Calyx

I can't help but bow before Calyx, and this is already a contradiction. Because Calyx is not an austere or exacting scent that makes you wanna pay your dues to its cachet or eminence. "Then why?" one could ask. Well, those of you who have not lived the magnitude of the '80s try to imagine this. In an era of dominating femme-fatale heavy-hitters, like Poison in 1985 and Loulou in 1987, which were huge successes and still are, Calyx came flying under the radar in 1986, dropping a mega bomb loaded with bliss and joy of life. Oh, and inventing a whole new genre too. I'm not sure if it's the fruity-floral, the floral-green or the fruity-floral-green one, but Calyx is made in Heaven! So my bow pays respect to a pioneer that happens to be an unbelievably good perfume too. What now seems to be the rule, was the exception back then. The rule was that fruits were shot on sight without further explanation. How many grande dames of the '80s could claim they had any prominent fruity notes, other than the occasional apricot or plum, included in their prima-donna vocal ranges? But while most of them were the distant divas frequenting the opera houses, Calyx was the dish from next door playing merry songs on her guitar in a subway station. And while the vamps, bedecked with diamonds and pearls, are sipping champagne and picking at salmon in the foyer, the imp is happy with a slice of pizza and a beer, whose pull tab wears as a ring after opening it. To cut a long story short, there are only two scents which put a big silly smile on my face every single time I sniff them. And maybe because of my preference for subway stations over opera houses, Calyx is one of them. It's the happy girl hopping around and giving you a flirty kiss on your cheek, among a bunch of aloof ladies, who demand a contract signed with your blood to just deign having their eyes laid upon you. It's a silvery sexy giggle among a clamor of elaborate erotic sighs. The lovely brat that every august matron looks daggers at and shoos. But only to move just a couple of steps aside, before she returns with her dulcet laughter filling the room. Don't get me wrong, I find all these '80s perfumes simply stunning and Bastet knows how much I love them, but it's like Calyx outshines them all because of being so different and daring. And just because these two traits are not always considered merits, maybe this was the reason that Calyx never got the fame it deserved; not back in the days, and to an even lesser degree now. But you know what? Who cares? This cunning tart surely doesn't, since I think I can see her winking at our direction, while singing tunefully "Who needs fame when she's happy?..."

I clearly remember smelling Calyx for the first time in the late 80s. My jaw dropped - it was the first time I had smelt a perfume that actually made me want to drink it! I didn't have the language to describe what I was smelling, and couldn't tell you if a fragrance was a chypre, or a white floral, or a fruity floral or whatever. I only knew what I liked, disliked, and loved. And I LOVED Calyx. It was so different from anything else I had ever experienced, as I gravitated more to classics from Chanel and Patou, Orientals like Opium and Cinnabar, and of course, the ubiquitous, true flower bomb Poison. Of course I had to purchase it. Looking back now, I think that the tropical fruit notes are what captivated me the most - the mango, the guava, and the papaya - and created that edible effect. As much as I loved it, I only owned one bottle before moving on to the next scent to attract my attention, as I was wont to do at that time. But the memory of this aroma is planted deep in my brain, and if I think about it hard enough, I can conjure it up. I must own this again. There are vintage bottles of the Prescriptives version on the Bay and I will try my luck with one of those. I don't know how the most recent Clinique version measures up,so I am going for the gold!

OH FOND MEMORIES! I was at McGill University and my best friend would wear this daily. It was her signature scent. I hunted it down back then but kind of forgot about how great it smelled! I wanted that frag. so bad but did not want to steal her frag... no copy cat for me. So i got Juba by The body Shop instead which reminded me so of this lovely scent. Little did I know that my favorite nose : Sophia Grojsman made this chef d' oeuvre! : a fruity, wet green, lily of the valley fragrance that lasts all day and makes my mouth water for some reason. It is so well rounded and luscious: tropical to me. Apricot seems to be a theme with Sophia and I love it. Mingled with all these: passionfruit, mint, mandarin orange, cassia, peach, mango and bergamot) it makes for a pick-me up cocktail of fruity freshness. the middle notes are lovely and durable if my memory serves me well. I mostly remember the rose, the muguet and the melon. yum. While I enjoy the ' aromatherapeutic qualities of this scent, what enchants me most is the base:; mossy, woddsy rasperry that reminds me of Hot Couture. I would happily get me one now! Shall see!

