Chanelle

Eau Secrète is the rebirth of Eau de Bain, which I already quite liked, not only because of the purple color of the contents. The secret water has only been carefully reformulated to be bottled in the higher priced new refillable flacon. It's just a shame about the purple colour, but the more playful EdB flacon has now become a more stylish "flacon-barre" look, so purple is probably inappropriate. The interplay of initially very green orange, fluffy almond and cuddly musk has remained playful though. Fortunately: I wouldn't have it any other way!
After the natural-green-fruity start, the indulgent aroma kicks in and the scent becomes creamier, almost marshmallow-fluffy. The almond is deliciously delicate sweetness and gives a gourmand touch.
With a lot of goodwill, you can read white chocolate into it, so creamy and cuddly the fragrance develops on my skin. Clearly created to do something good for yourself, for the battered little soul. So - just right to get a little distance from our hard, cruel world and feel like in a beautiful dream. Not great cinema, but do you always have to have that?

Pois de Senteur ( de chez moi) ...I couldn't remember having smelled it before - but I'm not infallible either. Anyway, I found a vintage bottle in my picture archives that I must have owned back in 2012, but it's no longer there. Instead, I am now obsessed myself, namely by the Extrait Pois d.S.(d.c.m.) anno 2021. More precisely, both by the top note, as well as the drydown.
Caron may still not be out of the slump the brand slid into a few decades ago (I'd even say Sacre was their last big hit).... but the relaunch from Pois (perfume concentration) gives as much hope as the reformulation of Muguet de Bonheur took away from me.
A lovely fellow sufferer (obsessed by perfume) had sent me the new Pois and I crept around it first. This morning I took courage and tested him.
The first seconds already set the course, goodwill and a Schweppes face spread. Beautiful hyacinth, spring fresh, bitter green and spicy, was the first pillar that impressed me. More florals, more powdery spice, more thoughts of L' heure bleue came up, but really just thoughts, no clone or twin, Pois remains too green and too spring floral for that. You can't call it sweet, at most natural-vanilla-nectar drizzled. As the fragrance progresses, the flowers alternate, unfortunately the hyacinth disappears almost completely, but a slight powderiness is added and the scent becomes softer. Green can be perceived but still.
Is already a bit ingenious, ne?
Exactly.
In addition, there is the long shelf life, which I always find very important, and nowadays yes very expensive to be paid or must be searched for a long time.
Successful, valuable reinterpretation of a classic!

Obsession (women's version) was the first scent that excited me beyond measure. Shortly before my very first stay in the States, a friend of mine, who had apparently mysteriously already met him and was now completely obsessed, talked me into bringing him back for her. She swore that Mr. Klein had said in some magazine that he never intended to sell his wares in Germany because he had a problem with Germany. Whether that was what was said I could never verify, but it did not make me sympathetic to Mr. Klein. Then there was the matter of the money. If Jeanie (that was the obsessive's name, and is still her name) had put a few dollars in my hand to buy said fragrance, I wouldn't have gotten into trouble either. You see, as a youngster, I practically never had any money because I always left everything entirely in perfume stores and drugstores! Oops. Nothing has changed!
Well, I went in search of this ominous obsession towards the end of the trip. In the morning, at a drug store that looked ramshackle but was also reasonably priced, I quickly found it. First of all, curiosity had to be satisfied...I tested for myself.
Within seconds, I realized that not one, but two flacons had to be purchased, because Jeanie was right: this was the absolute hottest thing I had ever smelled! Instant Obsession.
That dry, yet creamy sweetness, that unoriental spiciness. And then only the soft, soft sandalwood!
At that time I was not yet able to smell out fragrance components even approximately, but since I call vintage Bunkerflacons my own, I can reconstruct my impressions at that time to some extent.
Now I could finally stop "stealing" my mother's Opium all the time, because Obsession was 100x better! And not so old-fashioned, I thought.
But I didn't buy right away, because first I had to be clear about the financing. So I didn't get back to the store until the evening, still smelling heavenly-soft-vanilla after not finding Obsession cheaper anywhere during the day, and for the 2nd or 3rd time inserted that newfangled little plastic card that you could use to pay without having any money.
Oh, brave new world! Hopefully a miracle will happen and money will find its way into my account before the card club claims theirs.
At the hotel, I tore open one of the packages and realized I was holding a pour bottle! And the 2nd one, for Jeanie, had to be one then too, I suppose. But never mind, the fine stuff in it will be used anyway, I knew that....Jeanie and I had our flacons empty in no time, as we literally bathed in obsession every day, which in turn brought us many compliments. Then, against all odds, when Mr. Klein and his specs made the move across the pond, Kate Moss kept staring at us hungrily on TV - as an ad for Obsession! - we both grew a little weary of the scent. It wasn't until the otherworldly Vallee des Rois hit us both right in the heart at the same time.
But when I recently found and bought up several of these hand-flattering vintage Obsession pouring flacons (concentration calls itself cologne amime-wise, but lasts what feels like 3 days), my love rekindled. Whether that has to do with Dua Lipa and that whole 80s craze, or myself going back to the roots, I don't know. But one thing is for sure: obsession! Better in vintage than new, but always a vanilla/sandelwood imbiber

