Emeraude

I am a lover of almost all things old and vintage. I also don't have a large budget to spend on perfumes, so naturally I gravitate towards "drugstore" fragrances. Coty, particularly the old school Coty fragrances, have been my very favorites. Coty, once upon a time, was the undisputed King of smelling high-end while on a budget. He is famously quoted as saying: "Give a woman the best product to be made, market it in the perfect flask, beautiful in its simplicity, yet impeccable in its taste, ask a reasonable price for it, and you will witness the birth of a business the size of which the world has never seen." L'Aimant I first tried about 4 years ago, and was blown away by how close it was to my all time favorite, Chanel No5. I discovered Emeraude some time after L'Aimant, and I discovered it before Guerlain's Shalimar. I bought the cologne spray when it was on sale at Walmart, and fell in love with it. I seem to really love fragrances released in the 1920s. It was really a game changing era of perfumery, and so many masterpieces came out of it, the likes of which haven't been replicated. Emeraude is a deep Amber fragrance, with a heavy vanilla / oppoponax / benzoin / sandalwood / amber base, middle notes of florals and rosewood, and top notes of tart citruses; lemon, bergamot, and orange. I love the blend of the citruses with the heavy resins in the first spray of the fragrance. After the citruses disappear, you get a vanilla scented / lightly floral powder scent. I think the name "Emeraude" fits this fragrance perfectly. It's tagline in many vintage ads was "The jewel fragrance..." And Emeraude shines. Even as a cologne spray. I bought the now unfortunately discontinued dusting powder as well, and loved it every bit as much as the cologne. It was a very comforting scent to wear at night after my shower. I loved puffing on the powder at night and spraying the cologne on my wrists and climbing into bed, wrapped in the rich scent of vanilla and resins. I eventually used up my bottle, and haven't bought a new bottle since, as I've been spending my money on other favorites and some new-to-me fragrances to try. Then, just today, I discovered an antique shop while at an auto show. I was pulled in by looking at the store front, and was so excited to find that it was an antique shop. I've been in a few antique stores before, but this antique store really had everything. They had old 78 albums and records, vintage dresses and ladies gloves, and the most exciting find for me, were the perfumes they had. I seldom find perfumes at thrift stores / antique stores. And when I do, it's usually a small selection. I first spotted a miniature perfume that was nameless, and had no label. I kept looking, and while walking down an isle, I spotted a table with Avon fragrances and cosmetics. As soon as I walked over, behind it was a vanity with a handful of vintage scents. A flacon spray of Emeraude was the first thing I spotted, and I immediately picked it up. I bought it, and brought it home. Having read so many reviews here and online, alot of people have pointed out that it has been reformulated. Reformulations are the WORST things next to discontinuation when you are a vintage perfume lover. I'm not sure how old this bottle is or how long Coty manufactured these flacons, however I'm aware they were first on the market in the 1960s. I'm still very familiar with the current cologne spray. I wore this vintage tonight after my shower, and I did notice some differences. When I first tried Emeraude, and then sampled Shalimar, Emeraude seemed to be a "lighter" version of Shalimar. The opening notes on the current formulas are very different. This vintage formula, however, is ALOT closer to current Shalimar. The citruses are amped up in this formula, and both fragrances share a screechy, "chemical" smelling opening. The current Emeraude in stores smells much more natural, and the citruses aren't nearly as strong and tart. The dry downs, however, are very much alike. After this has dried, it smells like the Emeraude I'm familiar with. I'm quite surprised, due to this being a Coty fragrance. Aside from L'Aimant, and now this, Coty has discontinued and ruined many of it's great old school fragrances with reformulations, in my opinion. This however, while not 100% alike, is much closer than other reformulations I've encountered. I only wish this were still available in more than just a cologne spray. An eau de parfum version of this would smell incredible. I still hope, someday, that Coty will re-introduce some of it's older fragrances with new, high quality formulas. I would gladly spend the typical retail $48 dollars, (usually what celebrity or "affordable" fragrances cost in retail) on a high quality Coty eau de parfum. Until then, I will have to settle for this cologne spray; that is until I'm able to follow my perfume hobby, and try recreating this myself!

