L'Aimant Eternelle

Fragrance Review For L'Aimant Eternelle Coty Top Notes Aldehydes Bergamot Neroli Peach Plum Middle Notes Jasmine Rose Violet Spices Base Notes Vanilla Amber Musk Civet Sandalwood Eternelle suffers from obscurity and discontinuation and has lost to her sweeter more well behaved sister L'Aimant (1927, formulated by Vincent Roubert). L'Aimant continues to sell as a drugstore cheapie online (Amazon.com, eBay) and in discount perfume warehouses throughout the world. Lucky for my mother she was able to keep her Eternelle fragrances (4 of them). She loves this perfume and from time to time lets me borrow it. Eternelle is a night musk fragrance first launched in 1987. It was advertised as the bolder friskier version of L'Aimant which still sold in the 80's. In the TV commercial, a beautiful brunette in shoulder pad blazer business suit looking a lot like Daphne Zuniga sprays some L'Aimant on her neck in the light of day in her boudoir in front of the mirror. As night falls, she removes the blazer and suit and is wearing in a negligee and spritz on Eternelle on her neck. Eternelle opens in a similar fashion as L'Aimant. The effervescent aldehydes are fresh somewhat soapy but zesty with citrus, namely a bergamot orange and a neroli note. The exact same opening as L'Aimant and also as many fans of L'Aimant have noted, similar to both Arpege by Lanvin and Chanel No. 5. The freshness is absolutely invigorating and sets the stage for the subsequent notes. A Femme by Rochas type of fruit cornucopia follows. Juicy peach and apricot with plum. Delicious, boozy, but this time around it comes and goes much faster. The heart is floral with jasmine and rose, powdery but wait a minute. This is not supposed to be L'Aimant otherwise what's the point of giving it a different name like Eternelle. The spice notes (nondescript, some cinnamon, pepper) emerge making this a bit edgier. The spicy notes take longer to play out then the fruit and citrus. Then a distinct musk scent completely takes over. This is all that we can think of when we think of musk: leather, suede and sensual civet. The nocturnal air is a lot heavier with musk here, and more seductive, like a pheromone. Even as such, it's still not going wild or crazy or too dirty a la Bal a Versailles. It's still a very pretty and feminine lady like scent. Additional notes in the dry down are amber and sandalwood. The amber is very noticeable and smells resinous with those spices in the heart and a very fragrant woodsy sandal wood note to die for. The dry down is pleasant but a tad more on the unisex side. Definitely bolder and more aromatic. My mother wore it to her ladies night out with girlfriends which were rare but mostly on Friday nights. She was a single mother and could not afford a babysitter or nanny so she would have a neighbor take care of my sister and me. But this was very infrequent and I knew it was coming every time I saw her spraying that bottle of L'Aimant Eternelle which she adored. The fragrance smells great after all these years. The bottle is very old fashioned and outdated and one can say the same about the scent but it's still of special interest to fans of vintages and who like frags that wear like No. 5 or Arpege. A beautiful fragrance that should return to us. Who knows why some fragrances come and go as they do. Please bring this fragrance back!