Maxim's de Paris

I just ordered an unopened vintage edt of this for $10.00 on ebay. I used to have a 1 oz. parfum of this in the 80s and finished the bottle. For about a year this was my signature going out evening fragrance. I remember this as a rich, opulent, beautifully blended fragrance and one I thoroughly enjoyed. For some reason I cannot remember now, I never replaced the bottle once empty, and seem to have forgotten all about it. I am happy to be reminded of this scent thanks to Fragrantica. I scouted ebay looking for another bottle of parfum only to find the prices are higher for the vintage than when I originally purchased my bottle years ago. I opted instead for the edt rather than make a big investment, not knowing whether the memory of the fragrance was as beautiful as I remembered or if I was just equating wonderful times with this scent. At the very least I hope the edt has enough of the essence of the fragrance to make me love it as much as I used to years ago. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a happy result. Update – I received my vintage edt today and it is as lovely as I remembered. The parfum is stronger of course, and a little more refined, while the edt is softer, though nonetheless just as beautiful. This fragrance feels like golden rays of warm sunshine on a balmy spring day. The jonquils and spicy carnation are taking center stage and the amber is giving it that golden aura. The rose is so beautiful here - a deep red spicy rose. The oakmoss gives a little woodsy earthiness and grounds the fragrance. It was this fragrance that contributed to my appreciation for oak moss and why I love it today. This perfume has so many notes that should sound discordant (mint, melon?) but somehow it all works beautifully together into an elegant and chic scent. Update: Whoopie!!! I scored two mini parfums. Oh, they smell just as beautiful as I remember!

This was a cheapie blind buy on eBay, used, about half-full, the EDT spray. I don't drill sellers about freshness when it's less than $10 including shipping, since I take my chances with sellers who don't specialize in perfumes. So when it arrived I wasn't too surprised that the top notes had soured. But I wrinkled my nose and braved a few sprays and, lo and behold, and a little shyly, those heart notes came through. What a perfectly lovely scent! Mind you, not knowing what a fresh bottle smells like, I can only go by what I smell now. I don't care for unisex or masculine scents, but I'm not taken aback from (on me) the rather intensive spicy, dark-green patchouli heart, because sweet ribbons of red geranium and--I swear it's there--purple lilac blossoms entwine all around it. It smells to me a little like Diva: Not nearly as rosy, and no honey at all, but it has that golden quality to it. There is something shared by these two scents that evoke a color like bronzed red. I'm so addicted to strong fragrance that I don't trust myself to recommend where or when this would be appropriate to wear. I'm also no judge of sillage or endurance, since I'm a scent eater, but I get a fair run of about two hours out of it. I would love to get a fresh bottle and see how they compare.

A lovely Fragrantica friend send me a mini of Maxim to try and I'm glad she did. I love this kind of green floral. It reminds me of and has elements of fragrances in my collection like Jean Patou 1000, Joy, and Caline. This is classic, bitter, fresh spicy, green, floral, mossy, boozy. This is a deep red rose, spicy, tart fruity blending with a very mossy and patchouli base. If you like fragrances like EL Knowing as well you will like Maxim. There is no sugar in this beauty. It is like a fine wine, very bold, deep, rich bouquet but very dry. The colors I see in my minds eye when I smell this are deep green and deep wine or burgundy. Would be beautiful for a night out on the town or for strolling in the woods or meadow ( the dryers green weed smells like meadow) Classically beautiful.

I found a vintage miniature bottle of this at an estate sale today. IIt only had a few drops in it but I had to have it. For a mere fifty cents it was mine! Using the bottle description I had to search online to find out what it was. Why haven't I ever heard of this before? Such a gorgeous, rich, opulent scent! I would expect it to have a following. I admit it is out of step with modern trends. It is very 80's, but elegantly so. Like a black wool power suit worn by Joan Collins (Knowing)as opposed to a gold lame mermaid dress worn by Linda Evans (Giorgio) I would love to buy a full sized bottle of this. I just hope it hasn' been reformulated from what I am inhaling now. Mmmmm!

