Presence

The Short: I think I love it. Very unique for me. The Long: I love the body in this fragrance. This Rosie the Riveter pretty. Not to be bullied. Strong, heady, bombastic and wears lipstick. I have the parquet EDP 50ml. The bottle design is pretty. The atomizer is generous. The opening is enormous and acidic alcoholic. Kinda scary really. But, just give her a moment to let her hair down. The apple and citrus is present for the opening, very cleansing and bright. Then, I smell several different florals; heliotrope, carnation, neroli. Oakmoss, vetiver, mild sandalwood. (Something else is there, not sure it could be the ambergris.) Can someone love oakmoss and vetiver? It is powdery green floral and DRY. I just love how that works. I keep huffing my wrist. It makes me feel giddy just smelling it. This would turn heads, as it is very uncommon for today. It smells really soapy clean dry on the skin. On clothes, It is floral lightly sweet dry. It is lovely imho. I don’t shy away from perfumes from other eras. They are complex, unusual, and enjoyable.

It’s the 60s. I’m in Ivan’s, the neighborhood beauty parlor, playing next to my mom who’s sitting reading a magazine, waiting for her chemical perm to set. Ivan, the tall soft spoken owner/hairdresser, is spraying loads of aerosol hairspray on a weekly client’s highly teased bouffant behind us. Those are smells and times this perfume reminds me of. If that’s your bag, and it happens to be mine, you’ll like it. I love it. I can’t stop smelling my wrist. It’s so curious! I haven’t smelled these smells in so long. It’s a nostalgia not for youth or romance or proud female individualism, but for the private way the human family of females once spent their time together before they did the shopping, and then went home and cooked for their family. Such important things they were! Before corporate grocery store chains and plastic bags! Dad would be home soon! Ah! And then the hippies came and mocked and trampled it all, while bringing us, in the end, no, not the promised flower power, no, no, no, only their overbearing corporatism!

I absolutely LOVE this vintage fragrance, its a clean and green floral scent. It's distinct uniqueness is likely because of the strong C7 aldehydes which possess a herbaceous green aroma. This perfume is not for the faint of heart, it has both an enormous sillage and it is very long lasting. Think Dior's Poison or Paul Sebastian's Design in terms of this anomalous bouquet; definitely a signature scent!

gorgeous white floral with a depth of musk and oakmoss

Opens slightly sour - probably from the apple - but quickly mellows into rich woody notes. Somewhat masculine trending, this may not be the easiest perfume to wear, but persistence pays off with P. My first impression was negative until the dry down surprised me with its unexpected loveliness. According to the intro blurb, P. debuted back in the 1930's. Assuming the current version of the perfume is like the first, P. probably seemed incredibly bold and sophisticated. It's still sophisticated with its unsweetened woody notes. Yes, honey is listed in Ps. pyramid, but it's a mild, light honey. Modest sillage and lasting power, P. is almost a skin scent on me. It's the kind of perfume I like to keep very close.

Houbigants are my current obsession... and I stumbled upon this. Now, I have the Parquet version EDT, but so far- my first tissue test is promising!!! At first, I was like... man.... boring ole fruity floral. BUT-- that is just the apple. Even tho I have Parquet (reformulation of Houb I assume) I can easily detect the notes from this page. Very apple/honey fruity for about 20 min, and then the woods/musk/moss move in. It's not a true chypre because of the apple/honey/light floral, but I'm def getting the green-moss and woods. In fact, it sounds lazy... but I get each of the notes listed-- just about in that order! The floral notes the least since they are not listed/labeled individually. This doesn't smell old, and it's no doubt reformulated, but it's got some neat vintage flair without smelling like the same-old dated chyrpe (which I LIKE, I'm not rippin' on old chypres- I looooove them). The apple and honey really make a difference. The florals mixed in tame the oakmoss/woods, and there is only a hint of the animalics/musk. Something is kinda minty, but I think it's from something sharp-- maybe the moss or florals? I have a blind buy of the EDT AND EDP (same seller, great prices, combined shipping) I'm so excited to try this proper on my skin/body. Right now I couldn't help but sneak a quick tissue spray as soon as it came in the mail. I will update on a proper body wear, plus any diff between the EDT And EDP. The Parquet version is abundant enough on ebay with so-so prices (or save the search to find future cheaply listed bottles) so I highly rec this for vintage lovers who get a rush from blind buys. ;) The drydown is now golden honey-moss-woods-musk in a very light way. Good stuff!!!! A proper chest/clothing/wrist wear was actually quite different. I got SOAPY powdery florals and spicy musk. No apple/honey, and def more florals and bigtime aldehydes. The moss/green/woods is toned down now too. Interesting! Still so excited to have this! The current drydown is woods, but I do detect apples again- and a hint of dry moss. What a fun scent! I wore the EDT on my chest/clothing, but did the EDP on my wrists... and the EDP lasted maybe 1 hour on skin? Meh. Too quick to fully appreciate/value the EDP vs EDT. Spicy woody-mossy apple musk, yet light and airy. A day-time or springtime scent, which would compliment Apercu by Houbigant sooooo awesomely-- Apercu is also highly recommended for it's night/autumn resin-y divineness.

Just obtained a bottle of the vintage Parquet EDP, likely dating to the 1980's. I have no idea if the Parquet version is close to the original 1929 Houbigant original. PRÉSENCE is indeed a great and fascinating perfume. It takes off on a sharp confluence of bright aldehydes tweaked with a tart green apple nuance. The floralcy is extremely "high-pitched"; some may even find it shrill or screeching... Yet it is arresting, and commands your attention immediately. The sharpness subsides a little, and the scent takes on a scrubbed soapy quality, like fine French-milled toilet soap. Then we get fascinating hints of other, darker notes coloring the bright soapiness: oakmoss, styrax, ambergris, costus root, nutty woods. I am surprised that the official olfactive pyramid does not list lily-of-the-valley/muguet, as, to me, that is the #1 floral note that characterizes the entire fragrance; it's intense, and some might even say shrill. It's interesting: though this is primarily a soapy, lily-of-the-valley scent, the overall mood does not seem "innocent", "girlish", "pastoral" or "clean" at all: rather, PRÉSENCE seems to me to be a nocturnal ultra-high-glam scent, with a brilliantly giddy quality, suitable for a feathered, back-combed and pailleted libertine of Studio 54 who is airborne on Stoli and cocaine. It's brilliant, festive, urbane and slightly maddening in its balls-to-the wall éclat. It's one of those classic French numbers that make you say, "Now THIS is perfume!". It shares a kinship, I'd say, with a perfume like that 60's wild-girl number, MISS BALMAIN, or with the original YSL RIVE GAUCHE, with its shiny, metallic, blatantly aldehydic floralcy. PRÉSENCE is truly a great French perfume, with loads of attitude and character, and I'm surprised it is not more discussed by modern perfumisti. I love it, though it is ultra-femme, I'd say; there is not even a parallel universe in which this might suit a man... unless he were in drag. Full marks.