Шипр (Chypre)

The classic 19th century cologne Shipr features a great opening with a massive blast of civet and some geranium/rose. My EdC performs like an aftershave, with most of the weight up top and only a subtle heart accord. I tried to put a lot on but 45 minutes later it's a quiet, pleasant skin scent of amber, oakmoss, and civet. Would love an EdT/EdP of this. Nothing in this fragrance gives me a powdery vibe at all – it's more moist and translucent with the sharp bergamot top and glowing amber. Definitely not rosewater either – Shipr would benefit from a more prominent floral accord, imo. Perhaps reformulation, as this juice is dirt cheap – it performs far above its price point. The likeable base accord of oakmoss, amber, and civet glows beautifully as a skin scent for many hours. Dating from the same year as Jicky, Shipr of course has no lavender and is far simpler, but carries a similar ultra-vintage dandy vibe. The base accord is absolutely terrific. You really can't go wrong with tons of civet, labdanum, and oakmoss, with vanilla and patchouli accents. Next time I'll be dousing myself so this accord can really bloom. Terrific stuff! I actually would like to pick up several more bottles of this and add my own ingredients (after all the splash opening is big!). You could make a Jicky variation with lavender and rose; or a masculine spicy green chypre with coriander seed and more patchouli; or a bitter aromatic chypre with patchouli, wormwood, and lavender... the possibilities are great with this stuff. It's a bit basic and skeletal though. A theme to hang variations off – like the chypre genre itself.

Epic Journey Into the Bottled Yonder, 172 ------------------------------------------------------- Purchased October 2019 Sweetened moss, and dead memories of a world long forgotten and never lived again in a land most never were born nor visited. A dusted off old violin barely tuned back up to play one more song. You will be happy to smell the history in this bottle. Being a splasher the cloying part is the sweetness but as it begins to dry the sweetness blends into the rest of the scent and becomes a truly exquisite foreign market scent. Very much manly.

I love this one for a unique feature: it smells both antique and timeless. It somehow manages to smell like forest or forest farm, but without the "fresh air"-ness of open spaces, so it smells like museum. It smell at some point resembles oak leaves, rubbed in hands.

Beautiful oakmoss, like Mitsouko's skeleton. This is the best cologne I've tried, soft and interesting (if you like oakmoss), no sharpness anywhere.

This scent is the distilled essence of comforting grandparents. No matter where you are from. Poland, Russia, America, England, Spain. This scent will trigger some primal nostalgia. It is affordable enough that you can use it to infuse powders and make room sprays from it. Fill your life with comfort. It absolutely smells like the dressing table of your great-grandmother or grandmother. Like all of the vintage toiletries all in one. It smells like an estate sale, but not in a dusty sense. Make-up brushes which have been used for decades with classic make-up take on this genre of scent. The wardrobe where your grandfather's suits hang. The powdered drawer liners. But it is still fresh and green and living, not a morbid, dead powdery scent. A universal Western scent.