Cerissa

I discovered this fragrance in high school. First encountered it on my English teacher. She was tall, platinum blonde, both lithe and voluptuous, beautiful and quite kind. All of her fine qualities are intertwined with my memories of CERISSA. It is quite unique. I am dreadful at description of fragrance, so I will not blunder through. It is is bright and sharp and what modern was in 1975. I know it is considered a sister fragrance to CIARA. I believe that is more of a timing thing than anything else. They are nothing alike. I actually loathe CIARA, and always have. Dead flowers languishing too long in the vase? So, if you love CIARA, do not feel you need to hunt down CERISSA. Worlds apart. My apologies to CIARA lovers. I know it is still popular, whereas CERISSA is long discontinued. I think my rather mean comments regarding same, stem from my utter disappointment at how badly CIARA reacted with my skin. I recall enthusiastically trying CIARA, after discovering CERISSA, and my youthful expectations were dashed. Much the same feeling as when the DAWN dolls were first advertised. There was no scale of size provided in the commercials, so I thought, oh, here we go, MANY MORE FRIENDS FOR BARBIE!!! Yippee!!! I am still bitter and hold an unreasonable grudge towards those teeny TUTTI size fashion dolls. Just, to me, so wrong. And entirely based on my UTTER DISAPPOINTMENT. Same deal with CIARA. Still does NOT work for me. Tried it again, not long ago. NOPE. Also, GREEDILY, I am not terribly inclined to welcome new users of CERISSA as it is often priced VERY HIGH and when an affordably priced bottle becomes available online, the last thing I really need is more competition. Having confessed my lack of generosity of spirit, I will add, CERISSA is an A*M*A*Z*I*N*G vintage scent and I adore it. The list above, showing PEOPLE WHO LIKE... is, in my case SUPER ACCURATE. I am a fan of almost every single one of those scents, and the ones of which I am not a fan, I have never tested. So, if you’ve made it this far.....get some, if you can. As I stated above, it is *****UNIQUE*****

For the original Charles Revson Eau de Cologne. Cerissa is not what I expected based on the scarce notes listed here. I thought maybe a lighter scent, in spirit of Fidji which was a blockbuster when this came out. Nope. Cerissa is different. It starts in a way that reminds me of Chloé. The original Lagerfeld formula. It’s buttery, white floral rich (tuberose/jasmine/gardenia), with a halo of aldehydes and brighter citrus notes. Rich and saturated, slowly unfurling a green heart. Sap greenness with a slight bitter touch (galbanum/oakmoss) that reminds me of the green facets of Halston, and to an extent, Ivoire and Armani. I sense no artificial sweetness or fruitiness which is to be expected; after all, this is a baby from the 70’s, from a respected house that gave us masterpieces (Maroc!!!) so it will feel, smell and behave like a 70’s perfume. Which is my style! It’s got a brightness to saturate the creaminess of the white flowers and a gentle greenness to anchor it, until a slightly oriental base emerges. Powdery, spicy and woody, far away from the spices of Opium and nearer to an ambery oriental like Shalimar. There’s also an unmistakable animalic kick like Jontue, Charlie, Maroc, Ciara... civet, castoreum, ambergris...could be any or all. Subtle, but there. Cerissa is beautiful. Radiant. With character and panache. It has layers and unfolds slowly, revealing different facets gradually. For an Eau de Cologne, it’s quite good in sillage and projection; I’ve been testing it in light smears from a splash bottle and I already know that sprayed this is gonna be big. Y, III, Fidji, Norell, Chloé, Charlie, Halston, Pierre Cardin, Miss Dior...if any ring a bell or make you excited, Cerissa is a sure bet, and different enough to warrant owning it!

I hunted for this fragrance high and low as an adult and finally bought it a few years ago off of ebay. I originally smelled it in the 80s on the dresser of one of my good friends' mom. It intoxicated me. I've ALWAYS been a fragrance junkie, so I wanted to have that smell again, somehow. I've actually never worn it after buying it...at first I thought it was "off." But I've kept it in a cool, dark space in it's original box and I just tested it out and it smells fine. There is something about the notes underneath that are powdery yet earthy that just get me. Don't know if I'll ever actually wear this but, at least my childhood memories are in tact! :-)

I read this was Ciara's sister. I purchased the perfume concentrate. According to the Revlon site: Top notes: bergamot, spices. Middle: Jonquil, lily of the valley, jasmine, honeysuckle. Base: oakmoss, sandalwood, patchouli, musk, ambergris, labdanum, vanilla. Even though this fragrance is quite nice I can understand why Ciara is still around and Cerissa was discontinued shortly after its release. They are two completely different fragrances, each one standing on her own. With all those wonderful notes I expected something better. It is not a bad perfume, actually, it is quite good. But, it does not have the uniqueness of Ciara. With a name like Cerissa, it's a shame they did not add a cherry note (Cerissa sounds like cherry in Spanish). Too bad, it would have made this perfume extraordinary. The cherry on the top? (pun intended). I would buy a bigger bottle, but, IMO, it's not worth more than 10 times the price of Ciara.

This was my favorite fragrance throughout high school and college, and by the time I ran out, I was horribly disappointed to find it had been discontinued. I recently found an affordable unopened bottle on ebay, and was delighted to find that I still loved it. For me, it’s about the woody and Oriental notes that are so “blended” I can’t really break them down to individual notes, and how consistent they are without getting boring. (The only other fragrance I’ve had like this was a bottle of Mary Chess Tapestry EDT that I stole from my mother. Got that again online, too. :) )