Indiscret

I would love to try the new version, and as I like to see the old houses continue, I might eventually. I have had a package of nips for a while that I finally broke into an hour or so ago. One nip later, I had been through the kitchen earlier, was back in the bedroom and my husband came in to ask if I was burning incense. Now, that's sillage, folks! Yes, it does indeed have a resin, incense, smoky quality that keeps it from being fruity/floral girly as you might think from the description here. A nip that has been completely sealed and protected from light is about the closest to the original scent as you could find today. I don't know what the darkened vintage versions will be like, but you can bet that I am going to find out as soon as I can! OMG, this is glorious and unlike anything I can think of. I don't get the orange or bergamot at all, I do get the geranium and galbanum. Lauren Bacall, huh? I love being in such company. I can definitely see this working for a man or a woman with strength, confidence and purpose.

A wonderful Fragrantican (and a darn excellent writer) kindly sent to me several very vintage parfum "nips" recently. Indiscret had to be the first I used, as I've been curious about this fragrance for a long time. On my skin, quite sophisticated clove and carnation are most apparent. Either done with restraint, or perhaps mellowed by age... no matter, the result is divine! These two powerful notes are tempered by the florals, which have held their own through the years. Lovely. There comes up a most wonderful orange/mandarin, that is rather surprising. It is subtly sweet, a twist of sour, just what the doctor ordered! I am humbled by a good number of vintage fragrances. Indiscret is somewhere near the top of that particular list. I won't even try to find a correct bottle. But I'll always keep the memory of this sultry and interesting wonder in mind (just in case) ;) Try it if you get the opportunity. You'll be glad you did.

This page needs some clarification. The bottle shown at the top, a recent incarnation is in fact a very fruity floral, and has no relationship whatsoever to the original Indiscret by Jean Carles. Fragrantica should really clarify this. I have had both kinds of Indiscret. The original one, smelled obviously so many years after it was made, was a green juice, came across like a spicy floral scent with some refreshing green notes in it. I have no idea what was in the base, but I don't believe it was leathery and it certainly wasn't a cedar chest type of base either. It was simply divine, and a type of perfume that hasn't existed in probably 40 years. The new Indiscret as shown above is basically indistinguishable from the hundreds of fruity florals which have been cranked out since the 1990s. Heavy and sweet and fruity. Not my bag.

This is a lightly-citrusy floral with a fair amount of green up top, with a lovely sweet ylang ylang in the mix, woods and spice. Gorgeous from top to bottom and it wears well on me. I don't think it's strong or overpowering, but rather strong and stable, like a woman who's been through lots of ups and downs in her life and has evolved and been strengthened by it, rather than defeated. It's hard to keep my nose away from my skin when I wear this, I just want to bury my face in it and be surrounded by it. I have the vintage and used to have the reformulation, till I used it up. The new juice is a bit brighter, slightly less spicy, and seems to have more citrus up top than the original, but close enough that I can still tell it's the beautiful Indiscret.

When I was a child a neighbor had an extensive collection of vintage 30s and 40s French perfumes and Indiscret was one of them and one of my favorites, along with Le dix de Balenciaga and Shocking by Schiaparelli. Unusually for a 30s scent it has no aldehydes ( the "modern" perfumes, since aldehydes began to be used by Chanel 5) or civet (the "exotic" ones, like Shalimar) or even both which makes it very distinctive for its era.Perhaps because of that it comes off as more modern than most fragrances of the time.Its aroma was woody floral with an spicy aura (there are no spices here but I remember them on Indiscrete), very feminine (with a femme fatale aura) and very long lasting with heavy to moderate sillage(one daub was good for 10 hours).

I have always loved this fragrance, and I finally got my hands on some vintage - wow! As Tessture says, it is a whole different animal - not sharp or fruity but deep and spicy. I can still tell that the two are related, but there is a luxurious carnation and orange blossom depth to the vintage that is just enticing. The new version does dry down to a spicy feel after the sharp opening, and I really don't know how many of the top notes are gone in the vintage, though it was never opened until I got it. Either one is well worth trying, as both are very sophisticated.

The version used is a bottle of green Cologne from the 1950s. This classically styled fragrance opens with cool galbanum and leads to a saturated floral note, including soft iris, carnation and other common white flowers. The middle is full of spicy spices...cinnamon, eugenol, coumarin and lavender. It has a base of musk, amber balsam and oakmoss, with a hint of smoke. The texture is dry, sour and slightly salty. Has the qualities of Ma Griffe (Carven), a green chypre with an oriental floral aroma. For me, Jean Carles' signature is easy to spot.

To me this perfume is about the sour cool elements (citrus, galbanum, geranium) juxtaposed against the warmer humid and spicy elements (ylang ylang, carnation) with the orange blossom, iris, and woody notes bridging the two. This balancing act produces a tension that is exciting for me. I own a large number of beautiful vintage carnation-centered creations, but what sets indiscret apart is a zippiness that a lot of eugenol-forward vintages lack.

This is everything described in the other reviews. It is the green, spicy, citrusy bombshell formula that makes us love vintage scents & shun the modern, vapid scents. I am considering this as my signature scent. It has the added allure of being sexy, and tasteful, suitable for day or night.

