La Fuite des Heures (Fleeting Moment)

Certainly a very different offering from Balenciaga's early days, one of Germaine Celliers more playful compositions, the parfum exudes the warmth of a French country-side idyll with jasmine as the main floral contender centred around a solid base of amber, herbal notes, sandalwood & vetyver. Celliers construct for this fragrance was to exhibit the innumerable olfactive accords experienced from her formative years with superb and highly complex bases including herbal/anisic accords of tarragon, thyme, hay abs. & violet leaf available from the major fragrance and flavour companies of the time. The heart consists of lavender and jasmine creating a heady kitchen/herb garden atmosphere where both floral and savoury notes (tarragon,thyme) blend seamlessly to give the allusion of a quintessential French country house vegetable *jardin*, the jasmine used in the original formula was indeed grown in the hills of Grasse & used in a higher concentration than in most of the other parfums from that mid 20th century period, one of Germaine Celliers best & a vintage favorite of mine for sure, almost impossible to find now in extrait strength, I guard my 1 fl.oz flacon of parfum zealously! Do search for this, you will not be disappointed. . .

La Fuite des Heures comes on buttery with iris and maybe a light touch of tonka, plus a dry, delicate lavender-and-jasmine heart with a mist-grey tonality. There’s also the very faintest suggestion of a cooling, blue-green tarragon note. Not super-overtly anisic, but giving that magical tingly aura to the misty early-morning herb garden. I think of this as a “good-witch” sort of scent; kindly, pale-gray, subdued yet twinkling with possibility. One natural parallel, for me, is Andy Tauer’s L'Air des Alpes Suisses, which also has that contrast of creamy tonka with dry herbs. But of course, Tauer is a modern perfumer with a distinctive style; his perfumes come apart in pieces, all cream top and earthy bottom. La Fuite Des Heures is a 1940’s perfume, and so it’s much more delicate, with more intricacy and less legibility.

Oh I had forgotten the magic of this vintage parfum, when you first dab it on your skin and that tiny touch with the crystal stopper is enough to overwhelm your senses... I stumbled on a one ounce bottle of parfum, just over 50% full, original sealing string still intact. No one else bid on it so on this occasion I got lucky. I’m not going to deconstruct the notes even if I could, this is just a sublime Chypre which takes me back to being 12 and sniffing the precious bottles of amber coloured fluids sitting on my mother’s dressing table. This is one I will probably not wear out, but greedily savour for my own enjoyment. The box is square and light coloured, and the texture of the box looks like it’s embossed to resemble crocodile skin.

I have a guessing 60s vintage edt, large rectangular grooved bottle, white box. I seem to be getting a very different experience to many reviews below. I would have questioned the bottle but it came sealed with an old fashioned cork and rubber, which crumbled (the cork not the insert) when I was eagerly trying to pry it off to get to the Germaine Cellier experience. Ok, so what I am getting, on my skin, is not a Jolie Madame or Vent Vert like paradigm shattering masterpiece but instead a quite meek and very powdery violet. No aldehydes or thyme or leather. There is a hint, but only a hint, of the top left (which I am guessing would have been the thyme and the aldehydes) but its very peripheral. The bottle came from a shop that had closed down and insofar as I know it has been kept in its box. But not at all the Cellier genius I was expecting. Instead a pleasant mild mannered powdery violet. Can anyone explain?

Savory jasmine. I experienced this in wispy, attenuated form from a tiny dab sample of the EDC concentration. Yet it displays Germaine Cellier's trademark wit. Bear with me when I say there's a pleasing pizza dough accord of herbs and yeast. A light, soapy skin scent with a dash of salt, which strikes me as unisex. It wouldn't be out of place in L'Artisan's current lineup. I'd love to try a more potent version.