I'm not going to talk about how it 'smells like Shalimar'. I love both Shalimar and Emeraude and can appreciate the subtle differences. At the first spray, totally the same opening as Shalimar with zesty lemon and bright orange. The citrus top notes are coming through loud and clear, but they have a bathy or soapy kind of effect, like coming out of the shower fresh and clean. An old time perfumy perfume scent at the beginning with citruses. But as far as I can tell, this is the only time it's close to Shalimar. The rest of the fragrance's performance is very different. As soon as the citruses start to fade, you are left with a night blooming jasmine and ylang ylang floral notes. They are oily, like rose oil and oil of white jasmine, with a sensuality that I never thought could come from flowers. The white floral note of jasmine is at the very heart and core of this fragrance. It's meant to be and is an Oriental fragrance. When we think of the Orient, the Far East, we think of India and jasmine gardens. This is Shalimar, a sultan's jasmine garden in his palace. There is a soft silky quality to the florals. It caresses and does not overwhelm or overpower. If you spray only once or twice, you're good to go and it will smell wonderful on you and by others. It's an evening cologne for dressy night time affairs i.e. dinners, evening parties. It feels like wearing a beautiful emerald green dress or evening gown, made of silk or satin, and with shoulder straps. It is extremely feminine. The florals are old fashioned and being a drugstore cheapie from way back it can feel 'old lady' or your grandma's perfume. It does not feel modern and up to date because they never did reformulate this (to my knowledge maybe they did?) and continually sells in drugstores like CVS Walgreens etc, for years and years. But it is such an enchanting perfume. Once the florals start to subside, the base notes in the dry down are what brings this fragrance together. Vanilla. Dark chocolate musk and vanilla, like real vanilla extract. There is incense and strong sandalwood. You get a rich dry down of warm smoky goodness. Vanilla, incense, musk, and woods. Also, patchouli, a root of herbal and woody exotic power. The patchouli is dark and mossy, like oak moss but with more wood, and with the incense going, smells very much like something out of an alternative medicine shop or a hippie store but in a very good and sexy way. The patchouli in this scent is incredible. But to me the real big base note is the musk. The dry down is warm and very musky like you put on a fur coat over that green dress. This starts off citrus-floral with the traditional florals of jasmine and rose (more a rose oil to me than rose-rose) and finishes off as a musk and sex appeal scent at the end. This perfume is very grown up and sexy, daring, and seductive. Not only does it paint a picture of a romantic moonlit garden in India or Arabia, it's sexy as fuck and evokes Theda Bara, silent movie star and vamp-queen, as Cleopatra in her now lost silent film. who would have been all over this perfume. Egyptian kohl based make up, smoky make up, white semi transparent gossamer dress. It is a woman of great sexual power and feminine allure in an Oriental way. A goddess. This is just much more than a perfume but like the name an emerald a jewel. Despite the price (cheap) it is a luxury. Not for a little girl but definitely a woman-woman perfume! She means business in this scent and she can get any man she wants in this scent but mostly with her confidence and her intelligence and personality which can also be reflected in this fragrance. I highly recommend this scent to fans of vintage perfumes, if you like Shalimar and don't mind wearing something akin to it. Great for fall and winter because it's warm. Absolutely beautiful.

