Ténéré Rabanne 1988 Eau de Toilette

Teneré is one of the several examples of scents from the '80s which could be easily be bottled, re-packaged, sold by niche brands and become instant cults. A masculine chypre impressively ahead of its time, an irresistible romantic and exotic bouquet of humid flowers with a heart of dark rose (Lyric Man anyone?), a touch of warm honey which persists all along the drydown, perfectly mixed in a beautiful blend, a bit herbal and a bit animalic, with a stout base of woods (sandalwood, mostly) and spices, cumin above all, discreet but detectable. Aldehydes to "reinforce" and give the scent a bold bone-structure, as for many masculine scents of that era. On the drydown it finally shows quite a twist of direction: more woods and tobacco, the personality becomes less romantic, more austerely rooty and earthy, still with a warm pollen note. Overall Teneré conveys a totally unique and captivating mood, a luscious elegance halfway dandy and exotic, with a genius and harmonic effortless blend of spicy-herbaceous notes which bring a desert breeze into the more Westernised, aristocratic floral bouquet. Utterly elegant, modern, sensual, rich in unusual notes. Worth a try.

8,5-9/10

I find Tenere quite close to Rochas Globe. Both have that old-timey, low-key, melancholy herbal-floral vibe, which I recognize instantly, but find quite hard to put into words. They take you back to another time and another place with a few sprays. Another fragrance that gives me a similar feeling is Balenciaga’s Ho Hang Club, which I find more old-school than both Tenere and Globe, but not as good as either, (although I still like Ho Hang Club quite a bit.) Tenere and Globe are lighter and brighter, while I find Ho Hang Club a bit heavy and blunt (if that word makes sense).

Having suggested a similarity between Tenere and Globe, I am having a hard time trying to find the exact connection between them by looking at the official lists of the notes for the two fragrances. However, my nose insists that there indeed is a strong connection. Is it the rose or the carnation? No, I would not say so. I find the connection to be more along the herbal dimension than the floral. Perhaps artemisia, or the restrained and refined use of patchouli? Possibly. Between the two, Globe is the smoother, while Tenere is the harsher one. Tenere has some additional animalic aspect to it, while Globe comes across quite "clean".

Are far as recommendations go, Tenere is not something I would suggest for people who do not usually enjoy old-school fragrances. However, if you do enjoy such fragrances, you may want to give Tenere a try. The problem of course is that Tenere is discontinued and can no longer be sampled in department stores or chain perfumeries. So, you probably will have to take the risk of making a blind buy, unless you have access to an independent brick-and-mortar perfumery that carries discontinued fragrances. As you make your buying decision, consider Rochas Globe and Ho Hang Club as possible alternatives to Tenere; Globe being a very close, and Ho Hang Club a distant substitute. Among the three, Ho Hang Club seems to be the most affordable as of early 2015, and Tenere the most expensive.

Tenere opens with a blast of aromatic rosemary herb-laced lavender with supporting bergamot citrus, as some of the honeyed florals from the heart notes peek through early. As the fragrance enters its early heart the real stars of the show emerge in full force... Slightly powdery rose is wedded to indolic jasmine and earthy patchouli, giving it a bit of a dirty vibe. The starring floral accord joins co-starring sweet honey, giving them some weight while dulling their bite, as deep carnation and powdery orris root join the remaining aromatic lavender from the open in support. As the fragrance enters the late dry-down the patchouli and rose take over while joining amber from the base as the more powdery facets recede. Projection is excellent and longevity is absolutely outstanding at over 24 hours on skin.

Tenere is definitely not your typical male marketed fragrance... It is a floral powerhouse to the extreme and it it pulls no punches. The composition dulls some of the commonly perceived "feminine" nature of the floral accord by adding sweet honey for weight and an underlying herbal earthy bent derived from ingredients like rosemary and patchouli, but make no mistake that this is a floral powerhouse all the way. It is interesting that having now worn Tenere a few times and not immediately clicking with its presentation, I now find the composition is quickly growing on me. I felt just a tad uncomfortable wearing it at first, but that hesitancy quickly subsided and now find it easy to wear, while still not quite clicking with its overall style. The bottom line is the sadly discontinued but still relatively inexpensive Tenere deserves a lot of credit for breaking the typical perceived "uber masculine" powerhouse mold of the 80s, instead going a different more daring powerhouse direction and earning a "very good" rating of 3.5 stars out of 5. Recommended to 80s powerhouse and floral driven composition lovers alike.

I suppose it's a truism that a masculine floral will bomb. Sad. This one had so many things going for it, too. A bright opening that gets darker as time passes; a raspy lavender that gives it a barbershop quality; a honey/urinous note that makes if feel lived in. I really saw this categorically as a floral fougère in the Kouros mold, and to read the notes, you’d think it was a rewrite of Kouros, but there’s definitely a lot of breathing room between this and Kouros. When I read other people’s thoughts on Ténéré I realized nobody else saw it as a fougère. More as a spicy floral. There’s definitely the lavender. And the dryness of spice (turmeric/ginger? cardamom?) combined with a clove-like carnation and the dank honey note all serve not so much to smell like coumarin, but to takes its place in the fougère accord. Shouldn’t this have made it somewhat appealing to the male nose? I can only guess that the fougère market became defined as fresh and aromatic when Cool Water (same year, 1988) cornered the market and spawned years of imitators.

I can see this one seeming too much. If overapplied, the honey notes makes it a little too dense in enclosed spaces. But in moderation, the buoyancy of the florals wins the day.

This vaguely recalls Terre d’Hermès, and – to a greater extent – 1 Million. But more than anything it feels like a woody-citrus Aftershave, a stereotyped Man Scent of grapefruit and woody spice on a weak Powdery Amber.
There’s a green apple note - like Old shampoo - which makes this skeletal fougère little more than a Mr Clean from the eighties.
It’s one of the lesser Paco Rabanne’s in my opinion, and when you consider how dated it is - like much of the fashion from that time - it’s not suprising to find it’s deleted from the catalogue.
If you really miss this sort of thing, try Terre d’Hermès Eau très fraîche.