Farouche Nina Ricci 1973 Parfum

...then it is a wonderful fragrance in a beautiful bottle.

Who doesn't know it, L'Air du Temps by Nina Ricci! Even as a young girl, I adored this fragrance and eventually I had the EdP. Of course, not in the swan bottle, I couldn't afford that, but in the white plastic container that held a glass spray bottle that could be replaced, and only 50ml.

I hadn't discovered Farouche back then...

However, I have owned a mini of the original bottle, as shown above, for many, many years. For me, this is the most beautiful perfume bottle of all time. I didn't know the fragrance until recently, as I never opened this mini (it opens a bit stiffly). But for the past week, I have been hooked on Farouche, meaning my nose has been on my wrist. Almost every day, a drop on the wrist and I have been drawn to this wonderful scent.

Farouche is a chypre, and one of the excellently crafted chypres, but it is not really my usual type. Yet, the same goes for Private Collection by Estée Lauder, and still, I could bathe in it. Farouche is also somewhat similar to this fragrance. However, it is much more complex and softer, with its own special note.

The opening is green and herbaceous, very aromatic but not piercing. It is very short in Farouche - at least in the EdT of my mini.

What follows is an olfactory experience of the highest class. A bouquet of flowers that are hardly identifiable. Nevertheless, I can smell Chèvrefeuille (honeysuckle) here, with its wonderful, delicate scent. A glance at the pyramid revealed to me - it is indeed included! Those who know Chèvrefeuille by Yves Rocher will understand what I mean.

If I had to give a color to this lush heart, I would choose white gold. Silvery shining, but not as metallic as silver, cool but not cold. Very noble and sophisticated.

The base is dry and warm, mossy dark green and velvety soft. I would love to lay down on this bed.

How could I have overlooked this fragrance for so long! A delight all around!

The name Nina Ricci was once a guarantee for tasteful fashion and wonderful fragrances. L'Air du Temps, Farouche, Capricci, and Fleur de Fleurs - the four classics. All four are wonderful - both visually and olfactorily. These fragrances were not only high quality and very well made, but they were also quite pricey and yet worth every cent.

What Nina Ricci has become today is no longer inspiring. Owned by Puig, the Nina Ricci fragrances available today are just a faint shadow of what the earlier Riccis once were. Even the wonderful Nina has become a mass fragrance in a kitschy bottle today.

Back then, all the bottles were by Lalique - each uniquely special and unmistakable according to the fragrance. Some of the most beautiful perfume bottles of all time and a part of perfume history.

I admit, when such wonderful fragrances are turned into mere drugstore products and the name is just one of very, very many, I would rather see both the name and the fragrances disappear from the market, meaning discontinued, than to degrade into such mass-produced items.

In any case, I will be on the lookout - perhaps I can still find one of those dreamily beautiful original bottles with original Farouche somewhere...