* * * "The liquid jewel" . . . (from vintage ad) In honor of my late mother, LaVon, I purchased a pristine, unopened, 1960s vintage Emeraude eau de toilette. I will never open but always display the faceted-glass, gold-capped bottle of lime-green liquid. First, in my new fragrance hobby, I found myself wanting to recover fragrances from my past, reminders of my youth when I discovered the likes of Revlon’s Charlie, Ciara, and Jean Naté; Faberge’s Tigress, Flambeau, and Woodhue; Dana’s Ambush, Canoe, and Tabu (see my reviews of the latter two). So, for such nostalgia alone, a bottle of Coty’s Emeraude in its current, eau de cologne formulation has just arrived. Sheer beauty! Bright sweet-tart lemon pops out from among its citrus counterparts, underpinned with naturally sweet, woody, spicy, and ambery accords derived from earth’s flowers, woods, and resins. Yummy ylang-ylang, fresh powdery-green jasmine, soft romantic rose, Brazilian rosewood, and creamy sandalwood—a harmony of light airiness juxtaposed with deeper shades of vanilla, opoponax (sweet myrrh), and green patchouli. What a creation, equally sweet-and-light and rich-and-warm, so unobtrusive that even a baby could wear it. Yet, somewhere under the innocence lies a grown-up and exotic sophistication. Today’s formulation in a plain bottle may be a shadow of Emeraude’s former self, but the scent is preserved well enough for us to realize that Francois Coty created a true classic back in 1921, one still on the market over 100 years later in 2023. And, testing it now, I clearly see why my mother wore this gem as her lifelong signature.✿ Scent family: Amber Floral Current formulation's longevity on me: weak to moderate

Since I have read good reviews of them all, I took the plunge to buy both L’Aimant, Vanilla Fields and Emeraude from Coty. But I have to say, that Emeraude is the only one of the three I kind of liked... I HAVE to stop blindbuying perfumes!! Ok, these were not very expensive, any of them, but still I think that it is very bad to have wasted money! I could have used the money to buy one perfume that I have tried on my skin already, and know that I like. Well, well... Anyhow, I guess that it is mostly the sharp aldehydes of L’Aimant and Vanilla Fields that I don’t like. Emeraude does nor have that. It is greener, mossier, and yet kind of warm and soft. It reminds me a bit of Habanita, actually. Though Habanita is stronger and more longlasting, and have more notes, more depths and layers. But Emeraude is nice enough, when you feel like wearing an oldfashioned fragrance, that isn’t too much ”in-your-face”. I know some have compared it to Shalimar as well, but I don’t think so. Much. Other that you can notice that it is from the same era, and have notes that of course were popular back then. I do love some of the older perfumes. But I understand now (I hope I’ve learned..!) that to buy these oldies, you have to really know what you’re doing, AND the same goes for modern ones! I have done a couple of mistakes with modern perfumes too. Even though they had gotten very good reviews, I did not like them at all... Still, to get samples of everything is not very easy all the time. So, I am sorry to say, that I suspect I may blindbuy something again!! 😱🤪

If I had smelt Emeraude just a few years ago, I would have immediately disliked it. It is "removed" even from my sense of taste in fragrance which was molded by intense exposure while growing up and coming of age surrounded by the big chypres and aromatic fougeres of the '70's and '80's. To my nose, they were very "modern", while scents like Emeraude and Shalimar were of another era. Not even my grandmothers' era (1940's-50's) of scents like Chanel #5, but my GREAT-grandmothers' era. But they were young once, too, just like all of us. Imagine being a sophisticated "modern" woman of the 1920's, when arte nouveau and high Victorian was still clinging, and art deco was emerging as its own, distinctly "fresh" style, touching everything in fashion and architecture. And times *were* changing rapidly back then... Going to movies was all the rage, playing card-games and mah-jong with friends and the radio playing swanky jazz, and for the very-boldest: sneaking into speakeasies for some bootleg martinis with the chic crowd. Women finally had the right to vote, and many were embracing their own independence and powerful sense of femininity. These are the images that come to mind when I spritz on a little vintage Emeraude nowadays. The younger me wouldn't be able to "connect" with that long-lost time, but now I do so with fascination, and great appreciation for the lives my great-grandmothers lead back then in the roaring '20's when they were young women coming into their own.