After a superficial quick test, which I performed only to provide the curious with a few impressions, I dealt with the fragrance in more detail on 2 days, because at the price you want to know possibly more reliable, what comes to you...or not.
The mini-filling I received because a more well-heeled friend wanted to have the flacon absolutely, which there are only 13 x worldwide and you had to secure it according to Guerlain already with a fat deposit to get him at all. She did that, and I received the privilege to test him.
Now I fell for the time being in a roller coaster of emotions.
Quick test: sweet, fig, looks familiar, oriental dessert.
After the quickie came the longies.
"Looks familiar" manifested itself in massive DejaVu.
I first smelled the Mon Guerlain blueprint Mon Exclusif in all its pleasant-scratchy sweetness and nuttiness and just a little fig. I managed to smell a little tangerine as well. The fig, however, made itself wide and broader. Acidic and refreshing, it made the oriental dessert round.
Whether there is a similarity to Aqua Allegoria Figue-Iris, as was rumored due to the announced fig overload, I can't confirm, as I don't remember it. But the fig doesn't hold out until the end either, which by the way is a very long time coming, but the Mon Guerlain Extrait Vanille or a tad tonka are stronger. Beautifully powdery, however, is the drydown.
Very new-guerlainig, very neo-oriental, very durable.

Valentino, THE Valentino has been with me for half my life. I used to marvel at the ballgowns he designed, for Academy Awards, Joan Collins and similar, from today's perspective pompous relics from the past, mainly in "Valentino Red". Then I met a woman who worked for Elizabeth Arden in Düsseldorf, at the time the distributor of, among other things, Valentino perfumes, of which there were 2 for ladies at the time. The Valentino in the red box and the aggressive Vendetta in the fan flacon. Both absolutely brilliant, if a little bit Joan Collins. The fresh, more modern Very Valentino in the brutal, angular block bottle (there was even the 400ml block for the handbag) also stood out from the crowd in a new and different way. With the next fragrance "V" I lost the thread a little bit (by the way, to the perfume-upper: you throw two Valentinos into one pot, just like with Valentino-bags there are two different manufacturers! But not too long ago, the brand Valentino suddenly came closer to me again: I was fashionably taken with the Roman Stud collection and my daughter's Viva Voce, (more on VV) elsewhere. But the admiration stops right now and here again. Born in Roma Yellow Dream for girls (but the male counterpart is supposed to be quite good!) is a neon yellow citrus shot in the oven.
Already the first seconds on my skin I would like to miss, because they were quite pungent in the nose and after that it did not get noticeably better. I have already encountered the fragrance very often, even if it is just born under this name. But I know many from recent years that are virtually identical and also identically uninteresting. The sweetness is synthetic-obtrusive and a quite pleasant creaminess is almost completely lost. One is almost glad that it doesn't have as much staying power on the skin as the early Valentinos.
I'm sincerely sorry, Signor Valentino, but I'm too much Joan Collins for that.