Tabu

This review is for the eighties-version vintage Spray Cologne. I remember smelling this and owning a bottle of a similar – if not the same - vintage around 1980 and I was puzzled as to why the current version didn’t have the same air of exotic sophistication I remember the earlier one evoking and why it did not have the same subtlety; it smelled like a simulacrum of the original but much, much stronger. There are many current versions: mine is the Art Deco styled one with the rectangular bottle with smoke-plastic tulip-shaped plastic cap and gold 30s text. I’ve also got another current version (turned cylindrical bottle) which has more in common with the vintage but lasts 5 minutes so I was really trying I think to capture that dimly-remembered scent memory. The one thing that kind of blew my mind about the vintage Tabu is it’s subtlety: I was expecting something overpowering. It’s not. This would have to be one of the most unfairly judged and misunderstood fragrances of all time. I just bought two full bottles of Dana Tabu on Ebay Australia for $29 AUD (2.7oz – approx. 80ml) with another fragrance chucked in, the Tabu dating from 1980s (barcodes were introduced to Australia around 1980). It’s said to be a ‘tough fragrance to pull off’. I don’t agree on that for the vintage at all (I’d save that honour for the current formulations and fragrances like Ciara). The depth, richness and nuance of this vintage is so much better than the current version. Just stunning. It’s actually creamier and much less sharp and intrusive than the current one and also it’s not as beast mode which is probably because of the Cologne formulation: so it’s rounder, richer, subtler yet with a moderate projection (I’m still testing its longevity) and you could absolutely pull this off today without ‘offending’ anyone (and if you do: too bad). The vintage version is way more wearable. I might try layering it with the modern talc powder for more longevity in fact, if it proves to be fleeting. I had memories of this being a sophisticated beauty when I bought the current version a few years back and my scent memory was correct: in the vintage form it’s just gorgeous. It’s sophisticated and somewhat decadent in the manner of glam rock era Twiggy in a turban and full, gold, silk pants a la Biba Boutique (just Google Twiggy, Turban, Biba to get what I mean: Biba’s fashion photos are a trip in themselves and influenced the world as well as shaping the style of the whole glam rock era). This is my scent memory as I was a teen in the 70s though Tabu dates back to 1932 and I have no doubt it was even better then, perfectly complimenting the gorgeous 40s fashions women wore. Being a realist I’ve always found it hard to buy the idea that it was in any way a tribute to a prostitute as people were more moral back in those days and the profession was not seen in a glamorous light – there was no moral complacency; this could just be a rumor that’s been taken and run with, I’m not sure. You couldn’t really get away with such a thing as this as a marketing ploy in the seventies let alone 1932 so, yeah, I absolutely take this with a grain of salt. Anyway, TWO 80ml bottles for $29! I’m over the moon. The sprayers leak a little but I honestly could not care. This scent memory is a such a beautiful Christmas gift – part of me is in the present but my head’s back as a teen in the seventies with women wearing the most beautiful fragrances and the most gorgeous, feminine and bohemian fashions. I might look around for a stronger vintage formulation next but at a glance at Ebay they ALL seem to be Cologne so this seems to have been the pre-eminent formulation of the time.

THE FEMININE VINTAGE SCENT WITH THE POWER OF A SIXTEEN-WHEELER Almost a century has passed since this iconic perfume was first launched by Dana. The XX century, during the early 30s, was a crazy time to live in all over the world. Strong scents were all the rage and Tabu was probably the strongest of them all. To this day, Tabu is a landmark and a synonym for a strong and overpowering feminine fragrance. Subtlety and discretion are not its characteristics. Performance is beastly. You can always count on more than 12 hours of longevity - up to 24 hours, depending on your skin chemistry - and its sillage fills a room. Does it project well? oh yes, it projects like a fire hose. This is a sort of love/hate fragrance. I love it as a collector. I love to smell it on strips of paper and on the back of my hand or my wife's hand. I do not like to smell it as a fragrance that lingers all day and night on women, and even less on men. It just overwhelms all the other scents. Overall, I find it very pleasant, but it's not easy to smell the same strong, overpowering scent all day long. This oriental perfume opens with a heavy load of spices, followed by cloves and some floral notes, and then a bottom note of animalistic, woody balsamic amber with strong musk and patchouli, with some sweetness in the background. What is it like? Well, imagine a situation where you are excitedly expecting to drive a fast sports car and instead you get a 5 tonne, 1000 horsepower sixteen wheeler to manoeuvre around town. Yes... this is strong stuff... one of the strongest fragrances in my large collection. It is sold in various concentrations and presentations. I bought the EDT concentration in a violin shaped bottle. The EDT concentration... is pure Dinamite. Nobody believes that this is a vulgar EDT concentration. In summary, I think TABU is a very good feminine vintage fragrance that you can still buy today. I like to test it and even like women to wear it, provided they DO NOT APPLY MORE THAN 1 SPRAY. Also, only use it in cold weather. If you use it in a hot club you will be the cause of a stampede disaster. Do I recommend it? Oh yes, absolutely! Anyone who loves fragrances and has never tried TABU is like living in Rome and never having seen the Pope. It's also pretty cheap! .... (I mean the perfume, not the Pope). TABU also reminds me of the Hollywood stereotype of a voluptuous woman at night, with nice clothes and lots of make-up. Whenever I test my precious Tabu fragrance, Sofia Vergara and Heidi Klum populate my imagination for quite a while 🙂 MY OPINION: This perfume may be too overpowering for many noses. Try before you buy. You should only get this scent if you like lush richness and tons of oriental spices. The spicy notes, especially clove and coriander, are very present, but not unpleasantly so. The rose note is deep purple and the base of Vintage is still made up of real oakmoss, sandalwood, vetiver and cedar. If nothing else, it is a must for the true collector. MUSIC: Marlene Dietrich singing "Lili Marleen" (published in: https://www.facebook.com/groups/733041855168347)

