Facets

Thanks to some excellent luck, I bought two bottles of well preserved Facets as part of a lot of older Avon bottles. I don't know if this experience is typical, but upon application the fragrance almost felt sticky on my skin. This sort of syrupy quality was also prominent in the fragrance, like someone had made a thick syrup out of tuberose, jasmine, and labdanum and slathered it over incense sticks. The incense in Facets is not the intensely spiced variety. It is powdery, subtle, and sophisticated. The oak moss and musk are not prominent at all, I hardly detect them, but I am certain they are there and lend the perfume a decent backbone. Facets lasts over 6 hours on my skin with quite a bit of projection for the first hour or two before it settles down to a more subdued aura. I find Facets very soothing, classy, and sensual at the same time. If this were released today under some sort of sexy name by a company other than Avon, people would snatch it up off the shelves for a pretty penny and sing its praises. It is definitely one of the better vintage Avons from the 1980s and worth the effort of tracking down a bottle that has not turned. Speaking of the bottle, it's a beauty!

Avon Facets, circa 1988, is definitely a throwback to when perfumes were real perfumes, when real ingredients were used, when perfumes smelled strong and bodacious. It’s womanly and not for someone looking for a body mist full of fruit and bubblegum. It’s full of wonderful notes of oakmoss, leather, amber, incense and sandalwood that unfold as the hours go by as you sniff your wrist and you’re surprised as each layer unfolds. To reiterate, it’s a real perfume. It lingers. It reminds you what perfume should be. It’s a classic scent that makes you want to dress elegantly and put up your hair. It reminds you of going out to dinner in a nice restaurant instead of a chain that advertises on tv. Is it old-fashioned? No. It’s just refined. My bottle is from a box dated 1988 and is a faceted glass with a blue sapphire top that is really quite pretty. The eau de cologne surprisingly lasts for hours and a few sprays is enough to let others know you’re wearing it. It’s creaminess is beautifully done. Facets is a graceful perfume, sophisticated in a quiet way.

I acquired this on eBay for a song and what a little treasure I have found! The perfume has been discontinued but I have a 1988 edition and I have to say that I was transported into another time zone, another lifetime! I was amazed that the fragrance has still retained its scent after all this time and indeed I thought that at the first spritz it had actually gone off. I forgot that the frags of that era were heavy on the alcohol and aldehydes, the fragrance quickly settles into a lovely and delicate creamy tuberose surrounded by flowers, violet, a soft jasmine, spices and moss. It's like a journey throughout the woods on a warm spring day. The scent makes me feel melancholy for those times gone by and I will wear this when I wish to get out of my skin and take that trip down memory lane.

I used to have this when it was first launched in 1988 or shortly after. I liked it then, and I still like it. I decided I wanted it again so I had to buy my bottle off ebay. Not long after I ended up finding three, new in the box, old stock bottles at a thrift store. I'm glad I have it, and it's retained it's scent well, and hasn't gone "off". It's not as myrrh laden as Avon's Mesmerize, another of their vintage lovelies, but it still sort of has that "vibe". I'm really finding that I'm loving experiencing the perfumes I used to love. Especially as it seems so many of the newer perfumes lack longevity, and projection. I miss the perfume powerhouse days. I have lots and lots of newer perfumes, but I'm slowly adding the vintage ones back into my collection.

I was looking for a avon perfume and I saw this, OMG memories come back so quickly, I had this in 1993. this is a DIAMOND in a bottle. such a lovely smell, I never ever smell any perfume like this one. hope one day get to smell you again. Such a pity people & company like paris hilton, dior, revlon,jpg, armani, cant make something like this. well such is life. good things dont los long. is that why is so important to take care of them.

It IS banana-esque! I think that's the violet and tuberose doing a neat little trick. Cute and vintage, very 80s but not a copy of anything specific. Love this; it's truly a gem! Edit: Smells amazing layered with Je Reviens or Je Reviens Couture! Updating to add: easily in my top 10 Avon perfumes. I'm rather obsessed!

I had this a long time ago and have never found a substitute. Poeme is close but not quite. Avon always gets rid of the really good ones and doesn't bring them back.I've missed this one for years! To get a review after something's been gone for so long makes a statement(this was some good stuff)!

What a beauty and masterpiece! A full and thick floral balmy perfume! Thank you so much for this gorgeous gift my Persephone!

I remember this beautiful fragrance as something I would steal a spray of from my Mom. Just the memory of it makes me smile.

I so love this sensual perfume! A True Avon classic, Persephone gifted me this one in PURE perfume! Sheer heaven!