I think that this is now my going out perfume. I scored a vintage bottle. This is somewhat similar to Paloma Picasso by Paloma Picasso with no civet thrown in which makes it more wearable (less raunchy). I love the non-synthetic rose note, and I do detect the melon, oakmoss and sandalwood. This is the epitome of an 80's fragrance to me, and one that is still wearable today. Not bug spray-ish at all. It's fun and daring. I know that it wasn't as popular back in the day as say Dior Poision was which is a shame.

You put these perfumes on and let out a quiet sigh of pleasure. An enveloping, sensual, sweet—almost dense—fragrance wraps you in a deeply seductive aura. At first it is pronounced and embracing, then it settles intimately close to the skin. On fabric it lasts all day, and by evening it lingers in a slightly faded, more powdery, retro guise. A beautiful vintage scent.

Beautiful complex floral scent that is a great bargain buy. Lot of vintage perfumes of this orchestration commands very high prices on the secondary market. Maxims opens up rich, heady and beautiful. Its not an 80s bombastic powerhouse but it does have a strong solid viewpoint like Diva, Coco, but refined and well blended. Very feminine.Worth checking out.

I really love this scent! It is soooo classy without being too heavy, too floral, too fruity, just perfect! very well balanced. But the sad thing that the EDT version of this wonderful fragrance doesn ́t last long for me. Have to try the EDP version.

"At the current time", when perfumes only good enough for 3 hours at best, "at that time" in 1984 Dominique Ropion has created a masterpiece. Oh, how you have moved me. The symthony of all the composition is unparalleled. Simply divine. -Keeper

Friend gave me a vintage bottle of this and suddenly I'm transported back to my first, real job after college; a department store in downtown Houston that no longer exists, wearing this to work and feeling so feminine and professional.

This is the epitome of an 80s power perfume. It's very beautiful and classy. It's glamorous and sexy at the same time!

You can still buy this from enchanteperfumes.com they ship worldwide

Encantador! Indescritível! Difíci de encontrar, é uma pena...

Wauw, XSX!!! Thank you soo much for adding this CLASSIC!!

Enchanting! Indescribable! Hard to find, it's a shame ..

Her name was Anita. She had olive skin and golden brown eyes the color of good whisky. She wore her hair in a wispy pixie cut and she smelled amazing. I now know why. Mrs. Clarke was my eighth grade homeroom teacher. She always smelled so incredible and until I purchased this little bottle of Maxim de Paris, I had no idea what she wore. This bottle came in a 5" tall plastic shell of a box with that iconic red and black motif. The inside features a velveteen pedestal upon which sits my tiny bottle of EDP. Vintage, and never used I didn't really know what to expect of this-then I opened it, and there was Mrs. Clarke and it was 1985 for just a moment. I say just a moment because this fragrance, despite its very strong notes of cassis and something I can only describe as "green and herbaceous", it doesn't fill the room. I want a fragrance to fill the room. I asked the hubby to take a whiff of it, and when he did he knee-jerked a "WHOO!" and asked if I was seriously considering wearing it. I told him I was. I wore it in today-the little dauber that corks this fantastic scent into its little black bottle didn't really disperse this very well, and I feel certain if I had this in an atomizer the coverage would be greater, as well as the sillage. I'm here at work, but I can only smell this if I hold my wrist up to my nose. I love the herbaceous smell of it-it's so...refreshing. But since I put it on about 4 hours ago, it has dried down to a wonderful powdery haze on my skin. If I close my eyes and inhale I see lace doilies and Victorian furniture. Not "old" as much as "vintage". There is a difference. I like this. I just need a better way to get it onto my skin. This smell makes me feel warm and somewhat luxuriant-like I should be wrapped up in an angora cowl-neck sweater, sipping oolong tea on a cold day. Great stuff-just not very potent.