This is the ultimate vintage amber spicy scent everyone should try! Man or woman. And it’s one of those that still smells like back in the day! I will say I find it funny that whenever there’s a spicy “oriental” amber in question people put; “smells like Obsession for women!! NO no it does NOT!!! It’s closer to you the dew and opium but not as amazing as the original opium! ***note (Obsession (for women) was a hot mess headache bringer!! It had two notes in it they ruined it for me back in the day, the tagates (or marigold) and the oak moss.obsession for women made me move far far away from them obsession for Men, on the other hand, brought me in closer... a mix of sweet and spice (not in a food way in a sexual way) For women, It was very very dry!! It didn’t and still doesn’t have that softness that makes one want to stick their nose in someone’s neck! Now, Obsession for men back in the day not the reformulated ones (though I will on occasion wear it) Obsession for men had the sweet spicy Amber thing going on, that made your nose want to go in for more!) But no obsession for women was nothing like the notes listed for Tabu. It had no sweet or spicy clove nor cinnamon that could be found over the damn blast of the the tagates and later the oak moss! yes it had amber but it was too overwhelmingly dry and almost astringent to me, it DOES smell like Halston from back in the day! BUT I actually preferred Halston.(sorry about this rant on obsession)!! I just get soo tired of people mentioning obsession as a”smells like” spicy perfume cousin, when it smells literally NOTHING alike!! 🤦♀️ Sooo if you’re a young bunny and would like to try some vintage spicy ambers? Yesss to tabu, opium, poison of flipping course!! Shalimar, and Cinnabarbate some of the best! it’s just depressing how reformulation messed with the cinnamon and spice of it all 🤷♀️ Sure get your nose on obsession but try BOTH men’s and women’s) see what you like best and what I’m explaining here!? As far as the Tabu? I think it’s a less intense youth dew!! It hs that colander root beer touch. More wearable for out and about! Youth dew is as well but you have to go lighter!! A great winter fall scent that men could rock too and soooo different in today’s gourmand climate that people will think you’re rocking something niche ha I think passion should be mentioned too!! It’s similar to these but has a purple flower note that makes it pretty flippin 80s!! They all have a touch or vibe of that cola zip but to me it was never that? It was always about the spices!! And I’ve been in love with anything ginger cinnamon clove (add in tuberose I’m a goner) due to these beginning vintage scents I smelled on my grandma and moms cabinet... but NO it doesn’t smell like obsession for women !! God I despise tagates/marigold!! It’s funny that due to obsession for women, I thought I didn’t like oakmoss!! But now I have a few scents that you could never tell it’s in there!! But tagates and marigold can F off :) but clove cinnamon ahhh give me more...

