Eau de Caron

What a lovely surprise! It begins light, smokey, and masculine, like a sporty Tabac Blond, and grows oriental--the ambery vanilla Cybernoir identifies. I love all stages of it. Ms rochambeau's review makes me wish I'd bought the Alpona that was available a mere two years ago at the Caron boutique in NYC. (IFRA is doing the kind of aggressive cultural damage, I daresay, that the Hays Code did to Hollywood, the US, and all of us.) Eau de Caron is a treasure hidden under a nondescript name.

Oh so delicious citrus top with a rich, smokey base like bonfire toffee, but not too sweet. This is a stunning old-school chypre, love it.

A lot of tobacco, and a strong ashtray note, apparently unlisted. I had to work at liking this one, it had such a strong leather, oakmoss, and tobacco vibe. Very gentlemen's club. Smoky myrrh, deep resinous, ambery drydown with a really great vanilla. Very herbal opening, with a distinct sage, and a sweet basil, prolonged by a little thyme note in the heart. The lemon and bergamot are tart, but not sour; light, and fresh. the carnation is classic Caron, a little clovey, and the jasmine is slightly indolic. The scent begins to sweeten about a half hour after the opening, becoming less bracing and masculine, and more floral and feminine. The ashtray note fades, but a sweet pipe tobacco gains steam, a vanilla orange tobacco, merging with the leather. I feel like i am wearing a nice, old leather jacket worn by a pipe smoker. it lasts pretty well on me, about four to six hours.

Other Caron scents are easier to source, but this one evades me, and I lament! As my last name is Caron, it seems only appropriate I find a bottle of 'Eau De Caron', since it is the essence of me, no? The notes of this are so dreamy to me... Oakmoss, patchouli, basil, clary sage, thyme! And the orange blossom... Oh my mouth is drooling... I dream of this perfume... If anyone would like to make a Caron very happy, pm moi... I am searching far and wide for a source. Edit: I have sourced it, and got it for a phenomenal price! First of all let me say, the bottle is absolutely gorgeous. The crystal stopper is elegant and assertive, very art deco. The label in its lovely whimsical 80s nature delights me. And the fragrance lying inside is a beautiful vintage composition which met my expectations. Very pleased as I had been disappointed by more modern Caron scents I tried. I was scared the vintage juice had gone bad but thankfully it’s kept its sparkling vibrancy, fresh and spicy and aromatic. The herbal elements really sell this fragrance for me. Unfortunately I found it to be unwearable as on the skin it did turn sour from its age I suspect, the old compositions tend to smell dated, but out of the bottle it is really lovely. Not for wear but definitely to savour

Eau de Caron is not a typical eau fraiche/eau de cologne/citrus aromatic by any means. While it opens with standard lemon and herbs, it really stands out from the crowd as this has a smoky, resinous, spiced depth courtesy of healthy doses of benzoin, myrrh, and moss. It opens with far more of an herbal melange as one would expect as well, lots of thyme in this one, rendering it decidedly masculine in its heart. There's something really masculine to me about thyme: it's not only aromatic but has a compelling pungency and leathery undertone. This, with classic Caron carnation and spices, really puts this in the ranks of aromatic leathers that were marketed to the gents at the time. For oakmoss fiends, you would not be disappointed here: it's in spades in the amber/chypre hybrid base that is vanillic and leathery. Eau de Caron is the forgotten little gem of the house, long discontinued and worthy of rediscovery.