Sand & Sable

To be clear... I am basing this review on my bottles of Sand & Sable, both of which are vintage "cologne sprays," one 90% full (0.5 fl oz.) with a metal-coated cap, and one 99% full (0.375 fl oz./ 11 ml) with a white plastic cap. I owned and wore this when I was a little kid in the late 80s/early 90s... when I went to college and moved out years later, my mom kept my bottles in her collection... recently, she gave them back to me because she wasn't wearing them, and I'm back to wearing/appreciating them again... if anyone can I.D. the era/age of either bottle, please let me know, because I'd love to have that info. The newer/reformulated version may be an entirely different beast, so YMMV depending on which one you're able to get your hands on. For what it's worth... the vintage version is *amazing.* I think I may have forgotten how beautiful this was! (For many years, I figured that my appreciation for this fragrance must have been colored by a healthy dollop of nostalgia, and I assumed that the past was best left... well... in the past, as it were. I'll admit that I was wrong about that in this case.) Upon application, I was immediately rewarded by a sweet, fragrant, blooming bouquet of gardenia and tuberose. It's unapologetically floral, and incredibly uplifting and pleasant. Amazingly, my bottles remain untouched by time -- this smells *exactly* as I remember it, and I'm finding that I love it just as much as I did decades ago. The "sand" note in Sand & Sable does appear after a while, and it puts to shame any notion of "sandy beaches" that modern perfumes (such as MMM Beach Walk -- no offense to that perfume at all, but S&S is better, IMHO) attempt to conjure up. There *is* sand here... I don't know how they did it, but the suggestion is apparent without being overwhelming, and Coty did this better (way back then!) than any modern perfumer I can think of. At the same time, it doesn't interfere with the floral aspects of the fragrance. Both elements play well together, and they feel balanced. Towards the drydown, there is a slightly animalic facet that makes itself known if I sniff my wrist up close. It's not a listed note, but I can sense its presence. Thankfully, it doesn't veer into verifiably fecal or urinous territory. It remains present, but manageable -- an element, but not the main aspect of the fragrance. It feels like it is there to anchor everything else. The fact that this was a "cheap" or so-called "drugstore" perfume is astounding to me. That I, as a young kid, managed to get my hands on a few bottles for a ridiculously low price, and that those bottles stood the test of time and the juice did not degrade, is even more amazing. I'll continue to treasure what I have. My verdict? Get your hands on a vintage bottle, if you can. And enjoy.

This was the first scent that kick-started my fragrance obsession in recent years. Reposting the review I left on Fragram two (or closer to three) years ago: I've gone on a fragrance trip down memory lane. I started sniffing all the cheapie vintage drugstore perfumes that the pretty moms, our aunts, and the older high school girls would've been wearing in the '70s -'90s. A lot of them were awful, but there were a couple underrated gems that made me smile. This one from 1981 got me! Sand and Sable by Coty is not one I was expecting to like, but I love it! It's an explosion of flowers that really projects and lasts. It's very feminine and sweet! I found Sand and Sable for $25. I've read a lot of reviews saying it beats and completely out performs many of the expensive high-end white floral fragrances. P.S. I have tried hundreds of perfumes since in all price ranges, spent thousands, and this still stands out as one of the very best! It makes me feel refreshed, and helps to put the pep back in my step. I just bought a really beautiful vintage 100ml round splash bottle of this. It's much nicer than the bottle it comes in now. I was afraid this lovely scent might become harder and harder to find eventually. I'll treasure it! I actually love the modern formulation of this even more than the vintage splash. They are somewhat similar. I know it sounds crazy, but the new bottles are stronger and sweeter, with better projection. The notes for the more modern version are only: Tuberose, Gardenia, Jasmine, and Rose. It seems the peach and coconut notes people are always mentioning in reviews have been gone for a long time. I tried the modern formulation first so it's a LOVE for me. Sweet, bright, happy, and clean. 💌

Beautiful! On me S&S smells like a lighter Fracas and I actually like it more. Layers amazingly with ET Passion and Lady Stetson. It's a balmy scent to me, somehow warm but cool at the same time; humid like a summer evening after a thunderstorm and you can smell the wet flowers warming again in the last of the day's sun. Don't ignore the bottom shelves of the perfume section, the fragrances there don't look flashy like the ones higher up on the shelf but they are more diverse and interesting not to mention cheaper. I've slowly been buying every bottom shelf scent at my local Wal-Mart, one each pay period and my next acquisition will be Wild Musk. I get 3 new and unique perfumes for the price of one fleeting sweet celeb scent. I like some of those too but they can be boring and not worth 25 dollars per ounce if it's gone in 30 minutes. Younger ladies, take a risk and try some of these older ones! Especially if you want sonething new and to stand out. I'm a lifelong lover of classic and old school perfumes but this Sand and Sable in particular is very accessible for a younger crowd imo. It's a clean and sweet white floral with no heavy spices or musk so it's perfect for anyone wanting to dip a toe into retro frags. I jumped in headfirst in the early 00s by bathing in my grandmother's Bal a Versailles before trotting my happy little ass to high school but not everyone is a nut like me and I get that. The heavy and obviously dated ones can be scary for some but S&S is nothing like those. I'll be wearing it a lot this spring and my YOUNG husband loves it. I can spray this on the back of my hair and neck in the evening and it's still there the following morning.

I believe I have a sample decanted from the current formulation. I got it from Surrender to Chance. I'm wearing this on a clear Fall day. At opening, I get almost an evergreen-type note, quite sharp, along with the preview of the gardenia. The floral part of this perfume is very innocent and light, for me not much tuberose. I agree with the other reviewer who said it was more gardenia-projecting, at least during that first phase. It does have fairly decent sillage, and I got a compliment from someone across the room ten minutes after spraying. In my opinion it smells like a nicely balanced floral combo of gardenia, jasmine, and rose. It doesn't smell expensive, addictive, distinctive or swoon-inducing, just something gentle and loveable. Well done. It lasted about three hours before it was a peachy, dry and warm presence on my skin. I would add, please try not to make this perfume do more than it is made for. In other words, reapplying can be a bad idea! ;) The best of the drydown occurs after only one application. After that, it can bring possible hints of enclosed spaces that have been recently cleaned with strong detergents. Sorry. Still, for me it would be a wonderful perfume to have, just allow it to be subtle. (And I like to use a LOT of perfume at times too!)

I LOVEEEE Madonna's Truth or Dare. It's become my favorite perfume, and since it's discontinued and becoming harder to find except on Ebay or other selling aps for sometimes ridiculous prices, I picked up a bottle of this today to try, as an "every day" alternative so I can HORD my T or D. It's not nearly as Tuberose heavy, or as creamy, or as just all around as "perfection" as Madonna's masterpiece, BUT...I do enjoy it quite a bit! and I got a purse size bottle for only $3.00 which you can't beat. I'll be buying more, as well as a full size. I also want to try the Jovan Gardenia as well, and compare the 2, see which one is closer. I wish it had a bit more of the bubble gum tuberose, but it's good enough for me to wear and still enjoy around the house or trips to the store. Being a single mom on a budget I can't keep shelling out close to $100 on bottles of T or D every few months, plus it gets harder to find. Now I can get a couple of bottles, and use them sparingly and use THIS as my everyday "noplace to go" scent. WINNER WINNER! :) Needless to say, I'm happy.