Sublime Jean Patou 1992 Eau de Parfum

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8.0 / 10 219 Ratings

Sublime (Eau de Parfum) is a popular perfume by Jean Patou for women and was released in 1992. The scent is floral-chypreartig. The longevity is above-average. It was last marketed by Designer Parfums.

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Main accords

Floral

Chypre

Spicy

Powdery

Woody

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Green notes

Bergamot

Mandarin orange

Coriander

Heart Notes

Carnation

Lily of the valley

Orris root

Ylang-ylang

Jasmine

Lily

Rose

Base Notes

Vanilla

Oakmoss

Civet

Musk

Sandalwood

Tonka bean

Vetiver

Amber

Cedar

Styrax

Perfumer

Jean Kerléo

Ratings

Scent

8.0219 Ratings

Longevity

8.1174 Ratings

Sillage

7.7174 Ratings

Bottle

8.4163 Ratings

Value for money

7.231 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 06.02.2024.

Reviews

11 in-depth fragrance descriptions

12/26/2019

8
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 8.5
Scent

pudelbonzo
689 Reviews

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pudelbonzo

Top Review 26

Attitude without arrogance

This year I found Sublime under the Christmas tree.

Great joy, because I also like Joy and Enjoy.

And I " enjoye " Sublime - the noble, sublime too.

Its flowery and spicy fullness of scent radiates noblesse and is perfectly suited for the festive Christmas holiday.

Intensive carnation and beguiling ylang ylang reach out - powdered with iris and lightened with tangerine.
The oakmoss has a subtle effect and sandalwood and vanilla nestle in the fragrance.

But despite its volume, Sublime does not press - for he maintains a posture without arrogance.

There is nothing loud in the fragrance - because it speaks to me at room volume.

My teacher could have carried it well - for she imparted valuable knowledge to us in a sovereign manner and without any trace of authority.
With her, learning was fun.
And if she had been wrong, she would easily admit it - which increased our sympathy and respect for her.

She was always treated as an equal.
Just as Sublime in no way appears arrogant.

But it has depth and substance.

Just like the words our teacher wrote into my poetry album - and which keep coming back to my mind :

Man has three ways to act wisely
First, by imitation - this is the lightest
Second, through reflection - this is the noblest
And thirdly - through experience - this is the most bitter.

These wise words are always present to me - like her special personality, which I do not forget.

01/30/2021

Josefka
10 Reviews

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Josefka

Very helpful Review 19

Tough embrace

Actually, as a chypre lover, it should have been clear to me that I would like Sublime. Nevertheless, I had at first no clue what I was doing when I sprayed me from the sample added to a purchase something on the wrist. Wow!

I smell a bitter opening in the top notes, energetic, fresh, with lots of bergamot and plenty of citrus. Lots of green notes in there, it's the much talked about green grass that keeps coming through here. I don't detect the tangerine that strongly, and if I do, it's a still very green, unripe tangerine. Rather, I manage to detect a hint of mint, almost like an herbal tea where you smell into the bag. Yes, herbaceous, aldehydic it is, and cagey. A cool freshness that clears the nose, almost reminiscent of light patchouli.

But right from the start, the heart and base notes are also palpable. A bit it is like an orchestra that plays together at the beginning, before the theme is then carried out further in the winds, the violins, etc.

The heart note is a bouquet of flowers, but for me they behave more as a bouquet than as individual leaves - right at the front is the garden carnation, which is most likely to develop a life of its own.
But already you can feel, at the very bottom so to speak, the moss holding the lemon trees and flower stalks in the ground. Traces of verbeine (does the vetiver give that impression?) can also be detected.

After about an hour, the fragrance becomes soapier, woodier too, ambery notes come in, which are the foreground at noon, after about four hours. At this point I would describe Sublime as soapy sweetness or rather sweet soapiness, very interesting. Very grown up too, I feel my backbone strengthened. The term "Mother Nature" comes to mind - the grassy notes plus the embrace of a caring soul who's been known to put a pudding on the stove give that impression, I guess. Security, self-confidence.

