Genny

Genny, from 1987 and originally released by Rivara Hanorah (considered quite expensive to make, according to Roberto Garavaglia from Diana De Silva), was created by Jean Delville from Firmenich. For better or for worse, it smells almost identical to Aromatics Elixir in its vintage formula. The notes listed here btw are wrong; those pertain to -I believe- the current version of Genny. It has absolutely nothing to do with the original of which I own a 1987 parfum de toilette. Correct notes: Aldehydes, bergamot, green notes, coriander, orange blossom, geranium, rose, Iris, lilly of the valley, jasmine, oakmoss, musk, patchouli, sandalwood, vetiver, civet and cistus. On my skin, Genny opens with a huge herbal blast; aldehydes fuel the coriander, there must be a bit of chamomile as well, and geranium. I get the sense the notes on parfumo are truer; I love geranium which I smell intensely, and cardamom which doesn’t quite please me, feels absent. Moreover, the rose/patchouli/oakmoss trifecta shines just like in Aromatics, but it smells a bit different; it’s stronger than I thought, it’s more dry, as opposed to powdery, and there’s more floral sweetness than Aromatics. The Iris shines more later on, and the orange blossom simply sweetens very slightly what would otherwise become very heavy. Musk and civet; they’re there, but in the background. Only in the late drydown do they become far more discernible in their dirty lick of skin, making Genny far more sensual than the opening would suggest. For better, Genny was launched when Aromatics was already well established and loved. It came when Italian perfumery was booming, when there weren’t briefs, and when only the best would do; Aromatics is the core, but in 1987 it is made stronger, bigger, and à la Italiana; far more sensual and animalic, never becoming shy. If you don’t enjoy Aromatics, the herbal masterpiece chypre, you won’t enjoy Genny. They’re the two sides of the same coin. For worse, like most perfumes of the golden decade, Genny was discontinued somewhere in the late 90’s to be replaced by the current version and flankers that bear no resemblance. The original, albeit hard to find, comes in splash and spray, in plain black boxes that state Genny. Rivara Hanorah and Diana De Silva versions, clearly written on the bottom of the box, are the ones to go for. As a side note, I don’t think of Genny as a copy; Opium was inspired by Youth Dew, Cinnabar and KL are very similar, Aramis and Cabochard are twins and Poison/Giorgio/Carolina Herrera play with the same theme of grape bubblegum tuberose in varying degrees. Aromatics is (was?) so unique, so recognizable, so one of a kind, that any fragrance similar to it, would be considered a copy. Genny simply showed a different version of it. Both are absolutely stunning, and both are a lesson in perfume history. Buy it while you still can! Mood: Sandra - Liitle girl video clip.

Witch potion! Whatever she brews in her pot; be it forest mosses, bitter green herbs or nameless flowers, altogether this stuff is magnetic.

This is a must have for all you GREEN addicts, that love their green category to be DEEP and intense!! :-)

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This masterpiece is created by Jean Claude Delville! Action

I had it back in the '80s and I still have a mini somewhere, almost gone, in the tringle bottle. That was the real stuff and sooo powerful! It smelled similar to Aromatics Elixir, but it was much more into white flowers and much less herbal/aromatic. A great scent with great lasting power, sillage, nuances and glory. Just not anyone's cup of tea. Back in that time I took these perfumes for granted as if they were going to stay there forever. I had no clue on what would happen later in this era in perfumery. A few years ago Genny or whoever is Genny now came out with a riedition of this one. I was naive enough to think that they wanted to get rid of old pieces... I bought a new bottle for very little price in the offer basket, but was so disappointed with the scent. Only a bland resemblance with old glorious Genny. Vintage or nothing.

I am reviewing this currently reformulated fragrance, alas without knowing the first Genny formulation from 1987, which according to many was much more intense. The opening is largely citrus with lively and persistent hints of pink pepper. The heart notes bring out a spring floral bouquet, the winning magnolia on enveloping notes of rose and ringing lily of the valley, on the dry down the enveloping sandalwood and the reassurance of white musk complete the blend. Unfortunately these reformulations often appear tarnished, watered down, often brought up-to-date with notes that are too sweet and devoid of the original character. However, it is a very pleasant feminine fragrance.

I used this one in late '80es. It was the triangular bottle (as Blaiseantoine points out), and the correspondent spray version was identical to the one portrayed here. I recall it was very similar, almost identical to Aromatics Elixir. Everybody kept asking me if I was wearing AE. I loved Genny a lot and when I could not find it any longer I switched to Aromatics Elixir. Yes, the two are very very similar, same concept, same elegance. Very good, long lasting chypre. Then reformulation came and it was cheapened and destroyed. But then it was a MASTERPIECE

I received this interesting triangular bottle along with a group of others but the pyramid sounded so interesting that I wanted to test Genny on a day that I could spend some real time with it. I only tried the tiniest of dabs at pulse points and I'm so grateful because this is a powerhouse in every sense. So powdery, pungent and beautifully constructed it's amazing to me that this flies so low under the radar. I want to describe it as haunting, or maybe bewitching.

Just received my 5ml triangle tester from the ebay. This is such a nice vintage scent, really classy, elegant and feminine and it is very similar to Yohji Yamamoto Essential! For me this is an evening scent, I imagine black dress and high heels and champagne and all the movies from 80s, like Moonlighting, Cybill Shepherd must have been wearing that... =)

I have the same impression as Rougesang wrote in 2013: very strong patchouli (which I hate) at the beginning and then it is quickly tamed by sime nice flowers. Not an outstanding perfume, but definitely well made.

A year ago I asked for a particular perfume for my birthday. With that perfume, came a sample of original Genny in the card. I tested it and it was incredible. Of course finding a bottle seemed near impossible. That particular sample I stretched with some ethanol. I do have a sample of Aromatics Elixir. But that does not quite compare to this. If I had never got that sample, I probably never would have been so focused of getting a bottle. Bottles would come and go on Ebay. Some were not in the best of shape and the price seemed a bit unreasonable. Then finally my bottle showed up. It was still in the shrink wrap!! Squeal!! Perfect. Opening it there seemed to be the air from the perfume production and packaging line in Italy.... so many years ago. The cap is a bit funky. This is a 75ml bottle of EDT. The cap has to fit down on the sprayer just so to be able to spray the fragrance. Otherwise it can be put into an "off" position. This particular sample lead me to my interest in Italian perfumes. No regrets.

Yes i have it! After many months of looking for this beauty i have finally found a 100ml splash for €6 brand new. Unwilling to pay the exorbitant prices they are daring to ask for this vintage perfume luckily for me someone was selling it for the cheap price i payed for it. So i hope the juice arrives good and isn't expired. Than i can enjoy my beloved chypre vintage treasure. I really adore Elixer so i assume i will adore this one equal. Happy😁

Lo trovo simile ad Aromatic Elixir di Clinique ma più leggero, appena l'ho provato mi sembrava fastidioso per l'odore acceso del patchouli e del muschio, dopo qualche minuto ho iniziato ad avvertire le note floreali. Non è niente di eccezionale, tipico profumo anni ottanta portabile ogni giorno, nulla di seducente o estremo.

I have a vintage splash bottle. It's a shy chypre maybe my bottle has gone off mostly. It's nice but very soft and barely noticeable. So i like it but not crazy about it.

l'ho usato per parecchi anni è simile ad Aromatics Elixir by Clinique

the vintage triangular shaped bottle it's a masterpiece

it's perfect like Aromatic elixir but less persistent