Mink And Pearls

This. Stuff. Is. Divine. Soap, musk, moss, sweet florals, & old-fashioned face powder, on top of a wonderfully funky stank. The pamphlet enclosed in my 2oz edt boasts of "140" components. This seems true, the spices & florals are indistinct. (By the way, major points on the bottle, mine is a curvy beribboned one topped with a circular grooved plastic lid. Very mid-century glam.) I love vintage chypres and this was worth every penny of the blind splurge purchase. Where are you gonna get a tester? Plus Sharon Tate was apparently a fan of the bath pearls so I knew I had to get a whiff. Jovan, please bring back a whole variety or coffret of your ca. 1970 offerings. I want to smell like this every day of my life but I'll have to hoard my beautiful bottle and hope it lasts long enough to be buried with 😁 ... Plus I've read great things about Frankincense and Myrrh and Jovan's other vintage frags 💚 P.S. If you adore this, and/or Youth Dew, please check out Elizabeth Taylor's Passion (vintage if possible) it's very similar, way easier and cheaper to get, and it's equally divine!

One of the most impressive offerings from Jovan that I've experienced, Mink & Pearls isn't the stuffy madame that its name might suggest. On the contrary, this is a breezy late-60s good green earth galbanum, sunbeam aldehydes, smiling narcissus, hyacinths and thistles (bonus points for those who get the reference). Cue the Free Design's "Kites are Fun" for this number. It's sort of an inverse complement to Weil's Zibeline, where there is more a playful desire for necking and groping, a "roll in the hay", as it were, rather than dark shadows and smoky boudoirs. The spring green floral pageant is superimposed over the animalic musk and castoreum is such a satisfying contrast. "Free love" never smelled so good.

soapy and musky; aldehydes in the top, some oakmoss and galbanum with lots of musk, hint of carnation, some lavender and hyacinth

This is a beautiful animalic leather chypre from 1968, which started with sharp citrus & hyacinth notes, a la Norell, Masumi and others of the late 60s/early 70s. As it dries down, a subtle sweetness of creamy jasmine emerges and the dark animalic notes of castoreum, civet, musk, and the isobutyl-quinoline leather and oakmoss is laid bare. It reminds me most of Pheromone by Marilyn Miglin, old Norell, vintage Azuree by Estee Lauder...It's a wonderful vintage animalic chypre - the animalic part is hinted at in the "Mink" part of the name - it's very much of its time period, and it's one that vintage chypre lovers should definitely try. I personally did not care as much for the little bottles of pure perfume, which were too bitter and bracingly sharp/green for my taste. I find the bottles of the lighter concentrations with light brown juice - EDC & EDT - much more bearable with the sweet creamy jasmine heart and skanky, dank basenotes emphasized more.

I wore this on my wedding day in the 70s, it was lovely and completely appropriate for the occasion.

OH, my.. Wish I had been able to smell this one!