Maxim's is by no means a rare fragrance, and yet it took nearly two years into my fragrance journey before a little bottle of edp was added to my stash. Well, the wait was worth it! M's is a lovely perfume, with decent sillage and lasting power. The rose mingles with the oakmoss, softening any harsh notes that might jar the composition. According to the pyramid there's melon in M's, but I can't smell it. Maybe it's the sweet note that supports the florals? There's also cassis leaf, which is one of my least favorite scents. Luckily that note doesn't stand out, like the melon it plays a supportive role. M's is a feminine scent, but it's not girly. Guys might want to check out this lovely scent.

I also had this scent in the mid-eighties. I do remember the cool top notes, courtesy of the mint, cassis and melon that I see are listed. To me that was the most distinctive aspect of this fragrance. It never quite grabbed me the way some of the other 80's scents did. In my mind Maxim's is linked with Niki de Saint Phalle as both were distributed by Jacqueline Cochran fragrances and are of the same era. For me, however, Niki was and still is a love while Maxim's was only a like. I don't think I ever finished the bottle.

A yammy fragrance, that takes me back to disco years in late 70's - early 80's. Disco girls wore this kind of perfumes, with persistant notes of rose, oakmoss, mimosa and musk, in abundance. And, as they were dancing with passion on the dance floor under the sparkling disco balls, the fragrances were swirling all around, filling the atmosphere with dreams, wishes and love. What a wonderful epoque to remember! Lucky us that lived this magic!

this starts off with oakmoss, geranium and rose. i think i get a hint of the melon but it's very subtle, thankfully. later on a bit of narcissus backs it all up. however, it's primarily oakmoss and rose, which is a personal favorite combination so i am really liking this one. later i get some soft woods and amber, and the oakmoss softens a bit.

Wishing I bought the 1oz bottle, the big 100ml bottle (like pictured) has a totally wonky nozzle and does not spray properly. I get a dribbly squirt instead of a mist. Buyer beware. Smell is good but I need an old bottle. This one smells like fake oak moss.

Intoxicating. This is a sweet, carnation, rose,melon and mint feast! The initially strong juice settles into a close to the skin scent rather quickly, becoming a tender,sweet translucent floral veil. Very pretty indeed.

a beautiful, rich strong chypre without the bitterness of the oakmoss taking over; well blended where no florals are distinct; floral, musk, oakmoss, patch; it wears very golden

I have a mini eau de parfum its so lovely just wear it for occasions ... i never bought a big bottle regretting that ... oh well it still smells so good !

Was A "Heady" 80's Classic......A Head Turner......Has A "Coco"...Chanel vibe, released both the Same year 1984

I had two bottles of this back in the mid 80's. I made it through the first bottle, but only used a small amount of the second before giving it away. It was a pretty scent, but there was something harsh with a sharp edge about it. The bubble bath however was wonderful and I used quite a few bottles of that!

