Celui de Jean Dessès

Hello all, my first review for Fragrantica! I would like to say that I'm so grateful to all the beautiful people who have so generously shared their knowledge and expertise. I have quite a fragrance wardrobe now and I have all of you to thank for it. What a lovely, scented journey I'm on and I hope it never ends for any of us. Okay here goes...... Vintage pure parfum Jean Desses Celui The opening for me is stunning, startling, and somewhat addictive. It's full on salty ambergris lifted by gentle, waxy aldehydes. I then get a subtle hit of a dry, warm spice, perhaps cardamom? That note is not listed but cardamom is what I'm smelling. As the perfume warms on my skin, I start to get the beautiful, restrained florals warmed by civet. They are so exquisitely blended, it's difficult for me to pick individual notes, but a dry and slightly powdery iris dominates all the floral notes. The florals are not at all overwhelmingly sweet and work as an integrated part of the whole perfume My skin amplifies all sweet notes to an intolerable degree, so this works perfectly for me. The ambergris, clean and salty, warm and animalic, never dissipates. This perfume is so wonderfully balanced. The leather note is smooth, subtle and beautiful. I find this scent to be dry, austere, restrained and beautifully, impossibly elegant. A black and white portrait of Anouk Aimee, if you will. Thanks for reading.

My research has indicated that the actual notes for Celui are the following: Top notes: aldehydes, lemon, hyacinth, narcissus, and hawthorn Middle notes: tuberose, rose de Mai, Egyptian jasmine, gardenia, orris and heliotrope Base notes: civet, amber (I believe it is ambergris), patchouli, musk, sandalwood and oakmoss That being put out there, this is a remarkably beautiful vintage fragrance! I've had my bottle of Parfum for about a year. When I first tried it, I found it somewhat lackluster in both sillage and longevity. I've let it "sit" and think about things for a while. Wow, what a difference its' time out has made! Such a rich, heady chypre delight. I believe my bottle is from the 1960's, although it was launched in 1938. The perfumer is Paul Vacher. If you get the change to at least try Celui, I highly recommend it. I love it.

Vintage pure Parfum....1 oz. This is a classic...old school...GEM !! So happy I have this in my collection. Civet...ambergris....floral....aldehydes...light leathery vibe..mossy...salty smokey underneath. Greenish. Kinda hard to describe...but in a great way. Unique,IMO They don't make em like this anymore.....!

I am wearing it as I am composing the review. Speechless when I put it on. I am reviewing the green travel case's PDT version. The juice is aged beautifully with a yellow ambery color. When I first apply it, I immediately pickup citrus, leather, hyacinth. No aldehyde to be found. Just when I sniff more, the ambery iris start peeking through giving this heavenly chypre a powerful backbone. The vintage PDT I wore has lost most of its floral notes so there's no way to discern the diverse profile, but it still withstands the time to educate the audiences about the golden era of oakmoss based chypre. Sadly, the PDT fleets rather quickly on my skin. I only got a 2 hr wear on my skin.

Was given to me LONG ago by my then boyfriend... I loved and still love it .. but can seldom find it. When I have the price is prohibitive! It's such a shame that it isn't still being made!