I have a vintage 8oz round bottle.. it reminds me of Primitif Max Factor....floral and woody with a bit of spice, not as much Spice as Primitif... I love it, my style for sure.

This is not a floral fruity to me, this is as vintage as they get! True classic, ultimate masterpiece, would LOVE to have a large amount of it.

I have the newer formulation. Really reminds me of vintage Giorgio Beverly Hills. Definitely earthier though it’s very nice.

Love it! Strong yet silky. Sharp with a hint sweetnes, balanced by citrus notes and flower/roses.

strong, sweet, with galbanum, oakmoss and woods, geranium, ylang, tuberose

strong, sweet, with galbanum, oakmoss and woods, geranium, ylang, tuberose

Going off other reviews I am unsure which version I actually have as it appears there are big differences. The version I have (large decant) came from a bottle that looked very similar to the bottle shown in the picture but with a different lid, and the box was totally different, being black with gold curved lines decorating it. The version I have (and am wearing today) is certainly not what I would describe as "fruity floral". It is not sweet at all. I would describe this as being a vintage type scent, less common in modern perfumery. The galbanum is very present in the opening, with a very green note, amongst classically done flowers. I could not easily say which flowers, admittedly I am a bit snuffly today but I have worn this before. I think there is ylang, jasmine, something that feels like some kind of yellow florals, very heady and extremely feminine. This feels like a big, glamourous, voluptuous scent to me. Something to wear for a night out - not a night out in the sense of pubs and clubs and dancing, more fancy meal in posh restaurant followed by theatre or something. It feels like "old money", something you would not be surprised to smell on a passing well-heeled lady, yet is completely accessible too - I love wearing this and am not yet 30. I like this, it doesn't smell like anything/everything else available. Longevity is pretty good at around 7 hours, although I have noticed I sometimes become a little desensitised to it while wearing and find it less easy to discern on myself, although others have commented on it even when I cannot smell it, and I smell it on my clothes the next day. This is really beautiful. Don't be put off by the fruity floral, I don't get any fruit, just classy, glamourous florals.

This is what I call a classical bombshell fragrance, a favourite of both Marlene Deitrich and Lauren Bacall. Indiscret gives me the impression of "daytime glamour", and is something that one would wear with a floral dress to perhaps a garden party, with one of those wide-brimmed hats and a pair of cat's eye sunglasses. I found this to smell very harsh in it's little bottle; and on the skin, the opening is strong and green and floral. Galbanum is definitely prominent in this, I can detect it's greeny bitterness, but I don't find it too sharp or off-putting. There is no sweetness in this at all. The scent then mellows into something more smooth and fluid, and a touch creamier, which indicates ylang-ylang on the skin, and a spicy geranium that is sometimes present in the background, but the white florals always remain constant and full. The scent fades away into a lighter and cleaner jasmine in the base. On my skin, this was predominately a green and white floral. It's impeccably well-blended and the sillage was excellent; strong to moderate in strength, and the scent lasted for a good 6 hours. And, although this perfume is loud and has presence, I did not find it to be obnoxious or screaming in any way; it sits very well on my skin. However, as it's the winter season now, my impression is of a scent that's somewhat subdued. I am looking forward to wearing this again, during the warmer months, where the warmth may encourage more of the billowing and blousy white florals, and I can smell the scent living up to it's name.

I got a couple very old packs of perfume nips earlier this year. There was one nip of Indiscret in one of the packs so I thought I'd give it a try tonight. One drop is VERY powerful! I'm getting some orange and lots of geranium in the opening. The first thing I thought I smelled was rosewood, but I don't see that in the notes. As time goes on, I'm getting something akin to violet now, is that the iris? I'm not familiar with iris scents, but I do have some orris root powder which smells strongly or violets. Heavier florals are coming up now, its starting to smell of ylang, it has a VERY vintage smell now. I think this is going to be one of those perfumes that gives me headache, so I'll give it a rest and sniff more later and see what the base is like. Ok, now about an hour later this had dried down to a lovely soft wood and powder. There's a flower here too, must be the orange blossom. Something here reminds me a little of the drydown of Bal a Versailles. Completely different from the earlier perfume. It brings to mind a cashmere sweater or an alpaca shawl, warm and comforting. ;)

The day I received my bottle I had a severely stopped up nose and did not like the opening. However, after about 15 minutes the florals kicked in and the fragrance was lovely. It has excellent sillage and longevity. I also do not see this as a fruity floral. My nose (which is now better) smells a woodsy floral in Indiscret. Another plus about this fragrance is that you will smell very unique. It is hard to find and not sold on the mass market sites. Check the Lucien Lelong official site for information on this scent. They also beat the pricing of the few perfume sites that carry Indiscret. I must say the more I wear Indiscret the better I like it.

I got a 0.25 ml vintage EDP and I really don't know what to think of it. I'm not sure if it's supposed to smell like this or it's changed due to its age, but it does have that "vintage" smell that you would never detect in contemporary or reformulated perfumes. At first it is super strong, sharp and bitter, but after about 20-30 min it mellows out and has some sweetness to it. It's not by any means disgusting, but I can't say I was enjoing wearing it either. I will give it another chance but looks like it will be one of those perfumes I will appreaciate from a distance.