Sikkim (1971) (Eau de Parfum) by Lancôme

Bottle Design:
Georges Delhomme

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Sikkim Lancôme 1971 Eau de Parfum

Version from 1971

8.1 / 10 50 Ratings

A popular perfume by Lancôme for women, released in 1971. The scent is chypreartig-spicy. The longevity is above-average. The production was apparently discontinued.
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Main accords

Chypre

Spicy

Floral

Woody

Green

Ratings

Scent

8.150 Ratings

Longevity

8.338 Ratings

Sillage

7.134 Ratings

Bottle

8.039 Ratings

Submitted by Sani · last update on 08/03/2025.

Source-backed & verified

Variant of the fragrance concentration

This is a variant of the perfume Sikkim (1971) (Eau de Toilette) by Lancôme, which differs in concentration.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Sikkim (1971) Eau de Toilette

Kashmir Parfum de Toilette

Dioressence Eau de Toilette

Parure Parfum

Reviews

5 in-depth fragrance descriptions

07/15/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Helpful Review 3

the best of both worlds

Sikkim reminds me of the expression, “to fly off the handle.” Sikkim’s escalation is so quick that it doesn’t even seem like progression, just the flip from something calm to something disturbed. The first sniff sends you reeling. Sikkim is fast, rough and, I don’t know---I guess abundant. It’s just everything at once. It’s a heavy, raspy green chypre, but, although light on amber sweetness, it’s also a big spicy oriental with an almost medicinal vibe. It’s a great, fun ride, and in the end it’s an animalic green chypre with a dusting of spiced sweetness. Built from so many drydown materials, this scent has remarkable endurance, but (blessedly) that quality lovely of many stark chypres---it becomes a skin/body scent in the drydown.

12/06/2013

7Scent 7.5Longevity 5Sillage

Tessa
83 Reviews

Tessa

2

A little secret ingredient

This is like fireworks. A great chypre with such a wonderful lasting power that I would recommend for everybody to try. It is a caleidoscope of colors and I am sure that carnation plays a role in its composition.

12/19/2022

BrianBuchanan
363 Reviews

BrianBuchanan

2

The Green Anti-Glam Chypre

It’s tempting to see T Rex and Sikkim as two sides of the same coin.

They both appeared in 1971, and - capturing something about their age - they were both successful. The appearance of T Rex singer Marc Bolan wearing glitter on Top of the Pops (with Elton John guesting on piano) is held to be the moment that Glam Rock burst onto the scene, a cross-dressing style of pop that was huge in the early seventies.

They were soon followed by Bowie, posing as Ziggy Stardust in multicolour bodysuit, dyed hair and snow white tan; and the campery reached a climax in '73 with The Sweet ... Hard Rock - pouting in lipstick and make up.

While it was getting hard to tell the boys from the girls, (some of) their mothers were revanching into different, more reserved kinds of androgyny - with matching ‘his & hers’ trouser suits (check it out !) and fitted blazers.
Every fashion needs its perfume and there was Sikkim, a cool, formal, starchy green aldehyde, a bit like the original Y (1964) with a dark woody leather.
A dry pink floral and ambery baseline are concessions to ‘feminine’ codes, but it’s so distant from the fruity florals we know today, it’s hard to imagine many women would now think of this tailored affair as a feminine.
The box of the original release - with it’s marbled pale brown Aramis-style pattern, straight lines and square bottle - only serve to reinforce the message; this is not a hearts and flowers pong. Its roots go back to the green chypres of Bandit (1945) and Miss Dior (1947); hard perfumes born of hard times.

But Sikkim was not exceptional in its green androgyny.
GIII (1970), No19 (1970) and Silences (1978) were also part of the green movement, perfumes that favoured unsexy, dark and woody themes; more carapace than cuddly. Even if it was rather dis-gendering, the green chypre - of which Sikkim was an early example - was a conservative trend that distanced itself from Glam and all that it stood for.

Like the present moment, the seventies were uncertain times and it was natural that perfumes - like other artistic and commercial works - reflected them.

