05/12/2020

MonsieurTest
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MonsieurTest
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39
Jicky is tricky. Try to learn to appreciate & love a classic
Reading educates. Reading about perfume - here as in books - enriches the store of knowledge, increases the ability to distinguish and ultimately probably also the sensual pleasure. Reading stimulates the senses. Or why and for what do you browse around here?
However, the proliferation of books also poses new problems for some people, such as swelling and even overflowing perfume collections. Or the arrival of classics that have been so often sung about and classified as historical milestones that the perfume lover now wants to know, own and, if possible, appreciate or even love them. Sometimes this happens very quickly, and as if by magic - but sometimes it requires a little patience and practice.
If you get older or if you are always interested in old things, this increases the attraction of fragrances that have been used for 50, 100 or even 150 years in all kinds of historical settings and have influenced your 20 sqm and contacts for 8 hours. A splash of Eau de Cologne Imperiale and off you go on a fantasy journey with the Guerlain carriage to the Paris of 1853. A splash of Jicky and you think back to the Paris of 1889, the Eiffel tower has just been built up and the masses marvel at the novelties of the world exhibition. Among other things, the first perfume to boast synthetic vanilla: Jicky. 80 years later, it is said to have been the signature scent of the classic James Bond mime, Sean Connery. And what guy wouldn't want to slip into his skin occasionally for a few hours?
BUT: One splash of Jicky - and we have a problem! Next to and in front of the guerlain-like, elegant blend of vanilla and lavender of finely blended traces of rose and iris, amber, vetiver and other spices and woods, the notorious animal scent of the civet cat throngs. Even if long ago synthetically imitated, it is still there. It stays on and off for a few hours, every now and then, and makes the whole thing interesting and appealing, but for Mr. Test just appealing in the sense of irritating: repulsive and only slightly attractive.
Now one could say: Well, then stay away from Jicky, wear Vol de Nuit and Heure Bleue and Chant d'aromes (all of which have similar distinguished old-fashioned Guerlain tidbits like Jicky) and of course the men's fragrances from the Champs Elysées 68, which are closer to the gentlemen's fragrances for messieurs anyway. But Jicky already lives here, and Mr. Teste occasionally wants to go back to the 1889 World's Fair. What to do? the Guerlainist now asks himself. We want to carry Jicky, but we want to defuse it somehow. May the ?
Wine or whisky?
Mr. Teste would never spray a Burgundy or Sauvignon blanc, a Rioja or Riesling with water or even with coke (as it is said by rich Russians, who are supposed to make the finest Bordeaux on the Cote d'Azur so palatable and disgrace the newly rich). And yet he allows himself - as the connoisseurs' rules also provide for - to stretch his whisky with water, his port wine occasionally as well and the latter, in summer, sometimes on tonic. Jicky seems to me in its density and power more like a whisky than a wine. Therefore, one may probably have the same difficulties and manners with its civet as with the sharp peaty aromas of an Islay Single Malt?
Experiments: careful, smallest possible Sptitzer from the beehive flacon of the Jicky EdPs. Maybe instead of the usual back of the hand on more distant parts of the body? But Mr. Teste feels strange, if he should suddenly, for Jicky's sake, scent his knees or crotch to keep the cat at a distance from the irritable nose.
So we try light counterweights. For this we will probably layer most simply with scents that already contain lavender and/or vanilla. For the time travel cinema you could use Atkinson's English Lavender (goes back 50 years with the Guerlain carriage) or Caron's Pour un homme (50 years forward into the 20th century) or Puig's light Agua Lavanda (Sinatra's favourite scent from the 1940s). Yes, but: as a Sinatra Connery son with the heavy jicky and the light and fresh lavender water, that not only gives you great cinema in historical terms, but is also good for the nose. Next Monsieur wants to try it with vanilla scents. And then also with citric colognes. Because in the Jickys-head notes, there are bergamots and lemons and tangerines, only with me you are quickly fetched by the cat...
One thing is clear: if the fragrance didn't undoubtedly have a wonderful drydown, lasted for a long time, radiated Guerlainian elegance, then you could simply leave it alone, leave it to the ladies, put it in a museum and keep your distance. But I think: Jicky is worth the effort and you should continue to wear this treasure from 1889, even if in different ways. The Guerlain house itself has remixed its Habit Rouge (citric top note in EdT somewhat pungent and dominant), which is bulky in other respects, in a quite formidable way, for example with the softer and smoother Habit Rouge L'eau and Habit Rouge EdP and probably also with the Habit Rouge dress codes which are hard to get. So please don't stone me, dear Jicky admirers, if you are thinking about and trying to do something like this here.
Now, on a more prosaic note, the sillage of the EdP seems strong to me, though less massive than that of Shalimar. The durability as well. The flacon is the beautifully ornate, now widely used glass beehive of Guerlain's women's classics; only the light plastic cap is a little disillusioning, which somewhat hampers the friction-free immersion into the age of carriages and trains.
Who can carry Jicky where?
Unisex is already checked off by the guaranteed identity of Mr. Teste and his key witness Sean Connery. For women, however, this fragrance is of course also wearable and perhaps more obvious. For all of them, however, Jicky seems to fit less into the office (except maybe for the Christmas party with ulterior motives) and more into the evening. It can be used all year round except in midsummer. Not in the sauna or for sports with it! The animalistic touch gives the whole thing an erotic touch, which of course doesn't seem to come across as directly as with Jicky's daughter Shalimar, who saw the light of day in Paris a generation later.
But maybe all this is also a question of skin chemistry and nasal idiosyncrasies and Jicky seems different to others in this respect?
