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This is a very dry Russian leather - I don't know all of the classics but in contrast to the Chanel the complete absence of florals and sweet notes is striking. My (obviously vintage) bottle doesn't have the slightest citric top notes despite the cologne moniker - they might have evaporated, but since they are still present in the Kamp "Koelnisch" from the same auction and this even came in its own plastic box I find that unlikely.

So, it's dry, it's leather; but it's not like Knize Ten but it has the Russian works with birch tar and ... what? I can't quite place the animalic component, but it's probably a musk. In addition I find woody notes - I'd say hardwood and definitely a whiff of patchouli as well as what I'd describe as engine oil to complete the sawmill. This puts it in the company of scents like Le Labo's Oud 27, which as it appears Luca Turin rated with 5 stars among other reasons because it reminded him of a machine room at his Russian university ...

The cologne appears a bit musty, but that's what unsweetened patchoulis always smell to me. It certainly isn't without charm, and for all I know Russian leathers (Piver, Chanel, ...) were always marketed as unisex.

"Das Anhaltende", as it is affixed in German meaning "of high longevity", is a well-rounded Eau de Cologne probably dating back to the 40s. I don't have much of a nose for hesperidics but there is nothing remotely pungent in there, no bergamot, orange, lime ... just a lovely lemony scent, maybe with a whiff of grapefruit, layered with a spicyness that I can't quite place and that might account for the titular longevity, but still fits in with the general cologne theme.

I obtained the bottle together with a "Kölnisch Juchten" from the same company (Kamp Silberhals, also known as Alex Kamp), a very dry Russian leather via an auction platform, paying less for the bottles than for the shipping, and bargains can probably still be made of vintage Kamp products.

The title of this review refers to Peanut's German one implying that men like bikinis.

Lily of the valley, sure! And presently I smell civet everywhere, there's definitely some musk, then comes jasmine ... I would put Peanut's great writeup slightly differently: very animalic - I still smell the civet a week later, so it's not just my desk, and in addition to the musk I feel some ambergrisy sensation that takes the beach scent to a higher level.

At one point a bitter note appears which reminds me of what the marketing departments try to sell as Absinth, maybe an Italian apreritif - in consistency with the beach scenario Campari-Soda comes to mind.

Somewhere there's a small patch of dried grass, but the lily of the valley is well-kept - almost an evergreen ;-)

Over the hours the tiger vanishes befor succumbing to sunstroke, the lily remains embeded in musk until the next day.

Thanks to Nuitdete1 for a sample of this rare and beautiful scent!

When I visited the Chanel shop in the city they were fresh out of samples, so amongst testing a few other scents I sprayed my right wrist and a card with 31 Rue Cambon. Both seemed to lose any recognizable scent quickly.

Due to a sample request for 31 Rue Cambon I remembered I had obtained a sample from the sharing in July, so I tried it again. It does indeed have a fruity note besides the bergamot in the top notes, somewhat peachy - then it tastes of dead flowers. My untrained nose couldn't directly find patchouli but I suppose it just vanished below the flower bouquet. I won't deny that it has the morbidity of a Gothic festival and I don't particularly mind the cemetery smell but I'll have to think hard whether I want to perfume myself in that.

Interestingly about an hour in I got somewhat sour fruit punch wearing which I'd probably got thrown out of any Goth event. It reminds me of Burberry Weekend for Women and B de Boucheron where I'm hard-pressed to detect the patchouli as well. However the fruity notes vanish as quickly as they have come and leave the morbid bouquet that stays for many hours.

Maybe I just don't get the fragrance, but at least now I know the difference between rockrose oil and resin (labdanum) ;-)

Alice may appear naughty when inconsiderate of traditional ownership conceptions she picks pears off the nearest tree but she can be quite sweet (which she will not be happy to hear).

After she is done with the orchard she lies down in a flowery meadow and waits for a musk deer to come along to play with. Together they suck on caramels and sniff on tree resins (benzoe, labdanum?) in a nearby wood. There is no telling if she will still be up for dinner after the vanilla ice cream ...

Longevity is good, the pyramid of this great scent has a nice progression over time. This is certainly a must-have for lovers of warm, sweet, resinous scents, in winter maybe even a scent for cuddling (see Guerlindes most original German review ...)

However, I'm pretty sure Lewis Carroll confused the march hare and the musk deer - an easy mistake.

Thanks to Anemone for the sample!