20 Ks

20 Carats / 20 Quilates

Dana 1933 Parfum

20 Carats EDP opens with what reminds me of the aroma of an Old Fashioned, complete with orange peel and maraschino cherry, eventually transforming into more a cherry tobacco and carnation, seasoned, spiced, and muddled with myrrh and benzoin. Smooth and boozy, this could at first be easily mistaken for a 21st niche style amber perfume, but some of that mid-20th century glamour puss muskiness and mossiness billows through in a way that would be hard to match today.

The dry down is a superb sweet-smoky, tobacco-tinged cinnamon musk, lusty and heady, reminding me of all the aspects of lit a cigarette that is pleasant, aromatic, without the foul-choke-cough inducing aspects—so many buried memories surface any time the smell of cigarettes comes up, as bittersweet as it is. Warm and enveloping, it's less vampy than its sibling Tabu, showing some restraint while responsibly indulging in some hedonism. .

OK, I am sitting here wearing my long OOP bottle of 20 Carats. This contains all of my memories of my grandmother. It was her signature. In fact this was her bottle from the day. She has been gone since 1976, yet somehow she is still around when I sniff my wrist. It strange how scent affects the memory.

Dana was once larger than life. Tabu, 20 Carats, Bolero, Emir, Platine, Canoe and the 1960s hit Ambush were everywhere. Somehow, the house lost its touch and didn't make it through the 1970s. These lost classics were as large as Guerlain, Chanel or Lanvin in the postwar perfume boom. Only Tabu has survived.

With 20 Carats, there is an echo of Tabu. Indeed Dana had its own "Guerlainade". There is this tactile, "boozy" accent that runs though these classics. Looking at the notes, this would be marketed as unisex today. Its a rich oriental with lots of spice and ambery resins. I get little to no flowers. They saved those for Platine and Ambush.

My grandmother had no evening gowns, diamonds or furs, yet when she wore this, she seemed like a "million bucks". This was from the time when women could wear anything they wished and never get criticized. Allergies didn't come from perfume in the 1960s.

A re-launch of this classic is unthinkable as most of the formula is contraband within the current market safety standards. There are a few bottles floating around on e-bay, replete with the golden flecks in them for the curious.

It's Sunday, tomorrow my rather unloved autumn vacation begins, because what does one do with free days at this time of year when one can't fly to the sun? To make matters worse, the first wet snow has fallen, and so the golden October has come to an end for this year. Why am I spreading autumn blues here? Because I have found the perfect antidote with 20Quilates by Dana.

This fragrance is smiles, a healing world, security, elegance, and comfort in a bottle. Powdery flowers without heaviness or sweetness, a creamy skin aroma, and a feeling as if I have the precious cashmere sweater on my skin, which I always linger around in the store and then shy away from due to the price. The fear of ruining it by washing it incorrectly is too great. Flori has perfectly described the scent, and so I can only share my impressions of it.

If understated luxury without screaming glamour had a scent, it would have to smell something like this Dana fragrance, and that's not just because of the gold particles, which I'm considering selling given the current gold price. It would be such a shame to simply dispose of them with the empty bottle. But I still have enough drops to bring a smile to my face every now and then during the gray season. Thanks to the giver. As so often, you have gifted me a wonderful fragrance experience.

20 Quilates (20 Carats) is the counterpart to Platino, both visually and in content. The silver color and the silver particles in the bottle match Platino, as does its light yellow hue. Platino also emphasizes freshness and white flowers - above all, jasmine.

20 Quilates has a golden amber color with golden particles in the bottle, which fits the fragrance perfectly. The golden particles give a feeling of luxury, sparkling and floating in the bottle with every movement.

Here, the emphasis is clearly on cloves. Wonderfully fragrant garden cloves in their hundreds of colors, but also spice cloves and cinnamon. This is even more pronounced in the Extrait de Parfum. To soften the intensity of a clove soliflore, all other fragrance components are very well dosed and subtly blended, so that while the cloves dominate the top and heart notes, there is also a lightness, as if their scent is carried over by a gentle breeze that also carries all other garden fragrances.

As a result, 20 Quilates is not heavy or cloying, and the sweetness of the fragrance is kept in check and is less than the sweetness of real garden cloves. The scent has incredible volume and envelops the wearer completely. I love clove fragrances and enjoy this immensely.

Initially, vanilla joins the base, and a finely dosed amount of amber is likely present as well. The fragrance is simply wonderful, uplifting and friendly, yet also soft and creamy.

As a lover of such scents, I am very happy with this blind purchase, which served to complement my collection of Spanish fragrances and has now become one of my favorites.

I will enjoy every drop of this wonderful collector's piece!