Because one thing is clear: this classic consists of many layers and is knitted quite finely. You will notice that when you read the many other excellent comments here.
However, the proliferation of books also poses new problems for some people, such as swelling and even overflowing perfume collections. Or the arrival of classics that have been so often sung about and classified as historical milestones that the perfume lover now wants to know, own and, if possible, appreciate or even love them. Sometimes this happens very quickly, and as if by magic - but sometimes it requires a little patience and practice.
If you get older or if you are always interested in old things, this increases the attraction of fragrances that have been used for 50, 100 or even 150 years in all kinds of historical settings and have influenced your 20 sqm and contacts for 8 hours. A splash of Eau de Cologne Imperiale and off you go on a fantasy journey with the Guerlain carriage to the Paris of 1853. A splash of Jicky and you think back to the Paris of 1889, the Eiffel tower has just been built up and the masses marvel at the novelties of the world exhibition. Among other things, the first perfume to boast synthetic vanilla: Jicky. 80 years later, it is said to have been the signature scent of the classic James Bond mime, Sean Connery. And what guy wouldn't want to slip into his skin occasionally for a few hours?
BUT: One splash of Jicky - and we have a problem! Next to and in front of the guerlain-like, elegant blend of vanilla and lavender of finely blended traces of rose and iris, amber, vetiver and other spices and woods, the notorious animal scent of the civet cat throngs. Even if long ago synthetically imitated, it is still there. It stays on and off for a few hours, every now and then, and makes the whole thing interesting and appealing, but for Mr. Test just appealing in the sense of irritating: repulsive and only slightly attractive.
Now one could say: Well, then stay away from Jicky, wear Vol de Nuit and Heure Bleue and Chant d'aromes (all of which have similar distinguished old-fashioned Guerlain tidbits like Jicky) and of course the men's fragrances from the Champs Elysées 68, which are closer to the gentlemen's fragrances for messieurs anyway. But Jicky already lives here, and Mr. Teste occasionally wants to go back to the 1889 World's Fair. What to do? the Guerlainist now asks himself. We want to carry Jicky, but we want to defuse it somehow. May the ?
Wine or whisky?
Mr. Teste would never spray a Burgundy or Sauvignon blanc, a Rioja or Riesling with water or even with coke (as it is said by rich Russians, who are supposed to make the finest Bordeaux on the Cote d'Azur so palatable and disgrace the newly rich). And yet he allows himself - as the connoisseurs' rules also provide for - to stretch his whisky with water, his port wine occasionally as well and the latter, in summer, sometimes on tonic. Jicky seems to me in its density and power more like a whisky than a wine. Therefore, one may probably have the same difficulties and manners with its civet as with the sharp peaty aromas of an Islay Single Malt?
Experiments: careful, smallest possible Sptitzer from the beehive flacon of the Jicky EdPs. Maybe instead of the usual back of the hand on more distant parts of the body? But Mr. Teste feels strange, if he should suddenly, for Jicky's sake, scent his knees or crotch to keep the cat at a distance from the irritable nose.
So we try light counterweights. For this we will probably layer most simply with scents that already contain lavender and/or vanilla. For the time travel cinema you could use Atkinson's English Lavender (goes back 50 years with the Guerlain carriage) or Caron's Pour un homme (50 years forward into the 20th century) or Puig's light Agua Lavanda (Sinatra's favourite scent from the 1940s). Yes, but: as a Sinatra Connery son with the heavy jicky and the light and fresh lavender water, that not only gives you great cinema in historical terms, but is also good for the nose. Next Monsieur wants to try it with vanilla scents. And then also with citric colognes. Because in the Jickys-head notes, there are bergamots and lemons and tangerines, only with me you are quickly fetched by the cat...
One thing is clear: if the fragrance didn't undoubtedly have a wonderful drydown, lasted for a long time, radiated Guerlainian elegance, then you could simply leave it alone, leave it to the ladies, put it in a museum and keep your distance. But I think: Jicky is worth the effort and you should continue to wear this treasure from 1889, even if in different ways. The Guerlain house itself has remixed its Habit Rouge (citric top note in EdT somewhat pungent and dominant), which is bulky in other respects, in a quite formidable way, for example with the softer and smoother Habit Rouge L'eau and Habit Rouge EdP and probably also with the Habit Rouge dress codes which are hard to get. So please don't stone me, dear Jicky admirers, if you are thinking about and trying to do something like this here.
Now, on a more prosaic note, the sillage of the EdP seems strong to me, though less massive than that of Shalimar. The durability as well. The flacon is the beautifully ornate, now widely used glass beehive of Guerlain's women's classics; only the light plastic cap is a little disillusioning, which somewhat hampers the friction-free immersion into the age of carriages and trains.
Who can carry Jicky where?
Unisex is already checked off by the guaranteed identity of Mr. Teste and his key witness Sean Connery. For women, however, this fragrance is of course also wearable and perhaps more obvious. For all of them, however, Jicky seems to fit less into the office (except maybe for the Christmas party with ulterior motives) and more into the evening. It can be used all year round except in midsummer. Not in the sauna or for sports with it! The animalistic touch gives the whole thing an erotic touch, which of course doesn't seem to come across as directly as with Jicky's daughter Shalimar, who saw the light of day in Paris a generation later.
But maybe all this is also a question of skin chemistry and nasal idiosyncrasies and Jicky seems different to others in this respect?
Because one thing is clear: this classic consists of many layers and is knitted quite finely. You will notice that when you read the many other excellent comments here.
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