Arrogance pour Femme

C14 aldehydes for the peach effect, bergamot, green notes, neroli, hyacinth. Iris, LOTV, jasmine, carnation, ylang ylang, tuberose. Musk, oakmoss, amber, sandalwood, vanilla, cedar wood, ambergris and civet. This is (vintage) Arrogance pour Femme. By Raymond Chaillan, one of the 4 noses behind Anaïs Anaïs, Arrogance is the grown up, 80’s animalic version. 100ml splash bottle from 1982. EDT. Anaïs came in the late 70’s, and it always felt like peachy teenager skin. Gossamer, hazy, but while innocent it always carried a heavy carnal load. Sometimes I think of it as a perverted nun. Hiding the dirty thoughts behind a veil. Arrogance becomes a fulfilled woman, no longer needing to hide. More indolic, more animalic, she lives her life without giving a fuck. While Anaïs feels like a study on Madonna Lily, Arrogance borrows the intense green/herbal opening of Scherrer, plays with the same floral notes found in Anaïs, but here the Lily (even if not mentioned) plays with the hyacinth for a brief moment as to convey a false innocence. Playful. The tuberose and jasmine change that when they start to show up. The heart feels decidedly creamy and tender at the same time. Think white lace underwear instead of raunchy black. Dim lights instead of neon signs. Emmanuelle instead of Tracy Lords. It feels decidedly erotic, just like a 70’s Italian film you’re watching scared of being caught. The civet and amber/ambergris add that lick of naughtiness that make it what it is; a filthy chypre, Italian caliber! On my skin, the similarity to Anaïs is inevitable. Like a flanker. Chaillan played with balance, shadow and light and gave us (willingly, persuaded or not) a forgotten but excellent fragrance. Arrogance doesn’t elicit the same reaction, awe or status symbol power like many others, but viewed on its own merits, this is just as stunning as most chypres from the era, especially those erotically charged Italian ones. If anyone has watched ‘The Killing of a Chinese Bookie’, I can picture Sherry smelling of Arrogance in the limo scene, having Dom Perignon as they head to gamble. Just like its (vintage) male counterpart, Arrogance is one of the finest duos made by Pikenz back in the glory days of perfumery. Excellent sillage and longevity on both, easily worn by anyone today!

It is a feminist perfume, made by a perfumer who worked at fragrances for the class of high career women.For the connoisseur it is a St Dupont with DKNY woman and something fallen from a royal lily. Of course there is no copy because at the time when this perfume was made, the two did not exist, rather they were inspired by it because Arrogance was a feminist brand and still is.And for those who do not understand it is called Arrogance not because it would be any proof of character to be arrogant, on the contrary, but it was about the superiority of career women over mistresses and housewives, the career woman was respected, she could dress in men's clothes without pointing a finger, she sat at the table with the men, punched the table and did not talk to the "wives" or escorts who accompanied the gentlemen, so in the minds of those women was ARROGANCE, in fact it was nauseating towards the pathos of women who preferred to be led and subjugated. That's why the brand is called Arrogance, now you understand? For those interested in Europe you can still find it, sometimes more expensive sometimes at outlet stores, if you still want it and fail to find it, there is a fragrance very close to it at Instituto Espanol brand, I have that one too and I can say that it is very close. Now, the aroma is also a cold fragrance, the orange blossom and the cedar are predominant and the vetiver easily touches the composition. I don't know why, but I love it in the winter, it successfully replaced my Attimo and Marina of Bourbon Dynasty, which is an another variant of Attimo. I forgot to tell you that the company that owns Arrogance owns SPAs, in these SPAs at a certain moment there was the cream of European feminism, that's how the Arrogance perfume started and why it was made by a famous perfumer because they used on their customers and sold it directly from the SPA. It was practically a European interpretation of Arden's Red salon, where the perfume of the same name was used. The difference was that I don't know if Red Door was just exclusively for feminists, while this it was, just women with high careers and core members of the feminist lodge had access.

Ladies, I want to tell you that after I wrote the last review, although I still had vintage bottles bought from outlets and on ebay, I decided to buy the new version from the Arrogance website. It's the same sensational formula. Nothing change in the fragrance, still luxuriant, still cold, still woody and dark but in a protocolar form not in that"sexy" bomb like I don't know Opium, the new one. The only thing changed is the quality of the bottle, there was no longer that clothing of glass made of that hard material with stamping, now it is a bottle dressed in a soft type of eco-leather or something like that still stamping but without that gold deco elements, it is not necessarily an improvement, the first variant seemed more unique to me, but the second one is also beautiful. The box instead has improved. As I told you before, this perfume is usually bought directly from the exclusively feminist Spa relaxation centers, so the was like a jewelry box where you found the protection case, a very shiny cardboard, more on the type of box we see in cosmetics today, especially those not necessarily very expensive but exclusive. The current box is a beautiful more matted cardboard, nothing special, but it is a typical perfumery box that I like. The colour instead much better still I would prefer a royal blue, or white maybe would be confuse with other Italians brand trussardi but an intense blue or purple royal or I don't know even black would be splendid, but still this orange-pink it's much better for the inside formula than the predecessor version. Oh and by the way, had nothing in common with Anaïs from Cacharel, maybe it's from the same perfumer but it's something else, Anaïs is a girly scent and this is a mature powerful scent who scream Attention boss enter the building.

One more comment and I swear I'm calming down, someone asked me in a private message seeing that I also like the classic Dupont that is my signature, if it's colder than Dupont. My dear Duponts is in the category of children in comparison, don't wear it in the summer, it will kill your nose, no matter how hot it is, I know it sounds weird but in the heat and strong sun on the molecules from the skin it's ice, if you smell it you have the same feeling as when your nose freezes in the winter,of course I say this for those who live in an area that really has winter like -1C at least. At least in the first base ... it's like throwing yourself naked in the snow. But paradoxical on a cold skin tends to warm up and a myrrh or incense appears through the notes but subtle and pleasant.

I wore this in the early 90's and always had fond memories of this little gem. As I remembered it- strong white flowers that needed only light application and definitely a perfume to make a statement. Fast forward to last year when I first tested Robert Piguet Fracas, it immediately conjured memories of Arrogance. They seemed almost identical to my nose. Keen to test my olfactory memory, I tracked down a mini of Arrogance to see if they were indeed similar, and I do believe they are. Just look at the notes side by side and you'll see what I mean. Almost a carbon copy of one another. Shame it's discontinued but I may need to snaffle another FB while I can!