So perhaps, with Green awareness and pandemic Social Distancing, this rather phlegmatic style is due for a comeback.
I hope so, it is much more grown up than the fruity gourmands that currently hold sway on the women's aisle.

04/17/2025

10Scent 10Longevity 9Sillage

Medusa00
846 Reviews

Translated · Show original

Medusa00

Helpful Review 27

The Interview

Medusa: Good day Sikkim. It's nice to finally meet you.
Sikkim: I return the sentiment and I must say: It was about time.
Medusa: Yes, unfortunately I had no opportunity until recently, but I'm in a community and a nice perfumer named Anabell provided me with a sample.
Sikkim: Not so fast. I can hardly keep up with you. I'm getting on in years. What is a community? Who is a perfumer?
Medusa: A community is an online club where people meet who love perfume, exchange ideas, and sometimes learn something. A perfumer is a female member.
Sikkim: Online? Is that dangerous? When I came into the world, there was no such thing. Is it something like the Freemasons, where no one really knows what they do? They don't let women in, though.
Medusa: The internet can be dangerous at times, but that's another story. Well, comparing perfumers to the Freemasons is quite difficult, but the basic principles are similar.
Sikkim: You are quite a quirky person with snakes on your head. Is that how people dress today? At least you don't need a perm or a center part like in my time.
Medusa: (looks offended) I am a figure from Greek mythology. But back to you. Do you know why you were given the name Sikkim?
Sikkim: I have no idea. It was rumored back then that Sikkim is a state in India with a dramatic landscape, thousands of species of wildflowers, and a mountain that is 8,586 meters high.
Medusa: Then they did quite well with the name. It is also a derogatory term meaning crap... But you certainly are not that.
Sikkim: Really, I would not appreciate that. However, I have been mercilessly sidelined, and Lancome decided to take a different path.
Medusa: Yes, there were some nice things, but for years they have been indulging in sweets. Probably because they think that women today want that or they imagine that women should smell like that.
Sikkim: Yes, unfortunately, I am a scent for established women, moving away from the feminine image.
Medusa: So when I sniff you, it seems they didn't skimp on aldehydes and mixed in some zesty citrus fruits. There's greenery in there too.
Sikkim: Please keep your snakes away; they are currently licking me off your arm. It's ticklish.
Medusa: Oh, they like your heart note. So many dusty flowers. I’m guessing iris and frozen roses.
Sikkim: (scratches the spray head) Yup, and I have leather too. They tanned it in oak moss. I'm not a softy, although I am very green behind my nonexistent ears.
Medusa: I'm very glad you don't have oud in you. That wasn't in style in 1971 either and would ruin your whole distinctive chypre beauty.
Sikkim: No, I don't know oud, but at my age, I don't have to know everything anymore.
Medusa: Exactly, I see it that way too. Those who ask a lot can get lost and sometimes go astray. I'm delighted to have met you and wish you much luck in your fragrance nirvana.

Updated on 05/03/2025

07/27/2011

9Scent 10Longevity

Chanelle
750 Reviews

Translated · Show original

Chanelle

Top Review 18

Between Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet

Sikkim is an Indian state and a Turkish insult. But no one wants to explain the latter to me, so that's all I know.
But Sikkim is also a fantastic, smoky chypre that was off the market for years and has been reissued as part of the Collection Lancôme. In the meantime, I searched worldwide for the old version and occasionally found it, for desperate lovers of the scent, and I can indeed claim that the limited reissue of the old version is at least 99% identical.
Unfortunately, I can't pick out most of the individual notes in the top note. I can faintly detect bergamot and also a hint of spiciness, but I wouldn't have been able to identify it as cumin.
The heart note is fantastic! So warm, dark, and rosy, and completely without sweetness, an incredible vibration emanates from it, similar to the classic Scherrer, but smoky-leathery.
I have never perceived such an intense, luminous chypre note.
The base is rich, velvety, green, woody.
The sillage has something of incense sticks, but at the same time also of darkness and leather.
Also suitable for men!