Choc de Cardin Pierre Cardin 1981

...I want to thank you for starting to love perfume at such an early age. It's true, Mom and Grandma were also responsible for that; they thought it was quite cute how much you loved to dab on perfume and play "Miss" - and they always made sure you had a supply (you could never have afforded it with your pocket money).

I have good news for you: We now have perfume as a proper adult hobby, and we already have 72 really great bottles! And we bought almost all of them ourselves. There’s now a game called the Internet, which works somewhat like a Game Boy; you have to press a few buttons, and then you win - but not points, rather perfumes! It's a lot of fun! But I'm glad you couldn't play it back then...

Do you remember Choc de Cardin? Of course you do, because it was one of your first perfumes and always remained a big mystery to you. I can't even remember how we got it; I think someone just gifted it to you without you knowing or wishing for it. If someone had asked you what you wanted, you would have surely shouted "vanilla," "coconut," and "sweet."
But Choc de Cardin was so completely different: citrusy and spicy, a bit like a rugged men's fragrance, it also somehow smelled like vacation - I think that’s because you took it with you on your trip to Morocco. You actually kind of liked it, but couldn’t understand why. Maybe because you always felt so grown-up and chic when you wore it - but it was still a bit embarrassing for you since it wasn’t sweet.
You were totally fascinated by the bottle, those oval and round shapes - and you always looked at the wonderful box with pink, black, and purple (your favorite colors) for a long time and played UFO with it. When the bottle was empty, you kept the box for a while, but then that was gone too. You didn’t mourn it but dove into sweet Joops like Nuit d’Eté and All about Eve - but you never forgot Choc de Cardin.

Shall I let you in on a secret? We have it again now, almost 25 years later! And it smells just like it did back then! You can really tell which decade it comes from. Today, fragrances don’t smell as strong anymore - you would be disappointed, but believe me, it’s okay. And it’s funny because it says here that lemon and the masculine mossy notes aren’t even listed. I couldn’t believe it and googled it (that’s what they call “searching” now)

Top notes: Aldehydes, green notes, peach, basil, bergamot, lemon
Heart notes: Honey, iris root, jasmine, lily of the valley, rose
Base notes: Sandalwood, amber, patchouli, musk, civet, oakmoss

See, we were right after all! Lemon, wood, moss - that’s how we know it! And the fact that it still somehow remains feminine in overall impression is due to the rest that’s in there. I can still recognize rose, jasmine, and lily of the valley with a lot of goodwill, but not the rest; our nose can’t do more yet, but I’m working on it, I promise.

So, I might have finally solved your riddle of why you liked it: Choc de Cardin just fits perfectly with the adult Aura. Maybe you felt that back then!? And I’m not embarrassed by it at all anymore, even though it’s a bit “out.” Because you know why it fits so well with the adult Aura? Because it reminds me of you.