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.

This scent is pretty interesting for an EDC. In small amounts, it reminds me of a sweeter, lighter version of First by Van Cleef and Arpels. When I put on a bit more, it turns into a honeyed, powdery blend that becomes a bit more noticeable when I get warmer or the weather gets warmer. It’s still fairly intimate in regards to sillage, so unless you’ve literally bathed in it it shouldn’t be too offensive to anyone around you. As light as it is, it’s very long lasting (13 hours).

This is a beautiful scent; a spicier powder that is a gentle cloud of scent. However, this just doesn't last on me. I got a couple of hours, at best, wear out of this. However, it was a glorious couple of hours.

Mild mannered, powdery and musky, and a little boring. But perfectly ok if you are into this type of scent. Benefit of an older (and better) formulation. Review for a perhaps 70s? spray bottle edt. Maybe the stronger concentrations would come out more faceted?

Magie Conjours a esoteric mystery Opens with the darkest and the most animalistic note of amber pure and unsweetened, Walking though a dimly lidded cave on a nocturnal moment threads of Calligraphic Arabic verses of gold Dangles with an Ethereal glow, Elusive jasmine grows in the Rock's crevice elegantly grows on the on the bare walls with sinuous beauty with it's leafy vines. I detect Civet in it's purest form adds to the Dark Exotica of this scent Wisp of incense smoke pierces though the utter darkness of the cave following the smoke until you saw where the smoke is burning from a beautiful incense burner etched in the shape of a dragon burns with the note of dry sandalwood, as the incense burns your transfixed by the smoke dancing revealing our Inner thoughts. Magie is a dark beauty delighting in sensual pleasure a bit of danger with Civet and meditation with amber.

Lancome Magie EdP. Wonderful scent perfect for fall/wintertime. Fresh, lots of Amber and Musk and on my skin a hint of oakmoss. Moore Chypre than Oriental if you ask me. Lancome Magie EdP. Ljuvlig doft för hösten/vintern. Fräsch, rejäl dos Amber och Musk och på mig även en luftig not av Ekmossa. Mer Chypre än Oriental om du frågar mig..

I really enjoy the current formulation of Magie Noire by Lancome, so when I discovered that there was another fragrance that came before it, I ordered a sample almost straight away. Magie is one of those classics that really need to be brought back. The scent is heavy, powerful and reeking of confidence. It's quite a powdery scent, but not necessarily clean. I find it more animalic and slightly earthy. Magie tends to be rather sensual too, especially towards the drydown. This fragrance smells relatively dark and seductive on my skin. There's also a subtle note that resembles dirty fuel, that I must admit, intrigues me greatly. It has obvious unisex qualities, a fragrance that would wear just as well on a man as it does on a woman. Magie reminds me of Chanel No.22, however it's much dirtier and a tad more masculine. The opening is bitter in some ways, and also heavily concentrated in terms of aldehydes and musk. As it settles, the amber accord is more apparent, bringing to light a hint of beauty and superiority. Before the drydown, Magie is at its most animalistic stage with a thick muskiness combined with unsweetened amber. I should also add that the sillage at this point is rather soft and intimate. So this is in no way a loud and offensive blend. Despite the fact that Magie doesn't contain a leather accord, I think many women who adore leather-based scents will love Magie. It has a similar rough 'biker-chick' feel to it which I personally love. I'm very much taken with the drydown, which was a beautiful and smooth ambery incense blend which suits a cold Winter's night perfectly. I highly recommend.

I have no idea about the original Magie, while I have loved and worn a lot the original Magie Noire ever since its launch. Indeed Magie Noire bears resemblance to Magie in terms of being an oriental, classy, wonderful scent. Period. While Magie Noire was (I am talking about the original formulation) rich, deep, a bit loud, certainly intense, Magie is light, soft, discreet. Both spectacular, both wonderful, both worth having, wearing, enjoying. If you like oriental, spicy scents but are a bit intimidated by their being overwhelming, Magie is the choice. If you love orientals but sometimes get tired with their being loud (I am thinking about Bal à Versailles, Opium, Cinnabar and the like) and do not want to give up orientals, Magie is the one. I have a soft spot for orientals, I admit I love orientals even in summer, but too often I finish being worn by them. I find Magie is perfect, never too loud, never out of tune, never too much. (All this being said let me add that I would be more than happy if the original Magie Noire were resurrected and if I could enjoy it the way it was instead of the pale shadow it can be found today).

