Raphaël 1 Raphaël 4711 1985

This sentence has probably reached cult status by now!
It was a wonderful late summer, I was just about 16 years old, and the cinema was packed to the last seat! We went to the evening screening, my sister, her friend - and me.
I was wearing my button-fly jeans and the yellow sweater that I loved so much, and I wore Raphaël. The burgundy one. The one that always stood on my mother's dresser, with the three-part mirror on top.
Raphaël stood next to Obsession, which also belonged to my mother.
Still, this burgundy bottle always managed to find its way back to my shelf, wandered back to my mother's dresser, and finally settled on my shelf: because Raphaël and I, we simply belonged together.
Around the corner from us was a drugstore where you could buy it. At first, there were three fragrances, then a fourth one was added. Although I was too young for the scent back then, and it was a flagship in sillage and projection, and I applied it just before going to the cinema, I felt very comfortable with this fragrance.
I searched for a long time until I found it again here.
The lovely Jennytammy let me have it, it arrived yesterday and everything was back.
The movie, the scent, the cozy cushion under my hands from the cinema seat (back then the chairs were even more comfortable than today), Billy Idol belting out "Sweet Sixteen" through the ether, the sprayer that was already spraying wildly back then in large amounts, my beloved sneakers...

I always perceived Raphaël as a loud and very noticeable fragrance. It starts floral, yes.
But still, there is always a certain sharpness, almost a kind of strictness. It takes a while for the scent to settle, for everything to connect, then it becomes more harmonious, but still remains extravagant in its own way!
The base was already beautiful back then, warm, sensual, wonderful! Today it is not as perceptible for as long.
And even back then there was something in the base that made the scent not only beautiful but also a bit special. What happened to the bottle, I don't know.

For me, still an extraordinary fragrance. Sure, it’s not the sillage monster it used to be, after all, the scent has a few years behind it, the longevity also decreases faster than I remember, yet I am glad to have it here.
For a trip down memory lane, for a baby that wore a watermelon and a Johnny who clearly demands: my baby belongs to me, is that clear?
Raphaël belongs to me. Even though I didn't know back then that a perfume could smell oriental and I rarely like and wear oriental fragrances, it belongs to a wonderful fragrance era of its own!
I would still buy it today if it were still available. It's a shame that it has been discontinued.