Amazone (1974)

I used to wear this when I lived in Paris in the 70's so it was more with nostalgia than any longing for the fragrance, that I acquired a sample of EDP. On first spray I did not recognize the smell, there was no indication of visiting an 'old friend'. Anyway -first sniff gives freshness (aldehyde) and something else - woody but not balsamic - floral but not sickly -very different - the ingredients work together not against each other but I get this overall feeling this is really really old fashioned -classic but old - but then I sniff again and there's the leather again to bring it back to something different. It feels fresh and soapy but mossy at the same time -summer walk in a wood -I have horses but certainly don't smell them here! Then the dry down -oh big disappointment -after two hours this fragrance reminds me of drugstore talcum powder. I'm glad i tried this again in sample size before buying a bottle out of nostalgia - it will go into my collection to be sniffed on occasions but think i will spend my pennies elsewhere. EDIT Wore this on a very cold snowy evening sat in front of a log fire -divine - the smokiness of the moss oak blended with the log fire and brought out fantastic grown up floral/chypres not smelled before - perhaps an evening at home on a winters night with a tot of spiced rum fragrance ;-)

Here are the cool leaves and stems dappled with dew during transitional seasons, either waxing or waning, full of promise or looking back longingly. Blooms burst open with the promise of the sun and recede into the shadows and the fog. There's a horizon at sunrise or a sunset, the full circle is felt more lucidly as each year passes. I am somehow reminded of these truths when wearing Amazone. It is galbanum green, yet it foreshadows sweet, tender decline. Cassis berries and leaves punctuate the ripe hyacinths and narcissus. Ever so slightly wilting pedals are still beautiful. Aging and decline are not be feared but embraced, encased in iris and sweetened with berry-damascone-rose. "Butterfly's Dream" by Chihei Hatakeyama plays, a weary little Cabbage White flutters to remaining cosmos in the garden. Crisp and woody as the white and green floral procession passes, Amazone envelops velvety and soothing, a moss salve to mark the hunkering down for an approaching winter. The berry harvest comes to a close come November, allowing for a few more trysts with Amazone when I am feeling somewhat forlorn, torn between the splendor of autumn and the inescapable passage of time. An amber solstice glow appears in its last stages, ushering in the snow.

One of my many favourites from Hermes. It's one of my first pure loves for a galbanum scent. You both know this brand of galbanum... and you don't. (sorry, I had to) Many of the Hermes fragrances seem to be rather heavy on the horse saddle leather and oakmoss that surrounds you in a forest. This is no exception. However, is it an Amazonian forest? No. Does this make the fragrance any less interesting? Also no. When you first apply it, the galbanum hits you in a way not dissimilar to Guerlain's Chamade. That is to say: incredibly strongly. Then, with the help of oakmoss, this all softens out to a fresh, dewy quality and it becomes much more easier to smell. Hay, grass and various herbs and Grasse style florals. Powdery and soft. I only have the current EDT, so the vintage is undoubtedly different, but this is still a beauty mossy, woody and green scent. Too French to be associated with the sweaty, humid and endlessly damps forests of the Amazon. Which is good, really. I prefer this style of Hermes. Classic and classy. Perhaps there was a name of a horse or an obscure memory associated with the title? It's all a mystery.

Wearing from a very vintage dabber extract of unknown age. Has been stashed for years and not properly worn. The fruity pissy berry tone is stunning, the wilted wet florals haunting. It’s not nearly as galbanum-y or oakmoss-y or leathery as the famed Valkyries like Miss Dior, Cabochard, No 19, even Caleche. Not dominant aldehyde-y like No 5 or Arpege. Not animalic like Joy. It barely smells vintage in fact. The berry and cassis and melting snow covered flowers give it the edge of a cold steel sword and bring it into the modern era. It’s a very unique smell, and seems to be a harbinger of the fruit genre to me, driving me crazy regarding what it reminds me of. Is it In Love Again, L’Ombre Dans Le Eau, leapfrogging to Calyx? Wearing it properly, decades into my perfume obsession, just lights my fire over again.

Years ago, I fell in love with Amazone and I bought it for my mom. She wore it for a few years than moved on to something else that was more her style. Now I am rediscovering this fragrance, but for myself. Many floral aldehyte/chypre from the past work very well on me. I find that they often play in the same ball park as Monsieur de Chanel, Aramis and Capucci pour Homme. Molinard de Molinard, Cabochard, Coriandre, Jean Louis Scherrer, Silences, Magie Noire and Chanel 19 were already in my rotations, so I decided to give this one a try. I was lucky enough to find a late 80's version and it works perfectly on me. Skin chemistry is everything, but on me, it doesn't come through as feminine, just as classic elegance.