Nearness

ParfumAmour's description is pretty spot on with what I get. The initial smell out of bottle is strong aldehydes but within seconds the scent of sweet civet comes out with a soft to moderate silage. It's wonderfully sexy! About 10 minutes later the drydown begins to occur and small wafts of lemon, and I think mimosa, begin to emerge but stay far in the background. Half an hour later a lightly sweetened powder takes over and remains close to your skin for over 8 hours, and to me is still sexy and very feminine. I can't seem to find any information about this perfume anywhere online. What a shame it's been discontinued and forgotten.

The opening is strongly aldehyde, then a sweet animalic rush comes with a thrill. This is heavy, dirty and I love it. After thirty minutes it becomes powdery but is still powerful.

I finallly obtained a rocker bottle of cologne (circa 1962-3). I get a rosey soapy floral note plus something woody. It reminded me of Regence, which is much rosier. The difference is the woody note. My bottle was boxed but had been opened and used so it is not the best tester. I put some Nearness on one wrist and Regence perfume on the other and they were similar. Nearness might be a Chanel 5 wannabe, rosey/woody/aldehydic, but it is hard to tell from my bottle. Nearness appeared to have been dropped from US Avon catalogs prior to the debut of Regence and I wonder if Regence was a hipper replacement for Nearness. I have seen late 60's - 70's French ads for Nearness which is offered in the same style packaging as Sonnet which was introduced in the US in the 70's. I would love to know the history of these fragrances.

I wondered if anyone else remembered "Nearness"! I have no memory of how it smelled, but I remember my grandmother buying the cream sachet and dusting powder in 1955. I remembered the pretty bottle, with seashell motifs, but not the name. I googled, and there it was. If it smells floral, as others describe, I have to wonder why Avon used the seashell designs in the packaging. The reason I recall "Nearness" is funny. Grannie tried to wear it, and my mother told her she smelled like oysters! That illustrates how much fragrance perception is influenced by body chemistry. I would buy a bottl to put on my dressing table, just to remember her, and smile. After the "oyster" remark, she adopted "To A Wild Rose" - a better scent for her!