This perfume has taught me a lesson. Last summer, I read the reviews here and decided that I was going to find a bottle of Facets to add to my collection. Luckily, it took me virtually no time to find a very affordable old, but never used, bottle. Sold! When it arrived and I first tried it, my immediate reaction was "Ick! Why all the glowing reviews!?!" I put it away and thought when I got around to it, I'd resell it on ebay. So today about nine months have passed and we're now nearing the end of winter. Something made me think about this neglected perfume today and I decided to give it another shot. Eureka! It seems what I once would have called the beast I now find is a beauty! On my skin, one word to describe Facets is SPICY. Spicy in an ultra good way. The first time I tried it I detected no flowers, and really nothing much else but only a screeching and bitter mess of spices that had turned very bad a century ago. Today, the spices are fresh, aromatic, lovely! And although my nose hasn't quite identified each note, I am now enjoying this well blended fragrance with so much more depth than I ever imagined. In the past I have given perfumes away after trying them once and disliking them. Not anymore! I would encourage anyone who has been like me, giving only one chance to a new frag, to be more patient and try all times of the year before giving up on a scent and getting rid of it.

A highly abstract, thick, heady tropical bouquet. To me it smells like a combination of tuberose, jasmine, and ylang-ylang. A big dose of deep, sweet, spicy, viscous amber syrup, then raspy, bitter oakmoss, and of course the finale is Avon's signature blend of soapy, cosmetic base notes. Facets runs out of puff after awhile, but it smells fantastic. The perfume feels deliberate. I think these aromas blend harmoniously and were composed to compliment the Avon base. For my tropical island getaway fix, I strongly prefer this to the more popular options from Avon. I see why ratings and reviews are so positive. Facets is definitely among the better perfumes made for Avon. I got it for $10, and I've smelled much worse perfumes being sold at much higher price points. I don't think it smells quite like anything it has been compared to. It's very '80s in style, but it's not directly duping anything.

This ultra-sweet Avon wasn't produced for very long, and my large bottle is from 1988. It's lovely but one that I wear down away from my face due to the very loud tuberose up front. Also because it seems thick and rather jammy (floral jammy rather than fruity) somehow, especially with the darker color of the perfume (it will stain fabric so be careful with nice scarves, etc.) and it always seemed like that. Once it settles down after 15 minutes or so, the sheer sweetness mellows out nicely, it's much prettier and I can appreciate its soft powdery spice. This one is fun to wear just to sniff my wrists, very pleasant at a distance. I'd say this is one of the most feminine perfumes I have, I just feel super girly when I wear it, I want to invite my friends over for a tea party or something.

My grandmother had this when I was a child and I so so crave for it! I remember the incense, strong flowers, and creamy, balmy, powdery, musky nature of the scent... The bottle & box too is adorable.

This is not an incense fragrance. It is a typical 80s floral aldehyde. Not a chypre. But a sharp floral with tuberose forward.

This one is too old school for me. White flowers, moss and incense intermingle in a very 1988 way. I understand what the fans are on about, but it's not my fave.

Hi y'all Carolyn here back to review another fragrance. This time it's Avon's Facets. I have the cologne spray bottle as pictured on this page. Facets dates from 1988 and as I never purchased Avon frags at that time this is new to me. This is not sold by Avon today so if you want to check it out you'll have to hunt for it on eBay. The cologne spray bottle edition is what you'll most likely find though there might be splash bottles. I find that the cologne is easier to handle and softer than the powerful parfum version. Facets is an old fashioned powdery fragrance of violet, white flowers and sandalwood. It comes in a honeycomb shaped bottle with an amber liquid and a very cheap old fashioned atomizer spray. This is a delicate creation. When I first began to wear it the atomizer spray broke and I had to repurchase. So be warned. Handle with care. The instructions on the packaging instruct you to spray lavishly but trust me you don't want to do that. The linear notes are simple but they make up a very beautiful fragrance: tuberose, jasmine, labdanum, violet, incense, musk, oak moss and sandalwood. For me, the first thing that needs to be corrected is that this is not a chypre floral or a straight up chypre. This is a powdery floral. The oak moss cannot be detected. I tried real hard to find it. Nope. Couldn't find it. There is no greenery here. No moss. No herbal touches. This is a sweet, starchy, powdery flower based fragrance. The violet for me is front and center. This is a lovely violet. The powder notes blend with the violet, as does the Rock Rose also known as French labdanum or gum cistus. This is a white flower with a gummy amber based type of scent and texture. It's totally gummy, but not in the bubble gum type of sense. It's balsamic and amber-based. The labdanum is detectable but the violet is the main flower. The jasmine and tuberose are merely along for the ride. This is a sweet amber floral. Dry down is pure sandalwood. Unfortunately being a cologne it can only last for so long before it disappears. My skin eats this stuff rather too quickly so I find that I have to reapply over and over. The instructions say as much when they tell you to reapply so the nose and manufacturers at Avon (Anne Gottlieb) knew that this was a light powdery ephemeral scent. This is powdery but not a boudoir fragrance. It's pretty strong and noticeable so it seems to want you to wear her out in public. A few spritzes maybe just two will be enough for you. It can be worn to the work place, the office, and so forth. It matches up with a light cool blouse or dress shirt for a woman, maybe in the same violet color as the violet note that reigns supreme or a white light fabric shirt. It smells so good y'all. It has a delicious sweetness to it and powdery effect if you like that sort of thing. Facets is perfect for spring and summer. Day wear. Casual and formal at the same time. Mature. Motherly. Elegant. It's utterly feminine and unique, unlike any other fragrance in the market today. I tried to let my nose pick up on any similarities to any other well known perfume but it was impossible. This is a very one of a kind perfume.