Maxim's Eau de Parfum Black Bottle (Spray) Purchased on eBay This was a mid 80s fragrance which I had once worn among my wardrobe at the time and which time forgot. I'm reacquainting myself with this beauty after more than 25 years. Because I purchased a vintage in the black spray bottle from a seller who sold authentic perfume I'm able to relive the magic and the exact same fragrance from the time of it's release. I'm taken back to when I first wore it and when I wore evening gowns gloves and pearl necklace hats and beautiful clothing I don't fit into anymore. In the 80s I was already a mature lady but the clothing that was being designed and manufactured then was respectful of older women clientele. Maxim's is a scent of evening in the City of Lights, a French perfume for a French woman out on the town on a weekend. Maxim's restaurant has long welcomed gourmands and celebrities who go there to be seen wearing dazzling fashions and to enjoy meals with friends while being entertained by quality singers. This fragrance takes you inside those glass doors and into the realm of Paris night life. This is a cabaret fragrance, a black dress fragrance, a cocktail dress fragrance, heels, make up, and a smile. This is such a fun party perfume. Opens with mint melon cassis or cassia and it reminds me of the opening to Roma by Laura Biagotti. Like Roma it has the power and the magic ability to take you to a specific place and time. This is like the scene in Gigi the 1959 Leslie Caron Louis Jourdan movie musical, toward the end, when Gigi has accepted to be Gaston's newest girl, in the trappings of the courtesan 'kept' woman lifestyle, and she is testing the waters by joining him at Maxim's and the dining guests are gossiping about them. This is a sweet scent when it opens very old fashioned but without the outdated aldehydes. For whatever reason they did not go into Chanel aldehyde mode and went for a fruity top instead. Smells of sweet wine. Like grape wine. I can detect mostly the grapes and cassia. In the heart we get plenty of florals and this was no surprise because in the 80s we had flower power perfumes. It is missing powdery iris or super powdery rose so this is no Yves Saint Laurent Paris. This has a heady and very green photorealistic flower bouquet scent. Smells of carnation, geranium, tuberose and mimosa. There is a touch of green here and there, probably the patchouli, and the oak moss. To me the oak moss is not too strong and does not come through has unisex nor as outdoorsy. This is not a garden scent. It smells of clean fresh flowers in vases. The way they evolve and play their aroma music is so lovely. It goes from fresh hyacinth to narcissus and jasmine, orange blossom, your typical white flowers, into the vanilla scented mimosa (possibly heliotrope) and a creamy very delicious tuberose and carnation. Feminine and elegant flowers, very French in their evocative imagery of flower vases in a table or booth at a restaurant. When the scent dries it's not as floral and it turns into a very clean musky scent with wood. The sandalwood comes through and the dyer's green weed from the middle stage is also making it's appearance, the patchouli, and amber. This is a very lovely strong perfume that does not overwhelm but it is rich full and quite complex. It is/was nothing that stood out at the time. It reminded me of a less powdery YSL Paris but it was also somewhat of a more voluptuous and amber based version of Azzaro 9 not to mention a less fruity version of Roma. It does come off as very 1980s very womanly very confident but not bold. This is demure and lady like, festive, clean, sweet, flowery and with a dry down of musk. This is still working it's magic after all these years and have to recommend it to any vintage fan of rare perfumes. Long discontinued this fragrance will be sure to delight vintage fans and will turn heads if they catch a whiff of the perfume on you. Because it is full do not spray too much. All you need is one to two spritzes and you're good to go. Great for spring and summer and perhaps even early autumn. This is a flowery scent so I can't imagine what women wouldn't care for it unless you have something against the way flowers smell. Again, I feel this is a festive party perfume to wear with party dresses and a night out on the town kind of thing. Gorgeous and very refined. Women that come to mind are Coco Chanel herself (though this does not smell of anything Chanel to me) Josephine Baker, Maria Callas, Jackie Kennedy, Catherine Deneuve, Leslie Caron, Audrey Hepburn, and Brigitte Bardot. While it's not sexy nor provocative it has the charm and allure of a very beautiful classy but very physically fit and very attractive woman. I miss my old body!

This is a beautiful floral fragrance with sandalwood. It's as good as a Chanel. The flowers in it are among my many favorites and do blend well together: carnation, tuberose, hyacinth, narcissus, jasmine, African orange flower heliotrope. The melon and mimosa combo make it so delicious like a drink. And plus, you even get some vanilla and patchouli. It seems to have everything! This is in the same fragrance family as another favorite of mine Azzaro No. 9. I see this as being a mostly floral fragrance with some fruit but as an older 80's fruity floral it beats other fruity florals that sell today. Classy, sophisticated, very Parisian. I can see how the fragrance relates to Maxim's the French restaurant in Paris dating to the time of the Belle Epoque turn of the century. It smells like a fragrance made many decades before the 80's, like something coming out of 1910. It's gorgeous. I associate this fragrance with a friend of mine from Paris who introduced me to Arpege. She wears this very well but now I can wear it too. It's a really beautiful fragrance and I recommend this for evening formal wear and if you're a big fan of florals

