Magie

[375] I recently tracked down a very old vintage miniature of this gem, dating from c. the 1970s. It is a beautiful yet simple violet scent - powdery and musky, soft and delicate. It conjures up the image of a 1950s woman getting ready in front of her dressing-table - more intimate than glamorous, but full of retro beauty despite the domestic, commonplace setting. I am a violet lover, and Magie is one of the best I've tried to date. Magie opens with some aldehydes, adding some bright soapiness, joined very quickly by a soft, musk note, more animalic than clean. It smells very vintage in style, reminding me of a 1950s powder compact. A wonderful powdery violet note appears soon afterwards. Soft, delicate and melancholy, it is almost like an olfactory painting of the flower itself. It is enhanced to perfection by the aldehydes and musk. Clean jasmine emerges as it develops, which alongside the aldehydes reminds me of old-fashioned luxury soap. It complements the violet nicely. It gets a little ambery as it dries down, but it feels more chypre-like to me - I smell a little oakmoss in the base. The floral chypre that results is sublime - the violet and jasmine shine beside the darker, earthy chypre notes which complement them to perfection. Unusually for a vintage scent, it doesn't last very long - sillage and longevity are both moderate, fading completely after a few short hours. Magie is a classic vintage scent, delivering feminine elegance in spades while remaining subtle. Surprisingly simple and cohesive, despite being comprised of multiple parts (aldehydes, florals, both amber and chypre accords), Magie is something special, managing to stand out beside its contemporaries. A wonderful feminine scent, Magie is a transeasonal and versatile scent. Gentle, vintage elegance. 4.5/5.

So sexy! So beautiful! So reminiscent of a classic musk that was my signature scent back in high school. If you're a fan of the beautiful Revlon Intimate extrait, you must try Magie. Fairly frequently I muse about vintage fragrances I loved in my youth. One of the best, was a vtg Intimate mini that had a sponge on applicator. I kept it in my purse, and repurchased it many times before reformulations... IFRA regulations... etc... New Intimate is unrecognizable compared with the vtg animalic potion. Fortunately finding vtg Intimate is relatively painless on eBay. IMO, this is one of the best musks ever produced. I do have vtg Intimate in 3 formats, and IMO they're all "desert island" necessities. If your instincts fear purchasing a 50-60 YO bottle, Magie is what you need. On the 1-10 scale, this is a solid 8-81/2. The only disappointment comparing these 2 beauties, Magie only wears 3-4 hours on my skin. Vtg Intimate, 10-12 hours. Sillage on Magie is also more ladylike compared to vtg Intimate. I love musks and treasure MKK, MR, and Ava Lux's Kama. Intimate and Magie can hold their own against these newer classics.

My sealed, purse-sized "wand" of Magie should be departing tomorrow... I simply CANNOT wait to try this! When I found out that Hypnose shares the same bottle design as Magie had (the super-cool twisted Baccarat flacon) I knew I had to find this. Update: it definitely smells feminine and alluring. Soft and sweet and the violet comes through without making this TOO demure. Magie is a masterpiece of vintage perfumery that probably gets overshadowed by its contemporaries, but is definitely worth seeking if you love old perfumes. It's the antithesis of the smoky green leather chypre, the in the best way.

Lancome La Collection MAGIE opens rather intensely, reminding me somewhat of JOY. I'm pretty sure that the official note list is abridged: there's a lot more going on here than amber, musk, violet, and jasmine! Given the similarity to JOY, I was initially convinced that there must be civet in the mix. However, I ran my wrist under my resident civet detector and received no response (a positive reading is indicated when he licks his lips), thus refuting that hypothesis. Something in this composition is very deep and dark and strong, and unless I'm witnessing a case of alchemy, it's not violet, jasmine, amber, or musk... The great news is that MAGIE dries down so beautifully that I can justify waiting through the opening in order to get to it: a thick golden layer of amber with floral notes as garnishes. This is a big-time, no-holds-barred perfume! Those who appreciate bold florientals will surely be taken in by MAGIE's spell!

I'm testing the La Collection version. The civet is strong and immediately apparent. It's odd that it's not listed in the notes here. I can't really identify any of the notes listed here except for jasmine. There could be something like the sweetness of amber in the base, but I don't get violet at all, and the musk is more like civet. Overall there's a powdery, but deep floral like iris in high quality face cream. It calls to mind My Sin, but they're not dupes. The civet in My Sin is actually airier and less dirty to me.