I fell in love with this scent waaaaay back in the late 80s in high school. It just so happened that I met my husband around the same time and he loves the scent as much as I do - every spritz brings back for the both of us those carefree, first love moments. I find that other fragrances I wear must have the same notes that make Calyx by Prescriptives my signature scent: clean, crisp, floral, soft, feminine. The base notes are musk, oakmoss, raspberry and cedar. However, I must say that, on my skin, the base notes are not very prominent as I abhor any musky, raspberry, cedar-like scents. However Calyx was mixed, it has created the perfect balance of sexy with sublime without being cloying. (This scent is not for those looking for Oriental-woody-amber notes. It's so very delicate and light.) If you're wanting a fragrance that puts you in the mood for summer, warmth, action, and sensuality, I would highly recommend trying Calyx. For me, it's an experience I have yet to duplicate in any other perfumes I have tried.

I acquired a vintage "Shimmering Mist" and cannot wait to try it! I'll update later once I test. Update: as expected, very 90s! Pungent grapefruit opening, VERY bitter. I dislike cantaloupe in perfume & unfortunately it overtakes any other fruit notes for me, here. The oakmoss is nice. I wonder if I'd like the Clinique. I'll test that first before buying & report back. P.S. the shimmer in this is truly awesome, looks great on skin and swirls around magically inside the bottle. Another update: I like this more after giving it a few more tries. The musk and oakmoss are more prominent and the fruitiness is more rounded--it smells less intensely of melon. Final thoughts: this has grown on me completely and now I love it. I barely smell melon, maybe I was imagining it before? It's a perfect summer scent, rain or shine. Fruity but grown-up. I'm still planning on buying a Clinique bottle as a backup, and to compare.

This is about the original version, a vintage 18 years old circa: I think that Calix is still so beautiful for the sense of joy and optimism it gives you. Still beautiful because despite the age it's far from being similar to the other frags of its time and - for me -it's forever young (or may be it was me to be younger when I first met him!) Still beautiful for all its contrasting aspects: a fruity frag while it is a flowery one at the same time: spring and summer all together; crisp and sweet but green and warm: fall and winter all together; musky and vibrating as if it had/has a proper life.... Charming sillage and lasting power. A truly right fragrance in every time of the year! A kaleidoscope gem from the hand of a grand lady in the field: Sophia Grojsman. p.s. I don't really want to know how the "modern" Calyx even smell, if it does.....(?!?!?!)

My mom and I first discovered Calyx in the mall in the late 80s when I was 12 or 13, we were both enthralled! As others have talked about it smelled like nothing before it...very green was my overall impression. Being so young I couldn't afford it (didn't even consider that I could buy it) but every time at the mall would have to venture over to the Prescriptives counter and spray some for a momentary escape to being inside a green jungle of ferns and tropical banana plants over me. My mom bought me the budget version, Malibu musk which was all the rage back then too and that too felt so different, fresh alive and juicy. I wish I could smell this again, I have the Clinique version now which although similar is missing something special from the original and has a sharpness that I'm not fond of!

I just love this fragrance. It is so utterly fresh and without any synthetic-smelling notes. I've been clinging to an old bottle with a few drops left in it for years, and finally bought a replacement bottle of the old-version Calyx (from Prescriptives) on eBay. I don't know whether the components in this vintage bottle have morphed somewhat over the years--the fragrance is mostly as I remember it, maybe somewhat less sharp. The sillage is weak-to-moderate after 15 minutes--I really have to get my nose up to my skin to smell it except when something stirs up a waft of it. I faintly remember this being the case years ago too. The new Calyx by Clinique doesn't come close to matching the intoxicating composition of the original.

Calyx is a very complex and well blended perfume. I have worn it for about fifteen years and have gone through about six bottles for the past years. I used to wear it exclusively until I started collecting my large collection about three years ago. I buy all of my perfume online and on Ebay EXCEPT for Calyx. I have learned the hard way not to buy Calyx from anyone but directly from Prescriptives. This perfume turns and changes easily if not kept in the box and in a cool place. It will still smell somewhat like how it should smell but not with it's complexity and depth. A fresh bottle will smell truly exhillerating! You can't even buy a fresh bottle from any major department store. The perfume from them will not be fresh!

I just loooove Calyx! It hits the middle of my strike zone. Mango and papaya are playing on my skin... So, it is tropical fruity. But the oakmoss is creating a silent, mossy backup, therefore it doesn't give such a girly impact. So, let's say it is a perfect fruity-floral fragrance adults can wear. I am adoring Calyx for more than 15 years now. I love the lovely smell, so I also use the others, but I know I will always come back to Calyx, and it'd be my scent again and again. As lilina said, Prescriptives will be closed by the end of January 2010. But Calyx will be transferred to Aramis, one from the same group, and CALYX WILL BE CONTINUED until Aramis decides to stop. In case. So, don't worry, Calyx-lovers!!