After about three hours, a little civet joins in, very subtle but, you have to go very close to the skin to smell that, but there it is evident. Sublime is not a stinker, but pleasing? Nah, just not either. Bit predatory must be.

At the very end, when the vanilla comes in on quiet paws and the fragrance slowly fades out, this mixture reminds me of Vétiver Tonka by Hermès - also such a fragrance, which develops its tension from opposites.

It may be that, as Luca Turin writes in "Perfumes", the sublime of these days has nothing in common with the sublime of yesteryear, that what was previously a revelation has now degenerated into a disjointed mishmash - I only know the new formulation and find it sophisticated, tart and yet embracing.

Actually, as a chypre lover, it should have been clear to me that a small bottle of this had to be purchased immediately. And so it was, of course.

06/21/2016

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Top Review 8

'90s chypre

Somewhere in the ’90s the chypre fell off the radar. Blame the IFRA, blame Angel (also 1992), blame whoever you like. It went quietly from the pinnacle of chic to over-the-hill faster than you can say ‘mousse de chêne.’

Why and how to restrict perfume materials is a popular if confusing debate today, but in the 70s-90s the discussion of the hazards of aromachemicals and botanicals took place behind closed-doors. The general public didn’t know what went into perfumes in the first place or who made them, so discussions about restricting oakmoss or refining bergamot had little significance. They did have a stifling effect on perfume composition, though it might not have been readily apparent in 1992.

Chypre perfumes tend to have a strong presence and it’s easy to characterize the eras of the chypre. The ur-chypre by Coty and the seminal chypre by Guerlain, Mitsouko. The animalic chypres of the ’40s (eg. Miss Dior). The moonlit floral chypres of the ’50s (Jolie Madame.) The aldehydic and green chypres of the ’60s (Calèche and YSL Y ), the liberated chypres of the ’70s (Aromatics Elixir and Diorella) and the roaring rose chypres of the ’80s (La Nuit and Parfum de Peau).

But the chypre seemed to lose its identity in the ’90s. It was seen as both suffocating and passé when compared to the self-effacing new style of ’90s perfumes and their notes of air, water, light and apology. After the loud florals and orientals of the ’80s, modernity in perfume came to be synonymous with minimalism and the chypre became synonymous with old-fashioned. Traditional perfumes became outmoded and ‘classical’ perfumery started to seem like bad Hollywood Regency–stylistically overburdened yet without the saving grace of true kitsch.

The 1990s chypre-style, if there was one, played with the chypre’s affinity for fruit notes. YSL Yvresse (Champagne) 1992, Nina Ricci Deci Delà 1994 and Cartier So Pretty 1995 split the difference between the chypre and sweet fruity-florals of the day. Hybrids such as these aim for the best of both worlds. The risk is that they lack synergy and simply combine notes and materials from each genre. These three were famously successful but have been discontinued, I suppose pointing out another risk: that even a successful hybrid might not be popular enough to stay afloat.

Sublime has a finger in so many different pies that the term hybrid doesn’t quite capture it. Chypre? Oriental? Woody Floral? Yes, and then some. I think of it as a Resinous Woody Chypre. Cop-out? Sure, but it fits. It’s also fruity, floral and powdery. Powder over woods creates a sweet-tart dynamic similar to the vetiver-vanilla dissonance of Habanita, but in Sublime it is quieter, less stark. Mandarin and ylang ylang give Sublime a lusher feel than the expectable bergamot/white floral found in many chypres. It follows a long arc and the drydown takes its time arriving. Atypical for a ’90s perfume, the basenotes are the most complex part of the perfume. Resinous woods define the drydown–vetiver, patchouli, and especially sandalwood–but amber, musk and civet keep the woods from growing sharp. The pillow-soft drydown is classically proportioned and has the diaphanous depth of traditional woody orientals like Vol de Nuit and Bois des Isles.