Facets Of A Fragrance This was my mother's favorite Avon perfume in the 80's. I loved how it smelled on her, sweet, warm and soft. On her it was very nice. This is my first Avon purchase and on me it's also very nice. For such an affordable inexpensive price, you get as much out of it as a fist class fragrance or expensive designer label frag. But it has to be this one as many of the other Avons are pretty ordinary fruity-florals. Ann Gottlieb created Facets in 1988. Facets has incense! This is a warm wearable incense which can also become powdery. It was powdery on me. Perhaps its' not real incense and it's actually myrrh. This wore more like a warm soft myrrh rather than a dark strong smoky incense. It's most likely the frankincense/olibanum. The bottle is so beautifully designed and has a sapphire gem as a stopper. Mine is a vintage 1988 eau de cologne spray. The back of the box has some instructions on how to properly use it and it reads: This is a natural spray (non aerosol). To apply hold the bottle 6 to 8 inches away press button down completely and spray lavishly on first use or re use after long periods of time. It all sounds very old fashioned but I followed instructions implicitly and it actually works. My skin eats perfume so it stayed on me all day. Men and women paid their compliments. The notes described on Fragrantica include: jasmine, violet, tuberose, labdanum, frankincense, sandalwood, oak moss and musk. This fragrance does not follow the three layered pyramid of progresion of top middle and base notes. They all come to you at once. I would also include amber and powder. The scent of white flowers of jasmine and tuberose are very prominent and they're warmed up by myrrh. It's sweet, very sweet. I never thought I'd actually wear one of my mother's old perfumes but in my discovery of vintages and classics, I've learned that women of the past smelled better than the women of today and therefore any woman of today wearing classic fragrances is going to be the best smelling of them all! This is lovely and one of the rare masterpieces of the Avon line.

This is one of the nicer Avon fragrances that I have encountered. Launched in 1988, it is Avon's answer to Boucheron by Boucheron. It has a little sweeter "facet" than Boucheron, but still smells pretty good. Facets is classified as a fruity floral chypre fragrance and has notes of fruit, jasmine, violet, tuberose, labdanum, frankincense, sandalwood, oak moss and musk. It is definitely not as full bodied as Boucheron nor is as long lasting. Though Ann Gottlieb did a pretty decent job of a dupe, Facets does have a slight shrillness and sharp note that hurts my nose, whereas Boucheron is smooth and very well blended. Boucheron was launched in 1988, and is classified as a floral oriental fragrance for women. It begins with a fresh fruity top, followed by a floral heart, resting on a woody oriental base. Top notes: bergamot, sour orange, orange blossom, lemon, sweet orange, tangerine, tagetes, apricot, basil, mint, blackcurrant buds absolute, asafoetida Middle notes: geranium, jasmine, lily of the valley, broom, narcissus, tuberose, orris, cedarwood, ylang-ylang, sandalwood Base notes: civet, amber, benzoin, musk, styrax balsam, tonka beans, vanilla, oakmoss, olibanum

What a perfume! My nose had a good time trying to pick up on all the notes and the ones that aren't listed. This is an amber. It definitely has amber. It's also got some honey. There is something balsamic about it someone mentioned incense or myrrh but it's not very smoky at all so it's probably a balsamic myrrh. It smells really good but the texture is honeyed, soft and sticky. I could smell the flowers of tuberose jasmine French labdanum and violet. Out of all the flowers the tuberose is the strongest note. The violet also comes on pretty strong. It's a flowers-with-honey scent to my nose. And despite the tuberose it's not a screaming floral. It's soft and subtle. No one else can tell it's on me unless I've just sprayed it and it's still fresh. For some reason every time I wear this fragrance I feel like going to a fancy dinner. It makes me hungry. It's a fragrance that smells almost foody and spicy but without any real gourmand scents or spices. Beautiful, very feminine and sweet. Because it is so rare I don't know anyone in my social circle that wears it. I don't tell them what fragrances I wear and prefer to keep them guessing. Great stuff.