White Fire

My review is for the original White Fire in the red bottle with gold cone-shaped cap. It is the 40s formula, not the 60s/70s re-release that removed the heavily fecal base notes and aimed toward oakmoss/tonka bean instead, for a much more tame and classic chypre formula. if I remember correctly White Fire was released in 1949, and White Fire Bouquet was a flanker released in 1954, but both were later discontinued. Then, in either the 60s or 70s, re-released as White Fire Bouquet which was basically a totally different perfume compared to both predecessors. But don't quote me on that. My memory on those details is fuzzy. This was always one of my least favorite perfumes in existence. My grandma collected all manner of toiletries and over the years, no matter which bottles I smell, I cannot stand this creation. It's worth smelling to get an idea of what was a strangely good seller (or just heavily marketed). It has a skunk-spray note, incredibly heavy-handed use of civet and castoreum, a metallic blood note, and oakmoss that I find offensive in combination with one another. On their own or scaled back, they could be lovely if well-blended and used as supporting notes, but even in the best-preserved forms, to me they steal the show and hinder rather than help. I think of this as being a very classic chypre bouquet, but with more flowers and fewer herbs than you would expect. As such, it strikes me as a discordant and quite jarring creation. The floral bouquet at the heart is lovely, but the metallic notes and heavily fecal base notes ruin the top and heart. TOP: aldehydes (no peach) HEART: a non-descript, but pretty floral blend that seems to contain jasmine (toward the indolic side, but possibly damaged White rose, tuberose, or ylang) BASE: oakmoss, civet, castoreum, white pepper. (Possibly sandalwood, tonka bean, and patchouli, but the other notes push them so far to the background that it is difficult to identify.)