Essence Rare

I lucked in to an extremely vintage bottle (70s icicle bottle) of this on eBay for just a few pounds. It's so hard to describe how wonderful it is. It's musk, civet of the best possible kind, soapy, slightly floral (lily of the valley is most prominent on me) slightly spicy and underpinned by that buttery powdery orris note. It's blended to perfection. I rarely wear it as I want my bottle to last, but every time I do I am reminded all over again how much I absolutely adore it.

divine old-style soapy; floral aldehyde with civet and musk

Wonderful, Loving and sensual memories......The Scent of Paradise in a crystal vial. ....Kisses of Love in abundance when this utterly intoxicating perfume was unleashed.....I am in tears, firstly when I recall the wonderful scented nights of love. Secondly because it is IMPOSSIBLE to source Houbigants ESSENCE RARE. There is NOTHING like it at all - I have searched for nearly 20 years for something similar to this enveloping, gentle and purely lovely scent. All to no avail. It was one of the most exciting yet simple fragrances of all time. Oh!, if they would only re launch this floral, mystical creation. The scents now are either 'bubble gum' and 'candy' for youngsters or strange 'Alien' 'plastic' smells. Then there are the huge 'sandalwood' orientals. The 'Floral' ones have too many scents in them. ESSENCE RARE had very, very few flower fragrances in - that was the splendour of it.

Absolutely delicious. There’s something here that reminds me of Norell, but the bergamot and citrus put more into daytime. My bottle is the 70s icicle bottle as well. It’s so well blended it’s hard to pick things out, but it has mellow body and dimension.

One of the most beautiful evocative scents - EVER. Paradise would smell like this. If heaven existed this would be its scent. This was true Fairyland for the senses.