I have long been very intrigued by this scent; I would walk by the Prescriptives counter at the mall as a teenager and always had to sniff & spray. Eventually, I bought myself a bottle and have loved it ever since. One of the most interesting smelling perfumes, captivating even. For starters, it's scent is GREEN with a capital "G"—but sparkling, crisp, a touch sharp, like a dry champagne. There's a bamboo, grassy thing going on that's also dry. I think it's sexy (so does my husband), but I've never thought it lasted long enough, which is it's only downside (b/c I want to smell this one constantly). Maybe Clinique has refreshed it nowadays? I have yet to check.

Calyx hits you with a sharp blast of green at first spray--I tested this scent in a perfume shop, and at first I thought I wouldn't like it on the basis of that blast of bergamot and mint. But, like many of Sophia Grojsman's best compositions, this one saves the best for last. After the green, I could smell the soft fruit ripening on my skin... then the flowers in bloom. And after that, the greenish-woody-mossy scent that remained after everything else had gone to seed. The cycle of death and rebirth in a bottle. This is one of the most interesting olfactory journeys I've ever taken, and in my opinion one of the most cleverly constructed perfumes ever made.

This is one of those absolutely gorgeous, feel good fragrances that never fails to elicit a cheerful and happy response from me. First spray is juicy grapefruit and sparkling mandarin orange, then it goes to juicy melon and beautiful nuances of flowers. The end result is a soft musky rose that lingers for hours. I adore Calyx, it's been in my wardrobe for years, and everytime I wear it (which, oddly enough, isn't very often) I feel buoyant and energetic. A beautiful scent that can be worn all year round, but I prefer it in springtime. If you love fruit and florals, you cannot go wrong with this perfume!

In all these years I'd seen Calyx, I never bothered trying it out until someone gave me a sample they didn't want. Boy have I been missing out! From the look of the bottle, you'd have no idea how tropical and fruity it is. I get a ton of passion fruit with a heart of freesia and lily of the valley on a base of musk with just a touch of raspberry. It's quite delectable. I was surprised at how sugary it is--very, very sweet. I love how it's a green perfume with a tropical twist, fruity, fresh, and clean. It's like bathing in a waterfall in paradise. I really want a bottle.

Just picked this up at a discount department store after reading it was a 5-star perfume from Luca Turin, I figured, even if it's bad on me, it will at least be interesting. His aesthetic hasn't failed me on this one (even though I totally disagree with him on Chanel Gardenia...love it). Calyx is an exhilarating scent with the notes so artfully blended. Dances on the high notes without being harsh. It doesn't smell dated at all, just nice. This is a keeper. It kind of reminds me of Aqua Allegoria Herba Fresca, with the mint balancing out the citrus. Try it!

Estee Lauder, which owns Prescriptives, is discontinuing this line of cosmetics in 31 January 2010. I really enjoy Calyx - it was my first "green" perfume purchased around the time it first came out - so i was glad to find out that it will continue to be sold. From their website: "After the closure of our retail counters, the Calyx fragrance, a Prescriptives best-seller, will be sold at the fragrance bar in select fine department stores (beginning February 1, 2010) and it will continue to be available online at www.prescriptives.com"

I was bought this a couple of years ago and fell in love with it instantly, so much so that I never fail to mention the fact to my husband when my current supply has run out. It is becoming more and more difficult to find where I live. I love the zesty tropical fruit burst and think it works best on days when you need a bit of "get up and go". It is not a scent for lazy days, despite it working best, I think, in summer. It reminds me of walking through a tropical garden after a rainstorm.

Calyx made me fell in love with it from my first sniffed. I owned one bottle that I still keep it when it was only very little left as it wasn't available in my country. I love it because it smells unsual. You just know it is Calyx and nothing else. Those sweetness from the apricot and passionfruit, combines with the freshness of mint plus the zesty touch of bergamot and mandarin orange simple made this perfume so refreshing and you just love it.

For whatever reason, I was just thinking about this scent! I had it back in the late 90s, and LOVED it. To me, it literally smelled like if a freshly picked grapefruit had its own body odor, haha! Very fresh and enticing. The only scent that has come close to that 'bite' you get when you first spray it- is Nina Ricci 'Bella NIna' which has a VERY sharp, tart, and lovely opening, like Calyx! Which I highly recommend.

Calyx’ first seconds are intensely fruity, thick, and tasty. On my skin (from my old bottle) this delicious and exotic overabundance is short-lived and is elegantly replaced by the main meal - a wonderfully sunny portion of jasmine, lily of the valley, cyclamen, rose and a delicately fruity accord of mango and peach. The dessert is green a la Givenchy III. An exotic chypre served in the most glorious calyx. *****