Bakír Cologne

Germaine Monteil's Bakir has been one of my all time favorite perfumes for 43 years, since they brought it out in 1975. I'm talking about the original bottles too, as shown in some of the eBay ads, as opposed to the Bakir bottle shown in the Amazon ad. Around 2001, Long Lost Perfume's Jeffrey Dame put out a reproduction bottle of Bakir, both in edt and perfume oil, the latter for a very short time. I have both of these and they're good, but LLP Bakir is not quite the same thing. It's not just that it doesn't have the same dark red/brown color; the LLP Bakir isn't quite as rich and redolent as the original. I believe Jeffrey Dame bought out the rights to make Bakir under the original name; Germaine Monteil had been out of business at least 5-10 years by then. I think the Bakir sold on Amazon may be made by Long Lost Perfume under a different manufacturers name or some other company that bought the rights and formula from LLP. But I could be very wrong about its origins. I don't have that Bakir bottle sold on Amazon, which is the same one pictured here on Fragrantica. This review is of the original Germaine Monteil Bakir. Fortunately there is still some routinely on eBay, albeit at a variety of prices, some of them steep. Thanksgiving-Christmas is not the time to buy it; sellers raise their buy it now prices now and around Mother's Day. But it's around. Many of the bottles sold are the screw top bottles, obviously preferable considering how most of it must be over 30 years old. The juice in the bottles with the glass stoppers is getting pretty old but as long as it's been kept out of light, it doesn't seem to be going bad quickly. I usually wear the parfum, although I've worn the bath oil occasionally and it's very similar. I went through several of the travel size metal edt spray canisters (they could have been cologne) that they sold in cardboard holders by the cash register of many perfume counters. I've often wished I could reach out and grab about 5 of them right now; I think they were around $20 each or maybe even less. And it's fabulous. Bakir is every bit as fabulous as any Tom Ford, Armani Prive, or MFK fragrance and just as strong. It was marketed strictly to women, but there is nothing femmie about it. Men could wear this, and I bet they have. Several fruits are listed in the top notes, and I swear they listed them so as not to scare women off. (Not like anyone ever listed the notes of anything sold in 1975.) All I smell in the top notes is galbanum, labdanum, and maybe the narcissus. And all of that is over within a minute. It goes immediately to the heart notes, particularly the rose, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. Even the carnation and geranium get overwhelmed by the rose and spices. The base notes are so similar to the spices that it's hard to delineate them or determine exactly when they arrive. It all lasts on me 8+ hours. It doesn't overwhelm a room, but people close to you know you're wearing it. Nothing made at the time, before 1975 or really after 1975 smells like Bakir. Estee Lauder's Cinnabar was sold at the same time and it was also an oriental, but very different. Not nearly as much depth as Bakir.

This perfume has my heart! Bakir was one of my Mother's favorite perfumes. I had never smelled anything like it before or since. I was blessed with the most beautiful Mother in every way. I have my own vintage bottle that has gone off sadly, but I can take a whiff & still get the beautiful scent memory... 💜🩵 ~ Cosmopolitan, 1975 edition: "The sensual East . . . exotic, heady, lush, mysterious . . . inspired Germaine Monteil's Bakir fragrance. Deep, earthy tones mingle with the most potent of perfume oils, the sweetest of flower scents. Result is very-pow! ~ (Definitely not for the faint of heart); the1975 price for one ounce was $60...pretty pricey back then. ~This is a great blog article: https://cleopatrasboudoir.blogspot.com/2015/03/bakir-by-germaine-monteil-c1975.html

I bought one of these tiny 1/2 ounce bottles in an antique shop in Colorado, and it managed to start my new lifelong obsession with collecting vintage perfumes. Bakír definitely makes a statement, it’s loud and bold and even manages to have a hard time leaving your nose from smelling the bottle.

What textures there are in Bakir! Velour, cream, powder, and aged paper—the spices are rounded and vaporous; blunted edges that would otherwise bite, just nibble instead. A whiff of aldehydes and a sheet of galbanum elevate Bakir at its opening, with some orange zest, rose-petal glow and dried fruit, glazed over muted cloves and muffled nutmegs. They yield some mystery, just within reach, tantalizing to the nose but not giving in completely. Dried flowers and cherry-pie-crust heliotrope join cardamom-dusted Turkish delight in some mysterious, devotional space, because the myrrh grows closer. The myrrh, the most forward in the base, lends an intensity to Bakir, bittersweet, fibrous and sinewy, a dry heft that makes me want to just sit and let thoughts pass. All that preceded it in its development gets slowly swallowed into a woody, dark, umber incense. No wonder why this was reconstructed numerous times after its discontinuation, it is sui generis, a beguiling presence, embodying so many temperatures, finishes, and grains in development. Keep in mind its idiosyncratic: this will not please in the typical sense. Your mileage my vary, but as far as I am concerned, this arrests rather than pacifies, and that is it's appeal.

Thank you, rosequeen - you have perfectly described my experience wearing "real" Bakir. I was surprised to read all the flowers listed in the description because my experience is like yours - immediate envelopment in the heart & base notes in a glorious warm cloud of scent! On me, Cinnabar is too heavy spices and it doesn't have the depth of the resinous bottom that immediately appears in Bakir. It was love in the 1970's and it's love again now that I have a wee bottle of parfum!!

I received a sample of dark reddish brown juice marked 'Germaine Monteil - Bakir' in a swap and WOW. What a TREASURE! Complex, spicy, and dry. Gourmand without being sweet. Resinous fruity floral oriental.

Does anyone else get skatole here? I’m getting dirty diaper - a disposable diaper with a powdery fragrance, and a lot of, um, scat. I loved this in the early 80’s. I don’t think I can do it now.