Azurea

I'm shocked no one has caught that Chanel No. 5 clearly ripped off LT Piver's Azurea, which predates No. 5 by decades. But then, Chanel and her house were never exactly known for honesty or ethics, were they? Top: bergamot and neroli Heart: soft, broad floral bouquet of Jasmine, rose, iris, orange blossom, etc. Possibly narcissus and lavender. Base: deer musk, orris root, tonka bean, and sandalwood. Possibly small amounts of red cedar or oak. Quite beautiful if you can find a bottle that hasn't turned. It doesn't smell particularly dated in the civet/oakmoss way you find in many old perfumes, but it really is strangely old-fashioned and modern at the same time with the well-preserved bottles. Slightly soapy heart with a lovely powdery musky dry down that last a all day. No modern aromachemical synthetics here that don't occur in nature. It's modeled after a actual herbal flower, Azurea, which it does a good job imitating.

This beauty has broken my heart. I scored a vintage bottle on Ebay, wanting the antique flask more than the likely-spoiled juice within. Sadly, today it arrived shattered thanks to terrible packaging by the seller, leaving me with wrapping soaked in seemingly unspoiled soapy, powdery floral fumes, shrouding a sad pile of glass shards. The lovely stopper is still intact in the neck, and I may be able to display it as an oddball artifact, but the old labels and the handcrafted floral base of the bottle, which so attracted me to it, were destroyed. I probably would not wear this scent - it is too soapy for me, catches unpleasantly at the back of my throat - but I did covet this little piece of perfuming history.