These comments are for Magie Spray Mist: Magie was created in 1950 (the year my parents were married). My bottle is vintage- Box says "No. 6171, Lancome Dist., Div of Cosmair Inc, Clark N.J. 07066." Since zip codes were used in US from 1963 on, my box must be mid 60's possibly through the 70's. One spray of this baby is super potent to my nose. The nozzle is big and dispenses much more than current little plastic nozzles do. The scent is warm and powdery but, in an eerie kind of way, not a soft and cuddly sweet way. The top notes are likely dissipated. I'm sure I must have smelled this enveloping an aunt or two in my childhood. For some reason I'm getting an image /feeling of being hugged and enveloped in a scented fur coat in the dead of winter. This is classic perfumery style of the era, and probably full of stuff now banned by the IFRA, those devils. Without the floral top notes, Magie seems pretty dark to me so I'm wondering how much darker is Magie Noire ?

I get a thick, heavy yet sweet amber resin (arguably a near styrax-cousin type of amber resin), a lot of a surprisingly likeable vintage boudoir powder scent, and an underlying skankiness I was not expecting (as it dries down more). I'm pretty confident the skank factor (a fun touch & probably my favorite part of this scent) is from INDOLES in the jasmine, artfully blended with a rich, warm, almost crystallized-sugar infused amber. (For the heavy presence of indoles on my skin, I rated jasmine 'very intensive'. Probably a chemistry thing!) I believe this is what sherapop is finding as 'CIVET' in her review below, because I absolutely agree and get a lot of the tone, too. The comparison to a more resinous/MUCH less floral 'Joy' Patou is not far off in this respect. I'm drawn to it, but I feel like it is a bit too heavy for me all considered. I feel it's a high quality, less fruity spiced, more concentrated cousin of Femme de Rochas.

Testing today a vintage EDC in perfect shape. It has a floral aldehyde opening, but swanky and bourbon rich too. A taller brunette cousin to the Madame Rochas crowd, a little wilder, sexier, almost delicately brooding in the corner, not even wishing to dance, but absorbed in ancient poetry. This is Perfume with a capital P, and of the old school era for sure, but classy and swanky all the way. White gloves and sterling, fine wool rugs and candles. EDIT Testing again later and the drydown is exceptional. The aldehydes burn off quickly and then the floral chype starts but the drydown....WOW , lovely and soft and NOT cloying at all, disappears fast but OK because I think it is natural, or mostly natural.

Oh, lovingthealien, you are so mean! We like a lot of the same scents, so I am really wondering if you got a bad bottle? (The kerosene part especially makes me wonder). I recently got a 1/2 oz of quite vintage cologne and have become quite obsessed with it. It is lovely and haunting. Mine is very musky, it is deceptively simple and light. Fairly long lasting for a vintage cologne too. Yes, there is an hint of mustiness, that only adds to its charm. I have a bottle from La Collection on the way, and I want to try the vintage parfum version. A gallon or two of this scent might be enough for me to rest easy. Try it again, really!

Opens with a vintage blast. I can't place exactly what fragrance it reminds me of, but I feel like I'm a child testing the bottles on my Grandma's dresser. The musk dominates the opening. It's a powerful, animalic musk, but rounded out just enough by the amber to stay on the beautiful/sexy side. The jasmine blooms in and provides the transition over to florals. It becomes a powdery, violet dominated floral a little over an hour in. The whole progression and blending keeps the vintage vibe going. Where it loses the vintage touch is in the longevity; it's Gone, except for a very light skin powder within 5 hours.

This is a soft and primarily dry aldehyde on me. There's slightly skank musk and amber which do make a for a sexy dry down. In the heart and base I get a tinge of the same strange almost vetiverous note that a lot of reformulations seem to have on my skin. Arpege, Jolie Madame, Bandit all end up smelling a little of bug repellent... I'm not sure if it's an intentional note or just me but either way it ruins a lot of these fragrances for me. Despite this, Magie is a subtle and soft intimate scent for dark nights.

My review is for 1960s vintage Magie Mist. This is a soft, ambery, well-blended traditional floral. It's very very soft and dries down to powder in just a couple of hours - not enough staying power to interest me, really. The top notes are mostly amber, followed by very well blended florals with no individual note standing out - nothing harsh or woody about it anywhere. I think in a stronger concentration, I would like this but as it is, it just smells lie perfume leftover on your clothes from the night before.

Yummy. Magie is a tasty animalic fragrance, with what smells like scads of civet and castoreum. Amber and musk give the fragrance a fleshy warmth. There is a *slight* urinous smell that I'd also describe as "warm hair", but overall, Magie is an extremely sexual fragrance. The fleshy musk smells are exactly what I want in a musk fragrance - not so much stinky as they are sensual and comforting. It also lasts a very long time. I'd probably wear this when I plan on getting laid.