beauty of the violet bloom. Simple yet unmistakable!
How did Simmel put it again? “It doesn’t always have to be caviar!”
This homage to love in the olfactorily pure and unadulterated form of the violet bloom is a compliment to my skin.
Thank you, Erneste!
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After the love between Erneste and Felicie unfortunately breaks apart, their shared story continues to live on in their extraordinary fragrances to this day...
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Violette Précieuse was reinterpreted in 2006. I would love to know how the original from 1913 smelled!