Unfortunately it’s no surprise that Sublime sputtered and stalled. It wasn’t bad–not by a longshot–but it was seen as irrelevant when held to the growingly detached, hygienic aesthetic that would come to define the 1990s. Viewed on its own merits, Sublime is a history lesson on the genre by one of the 20th century’s strongest classicists and historians, Jean Kerléo. It is also urges speculation as to where the chypre genre might have gone if materials restriction hadn’t hobbled it.

Whether you like traditional chypres or not, if you’d like a tour through the history of French perfumery in a single bottle, try vintage Sublime. It illustrates the techniques and ideals of a century of perfumery and who better to conduct the tour than Kerléo, founder of Osmothèque?

from scenthurdle.com

09/01/2013

7.5
Bottle 7.5
Sillage 5
Longevity 9
Scent

Drseid
819 Reviews

Drseid

Very helpful Review 9

A Very Apropos Name...

*This is a review of vintage Sublime edp.

Sublime (vintage) opens with a gorgeous mandarin orange and sharp green bergamot tandem. As the fragrance enters its early heart the orange now joins potent carnation and ylang-ylang florals as co-stars with underlying rose support, as vanilla and oakmoss rising from the base add an underlying powdery sheen and tonka bean, amber and sandalwood mild sweetness. During the late dry-down the orange, ylang-ylang, powdery vanilla, amber and sandalwood all remain, as slightly animalic musk and well-integrated civet add balance. Projection is excellent and longevity average at 6-8 hours on skin.

Sublime (vintage) is everything one would expect from a composition with that name composed by legendary nose Jean Kerleo. It opens almost aldehyde-like with the mandarin and green bergamot before turning into a gigantic carnation driven floral that is an amalgamation of way too many notes and accords to list but balanced brilliantly in a way only a handful or two of master perfumers living or dead could even dream of accomplishing. The base notes play a big role in the composition early-on, with the oakmoss in particular featuring its powdery facets instead of the normal mossy green one usually expects. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this is one of the best implementations of civet I have encountered (the other being vintage Monsieur de Givenchy) as it is extremely well-concealed and yet oh so effective in balancing out the complex composition. The bottom line is Sublime (vintage) will run you a minimum of $80 for a 100ml bottle on the aftermarket, but this Kerleo masterpiece is a composition that is well worth the investment and then some, earning an extremely strong rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 and my highest recommendation to all perfume lovers. Bravo Jean Kerleo!

06/30/2021

8
Sillage 9
Longevity 7.5
Scent

Kurai
375 Reviews

Kurai

Very helpful Review 8

Golden Beauty

With the sisters Sublime, Joy and 1000, Patou offers an impressive floral-chypre trifecta. Each one beautiful in its own way. I haven't had the pleasure of wearing the oldtimer versions. On the other hand, being able to enjoy the current versions without 'vintage nostalgia' has its merits too.

Sublime opens with green notes and a little fruit. Citrus fruit but not at all sharp, more like tangerine. Within a few minutes the florals open up. All kinds of florals in all thinkable colors seem present, but gold and yellow are strongest. A generous, lush bouquet that makes the usual white floral in the 'average' chypre seem utterly pale. This floral extravaganza fades out relatively soon.

The base consists of a number of warm notes, which can be noticed right from the start. Predominantly sandalwood, vanilla and amber. Opposed to her cold-hearted sister Joy, Sublime is friendly, generous and yes even sweet. Not so much innocent or naive, though, like the other sister '1000'. Underneath it all, there is a civet note, adding a bit of venom. And that's also why I'm having mixed feelings. The sandal-vanilla is too much for me, but the civet note does make up for that. Over time the vanilla does gets milder.

All in all a beautiful floral chypre. A-typical with its fruity opening, colorful bouquet and warm undertone. Still, the overall feeling is classical, chyprish and of haute couture quality. A true Patou.

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