Chypre seems to be 'in' again: 'Mojito Chypre', 'Chypre 21', 'Chypre Siam', or this one: Chypre shot.
All of them modern creations, and there are many more.
Just a few years ago, the little death bell was ringing loudly: the chypre was over, the insidious IFRA was chirping away, the sound was everywhere! But, as you know, people who are believed dead live longer, and not only the good old 'Mitsouko' smells as chypry as ever.
Chypre Shot' is now a typical duchaufour: saffron and cardamom, ingredients he likes so much, are included as well as coffee and teen notes, which he also likes to stage. The spice seems to be borrowed a bit from his 'Traversée du Bosphore', and like this one some fruity notes resonate with it, while his 'Noir Exquis' was probably the inspiration for the gourmand coffee portion.
That Monsieur Duchoufour also knows Chypre, he also proved, and now inevitably 'Chypre Palatin' comes into play.
The three named Duchaufour fragrances now have one thing in common, which might be called the typical Duchaufour sound: a texture, as if everything were bathed in milk, or covered with milky veils.
Milky desserts come to mind again and again: rice pudding with fruits, a panna cotta, a yoghurt mousse, or milky spicy drinks like chai latte or the good old yogi tea.
This sound is also permeated by 'Chypre Shot', and you have to like this sound to get something out of 'Chypre Shot'.
I, for my part, like it, but not always.
I don't think Chypre Shot is a scent I could wear all the time. Sometimes, yes, because it is again a good Duchaufour, a very good, I think, but I also belong to the Chypre lovers.
And Duchaufour, as I said, can Chypre. It remains to be seen whether he will once belong to the great Chypriers à la Roudnitska or Chant, that the future will show, but his efforts for a modern interpretation of this rather old and rather dead ridden fragrance genre are recognizable.
So he has shown how - see his sensational 'Timbuktu' - the Chypre idea can be realized without oakmoss. But he has also shown how a modern, quasi castrated, i.e. from the allergen Atranol largely liberated, IFRA-compatible 'low atranol oakmoss', in conjunction with oakmoss substitutes such as Veramoss or Evernyl can conjure up a rich chypre: et voilà - 'Chypre Palatin'.
And now he's proved it again: Chypre's still working.
Apart from the fruity chypres like 'Mitsouko', the citric-fresh like 'Diorella', or the green like 'Aliage', Duchaufour places his chypre creations in the oriental environment ('Chypre Palatin') or in the area of gourmand scents ('Chypre Shot'), with oriental twist. Comparisons with the historical Chypre great deeds mentioned do not impose themselves there too much.
And basically it's unfair to measure all chypre scents against 'Mitsouko' or Chanel's 'Pour Monsieur': it's like comparing every soprano in Belcanto and Verismo with Maria Callas.
You do, but you're unfair.
So, better not sing the Norma in the first place - go your own way.
That again makes Duchaufour, one may hold of it what one wants.
Anyway, I like Chypre Shot. I also like the other two from the Sepia series, but this one especially.
I also don't perceive the scent as cacophonous at all, as some people think. Of course, the olfactory stage is populated by a large number of performers typical of Duchaufour - the composer has been happy to reach into the full for a few years now. This was not always the case, see his beginnings with Comme des Garçons, but now he loves the big ensembles.
But 'Chypre Shot' is not a big Amouage-like fragrance opera, no, the giant orchestra in the permanent forte is not his thing. Still, quite a few voices are buzzing around. Well-balanced naturally and veiled with Duchaufour's typical milky blur, but still setting many accents: floral, fruity, gourmandig, resinous, bitter, woody, sweet - everything here.
Not loud, but very consistent and incredibly long lasting. No wonder, the fragrance is, according to the manufacturer, an Extrait de Parfum, and that's how it behaves: discreet but persistent, yet moderately radiant. The next morning I can still perceive it on my skin without any problems, but now as a soft, vanilla-emphasized Oriental, underlaid with only very quiet chypre bitterness.
However, the term 'Chypre' is rightly used in the name of the fragrance: 'Chypre Shot' is throughout an original chypre fragrance, from the spicy floral prelude to the oriental finish.
Shot' doesn't mean a 'shot' in the sense of a vodka shot or something like that, no, the 'shot' means a photograph, a picture. And 'Sepia' again, the name of the trio, should conjure up a nostalgic, possibly historical photo in sepia tones in us.
The whole series is reminiscent, so to speak, of an 'earlier' one, and even the leather-covered flacon, with its hole in the middle, has something of an old hole-picture camera. Probably one would like to turn our view, respectively our nose into a sepia-tinted past, should we look through 'Vanilla Shot' in direction 'Shalimar', through 'Leather Shot' in direction 'Knize Ten' and through 'Chypre Shot' of course in direction 'Mitsouko'.
Will this work?
Well, a little bit, at least for me, now that I've been busy with this fragrance for some time. At first sight however I did not see these connections - however one must always immediately and word-for-word hit something with the nose, resp. be pushed?
No, sometimes it's fun to go on a voyage of discovery - it's quite possible that you sniff out something interesting.
As in this case.
Top Notes 
Guatemala cardamom
Saffron
Italian bergamot
Heart Notes 
Black tea
Madagascar pepper
Coffee
Peony
Base Notes 
Indonesian patchouli
Macedonian oakmoss
Spanish labdanum
Amber
Zara
DJSaunter
TheDunkPapa
Missmollyzoe
PetarMolnar
Stinkypenny
