#vincent roubert

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Vintage Perfume Quick Takes

brief summaries for when I didn't have enough to write for a full review

F. Millot Crepe de Chine

Nose: Jean Desprez

Notes: aldehydes, bergamot, neroli, lemon, orange; carnation, lilac, iris, jasmine, rose, orange blossom, ylang-ylang, elemi; oakmoss, galbanum, heather, sandalwood, leather, benzoin, musk, patchouli, vetiver, cedar, amber

Goes on with a hit of boozy-sweet resins, and quickly fades into a fluffy, chintzy mixed floral, heavy on the rose. I find it forgettable. It's supposed to be a bitter, sophisticated chypre; maybe I got a suboptimal sample or a bad nose day?

Evyan White Shoulders

notes: aldehydes, orange flower, green notes, peach, bergamot; gardenia, lilac, tuberose, jasmine, lily, lily-of-the-valley, iris, spices; civet, oakmoss, musk, sandalwood, benzoin

Your basic white floral. Smells good, though maybe a little too sweet and creamy for my taste; fades rapidly.

Guerlain Chant D'Aromes

Nose: Jean-Paul Guerlain

Notes: aldehydes, citrus, gardenia, plum; honeysuckle, jasmine, ylang-ylang, clove; heliotrope, vetiver, olibanum, benzoin, vanilla

This was a light, citrusy floral veil with a cuddly-soft drydown. There were some unusual herbal notes, almost like cooking herbs (thyme?). Delicate and pleasant but not too memorable.

Coty L'Aimant

Nose: Vincent Roubert

Notes: aldehydes, neroli, peach, bergamot; ylang-ylang, rose, jasmine, geranium, orchid; musk, sandalwood, vanilla, tonka, vetiver, cedar

This is a bit of formal glass-chandelier sparkle over the usual Coty powder-soft base. A milder, puff-powder version of the classic aldehydic floral. The powder certainly makes it easier to wear, but also less interesting. It settles into pure powder, musky and sweet and very skin-like.

Guerlain Mouchoir de Monsieur

Nose: Jacques Guerlain

Notes: lavender, bergamot, lemon verbena; neroli, tonka, jasmine, patchouli, cinnamon, rose; vanilla, iris, amber, oakmoss

A wine-dark rose, somewhat tangy; that almost immediately falls into pale powder. Not too sweet, just smells clean and comfortable. I must be missing most of the complexity because everyone else seems to smell lavender, vanilla, and animalics. I get very little of anything, maybe a little bit of the oakmoss spine or a touch of dry citrus, and clean soft powder.

Caron Tabac Blond

Nose: Ernest Daltroff

Notes: carnation, leather, linden; iris, ylang-ylang, vetiver; vanilla, musk, patchouli, cedar

Goes on with smoky, sweetened leather. a soft powdery landing. pleasant but not memorable. Basically Bellodgia with a leather top.

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Knize Ten

Notes: geranium, rosemary, petitgrain, bergamot; carnation, patchouli, sandalwood, orris, rose, cinnamon, orange blossom; leather, castoreum, oakmoss, amber, musk, vanilla

Nose: Francois Coty, Vincent Roubert

Created in 1924 for men’s clothing line Knize (pronounced, as I just learned, “kuh-nee-shuh”), Knize Ten is a sweetened, rich leather.

I can feel the petitgrain and bergamot giving a little citrusy lift in the opening, but the main event is the leather, warmed with amber, grounded by castoreum. The sweetness seems almost fruity at times — Luca Turin claims there’s a strawberry topnote — but recedes smoothly to a rich brown depth.

Knize Ten is pretty much the ultimate warm leather (as opposed to leather chypres, which marry the smoky-rich note with bitter oakmoss, in larger quantities than the accent of oakmoss here.)

It’s perfectly androgynous, as 20’s perfumes tend to be; darkness and soft warmth are beautifully balanced. Lasts all day; radiates a musky buzz a foot away from skin.