There are many fragrances linked by marketing with celebrities, and even more linked to apparel designers, or apparel brands, but Maxim's de Paris is one of the very few linked to a restaurant. That may change. As with ecological evolution, competition and marketing efficiency will eventually drive every empty selling space to be filled. (In ecology, such spaces are usually called niches (with English pronunciation) but if I used that term here, only more confusion would result.) Anyway, ...Maxim's de Paris original fragrance is an oakmoss-heavy polyfloral chypre, greened with cassis & mint, and spiced by cloves (eugenol, via a carnation accord). It really is quite a volumptuously rich, evening perfume, perfect for gourmet feasting and other nocturnal pleasures, ...and its nice to smell a 1980's power-chypre being so grandly seductive, without getting filthy (civet) about it. Maxim's odd marketing tactics might make one assume its perfume was just a gimmicky cash-grab. However, I must demur. The vintage formulation I'm sampling now easily holds its own against many more famous vintage perfumes.

My first impression on the vintage splash EDT-- INCREDIBLE! I love this! Like someone else said- very similar/style to Niki de Saint Phalle. This is kinda masculine, but the skin brings out feminine notes. I love it so much, I hopefully get an accepted offer on the EDP! This is awesome! Green, sharp, floral, the minty-ness of Niki, some fruit, mossy, earthy, woody-- just SUBLIME! Rich and golden (the golden feel/smell is like Diva, but I wouldn't agree they are similar) but GREEN. So far, rich-thick strong sillage! As it dries down, I find it very similar to Niki- but thicker and therefore I like it a bit more than Niki! WIN! I will update on a proper EDT wear, and the EDP when/if I get that. I never got the EDP. :( The seller advertised the listing as EDP, but alas... it was EDT when it came in, so I got a partial refund to keep it. I recently (Sept 2018) wore this on a rainy windy Fall day, and it gave off "pot" green. Haha.

Did not expect this AMAZING perfume from such a little talked about scent. Wow, it is of the calibre of original vintage perfumes or eau de parfums of the following: Coco Chanel, Boucheron, Creature, Dali by Salvadore Dali, first original, Magie Noire, first original. This perfume is lighter than many others of its genre and that to me, is a good thing as these rich scents are nice in smaller doses I think. Women and men of today ́s generation, please do not judge any perfumes on recreations, but try to get originals as they are the real deal, not saying some reformulations are not lovely but if you want to know what the creator was thinking and feeling, the original is it. It you study the ebay deals of mini vintages sometimes you can get very good deals, and get to try many of these old girls for the price of one new bottle or less. If you buy a large lot, normally the deals are better but not always.

Narcissus, oakmoss, roses, & jasmines. It starts with an overdose splash of white jasmines with that rancidity and remains for few seconds... then calms a bit so the oakmoss rises with the geranium, cassis, carnations, & melon... the colder it goes the sweeter it gets with amber, mimosa, hyacinth, narcissus, and bits of roses. This one is an interesting take of floral as I thought it's a splash of jasmines but settles to sweet floral. Interesting. Edit (15th Sept 2020) The drydown of this blend is clean musky soapy floral as the conquered floral are carnation, hyacinth, & roses, while the sweet is presented by cassis, & melon.

amazing! a true vintage masterpiece. Geranium, mimosa, REAL rose and not synthetic, melon, jasmine and vanilla. You feel like you wanna taste everything. Very good sillage and long lasting. No similarities with Diva at all, same quality but something else. A real gem.

Maxim's de Paris is a timeless treasure ! All the parisian spirit in a bottle ! Gorgeous night perfume , ultra feminine , very glamour , very "chic and sexy "!

Deliciosa combinação , porém pouco durável na pele; devo reaplicar ao longo do dia;mas, sem dúvida inesquecível cheiro!! Sexy, como eu!!

Hi ladies of this beautiful perfume i have 2 new vintage bottles for sale or swap.

Lovely perfume with zeron staying power, both in Eau de Toilete or Eau de Parfum.