1932 Vintage Amber-Floral CLOVE-BENZOIN-SANDALWOOD with Civet & Root-Beer Accents. I can imagine smelling this in the lobby of the Grand Hotel, which also came out in 1932 and starred Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and the Barrymore brothers Lionel & John. In the first couple of minutes before the spray dries, I can feel the vintage amber-floral vibe. Once the spray dries and the sillage opens up, I get citrus & spices, but already cloves & amber are swelling through. Quickly the citrus is overwhelmed by the vintage amber-floral-spicy vibe, and ylang emerges along with rose and a Root-Beer note. As it's drying down, the Root-Beer note fades, and in the base there's a gorgeous blend of amber, benzoin, sandalwood, patchouli & civettone. Oakmoss & civet bring a lovely smokiness here, close to incense but more like you've just come from a party, but civet is well blended. In the late drydown, several hours in, there's a flinty, smoky, animalic amber skin-scent. Overall it's a gorgeous vintage amber-floral-spicy-animalic scent with Root-Beer accents . This has excellent performance for year round wear, but I would be most likely to wear this in winter. This only gets better with time, both in the bottle and on the skin. Contrast to Youth Dew Estee Lauder: These are different, but there's a similar vintage amber-spicy vibe. Youth Dew is spicier and has cloves & cinnamon more forward with a slightly soapy, ladylike vibe, while the civet is more forward in Tabu. Both have excellent performance. Contrast to Obsession Calvin Klein: These are different, but again there's a similar vintage amber-spicy vibe. Obsession has a more forward cinnamon-spice, while Tabu has a more forward civet. Both have a vintage vibe, but Tabu feels to be of an older vintage (which it is). Both have excellent performance. Contrast to Opium (1977) Yves Saint Laurent: These are different, but again they have a similar vintage amber-spicy vibe. Opium has a more forward raw, fresh-spicy quality, while Tabu has a more forward animalic-musky quality. Both have excellent performance. Contrast to Bal à Versailles Jean Desprez: These are different, but there is a similar vintage animalic amber vibe. The animalics are more forward in Bal à Versailles, while the spices are more forward in Tabu. Both have excellent performance. Contrast to Cinnabar Estee Lauder: These are different, but there's a similar vintage amber-spicy vibe. My grade 2 teacher always wore Cinnabar which I love. The cinnamon (true to the name) is more forward in Cinnabar, while the animalics (true to the name also) are more forward in Tabu. Both have excellent performance. Overall: gorgeous, affordable, provocative vintage amber-floral-spicy-animalic scent with Root-Beer accents from near the opening into the heart. The fact that they're still making this since 1932 says alot. They've been making & selling this while other scents "are coming & going, and nothing ever happens..." - Grand Hotel 1932. It's a love for me. Enjoy!

**Update 11/27/25 2 weeks in** Yep, just as I figured! Just 2 weeks since first spraying Tabu thus allowing air into my brand-new bottle, the performance has improved lasting longer on skin (Bout 6 hrs on skin vs 3 to 4-ish initially)and has also gained much more depth and richness where Its more resinous and almost, very slightly smokey as it reaches the mid. It still starts off strong projecting quite well for about an hour, but really settles to a more moderate (almost) intimate sillage thereafter for the rest of the wear. It still smells like Root Beer to my nose, but its NOT overly sweet. Again, a fantastic purchase for only around 10-13 bucks?, plus having a piece of perfume history from way back in 1932 like Dana's Tabu in my collection? It's (The Bee's Knees!) Lol! A must for any fragrance collector and still VERY wearable today by men and women alike!😉 ----------------------------------------------------- Initial Review 11/13/25 A surprisingly modern smelling fragrance! Tabu by Dana smells almost exactly like "Root Beer!" As it dries down Im getting slight white floral nuances, but the spicey Root Beer smell persists and Im kinda here for it! Also, its not teally smelling all that "Dated" to my nose. Starts off strong, but dries down much softer , closer to the skin and for now doesn't really last much more that 4 hours or so, although my bottle is brand -new and probably just needs to Maturate a bit after having introduced air into it. Tabu is most definately "Unisex" FOR SURE, 100% straight down the middle! Also Im NOT getting any aldehydes or a Civet note in this latest formulation which may be a good thing as those notes would probably make Tabu smell much more "Dated" although I LOOOVE a strong, classic aldehydic fragrance a la Grès by Cabochard, Aramis by Aramis and/or Rive Gauche by YSL. There's a sweetness to this dna which reminds me of some sweet incense/Benzoin note. Very nice! I was actually thinking about getting Obsession for Women, but I think that Im good with Tabu tbh. Again, Im NOT getting an "Old School" dna here at all really. Idk if its all the reformulations, but Tabu smells really great and although it was launched as a womens perfume, I feel completely comfortable wearing Tabu as a man. For this $10 to $12 price point, its a massive deal, TRULEY! Dare I say that this type of dna is only found in today's "Niche fragrances." I highly recommend Tabu to men and women alike ESPECIALLY now that we're in the colder, holiday season! Its perfect! I think that its amazing howTabu STILL has something to say after all these years/decades! Good luck to most of these modern fragrances coming out nowadays with achieving this kind of persisting relevance! Thanks to whomever took time to read my thoughts on Dana's Tabu! CHEERS!🫠