Detchema

Detchema feels fluffy and petal-soft, with an ambling pace after the aldehydes descend. It includes Persicol, the legendary De Laire base famously used in Nuit de Chine and Mitsouko. In Detchema, its sweet-peach flesh and languorous forbidden fruit feel elapses the otherwise prim floral nucleus, bending the hyacinth toward it and flushing the rose and muguet and carnation. An orris powder haziness materializes and the other flowers disperse, and soon, a dusted wood-puff. stiff like crinoline, haunts my skin. It's like a mirage of innocence in a hardened world, wanting to appear coy but hiding secrets under its petticoats. Chanel No. 5 was surrounded by all the glamour, but the thoughtful and bespectacled Detchema studied bookkeeping. It is beautiful in all its forsakenness, standing in the shadows of household names, while its claim to fame was to compete with tannis root in Rosemary's baby. It is a sober coloratura of a perfume that pacifies rather than stupefies. I recommend it only to the vintage die-hards.

Detchema was in a collection of French perfumes I received for my 16th birthday. Have worn it for special occasions ever since, for over 60 years. So many compliments and questions from virtually everyone who is near enough to get a whiff! After all these years, it still makes my heart sing. The change they made in the 80s is sad because it's trying to be modern. I'm hoping to find a good quantity of the original, but it's getting rarer to find, and quite expensive. I'm actually thinking about paying a custom perfumer to replicate it for me. Recommendations are welcome and appreciated. It's not right for everyone, but glad that it isn't.

One word : merveilleux... a perfume that captures your senses and plays havoc with them to finally settle splendidly... a must have ! If it is good enough for Maria Callas it is good enough for you ladies !

This is a masterpiece. For the highly developed nose, a true classic must have. I adore and treasure my bottle. Thank you friend of Mahanta!!

I've worn Detchema since the early-70s and still reach for it nearly every day. Hard to find though!

I found Detchema on "JOVOYPARIS.COM". If anyone is interested in knowing that Detchema is back.....

a beautiful vintage soapy aldehyde with rose, lots of musk, hyacinth, jasmine, orris, sandalwood

Imagine a white kitten, its fluffy fur...little paws, soft tail... Everything is so fragile. It is Detchema. The fluffiness reminds me of My Sin by Lanvin alot. Of cause My Sin is much sexier, Detchema stays innocent forever. 1950-60s swans would wear Detchema and elegant gloves. I was so lucky to find a unused 15ml bottle of Pure Parfum. It came with black velvet box looks like jewelry box. The iconic Piano key bottle was designed by Serge Mansau. It has gold neck between the black piano key and glass bottle. I've read about this underrated gem, and learned there was a big reformulation in 1994, to catch up for trends which prefer strong bold personality (in the same year, CK One was released!). 1950s ladylike subtleness was considered out of fashion. After 1994 reformulation, the color of package box changed black to red. I've never tried it and don't how they changed it. Anyway, this new Detchema lost a lot of loyal users...it was dead end. Fragrantica's picture above is of the last version. Oh why. So, if you want to find good original Detchema, go for black box. There are also older version than Serge Mansau's Piano bottle.

A beautiful clean aldehydic floral with hyacinth taking a prominent role. I got myself a bottle of this for Christmas. I've wanted it ever since first hearing of it in Rosemary's Baby, when she was asked at the clinic what fragrance she was wearing, and she replied "It's Detchema." Of course everything went south after that, when the smell of Detchema was replaced by the horrid herbal concoction forced upon her during her pregnancy with the devil's spawn. Detchema seemed to represent youthful beauty, grace and innocence. My curiosity is now satisfied, it is indeed lovely. I can't wait to be asked what I'm wearing, and say "It's Detchema" just like in the movie!

This is a rare gem, a complex scent that doesn't smell quite like anything else. It is quite lovely. If you do get a vintage bottle, upturn it before spraying or splashing, and after applying give it a few moments for the alcohol to fade before smelling, to get the best of it. I find it powdery and warm, slightly spicy, feminine and sophisticated. I feel like a lady when I wear it.

So I just received an unopened mini bottle from 1953 when it first came out. I put some on my wrist, and it smells like Gimbel’s department store. There’s just no other way to describe it. It’s soapy, aldehydic, slightly musky and floral with some dirty civet-y notes dying to break through. All I’m missing is a faux mink, a brooch, a felt pillbox hat, and a Vodka Blush cocktail.

Maria Callas' perfume ...enough to imagine what beauty it is ...

I was excited to try this one, but I'm glad now that I purchased only a micro-mini of the scent to try. This one's a bit of disappointment for me. Detchema comes across as a floral green, and does not strike me as especially original or impressive. The "green" aspects remind me of Carven's Ma Griffe. It's a bit sour, with a bit of that unusual "hair spray" note that I find in a lot of 1950's perfumes. That hair spray note works well in Ma Griffe, but is less harmonious in Detchema. The green notes are the first to disappear, after which the flowers appear. They are soft, a bit powdery and not at all sweet, tempered as they are by those animalic base notes. The leather stands out the most. Actually, that's the overall effect right there: a leather jacket doused with flowery perfume and a bit of the wearer's hair spray, too. It's not bad, but Detchema seems hopelessly out of fashion without being "classic," which gives it limited appeal. I can recommend it only for vintage fragrance fans, and I still suggest you start with a sample before commiting to a whole bottle.

Detchema is a very strong, powerful and not very friendly fragrance I happened to stumble in a perfumery store, maybe one of the few where you can still find it. I noticed it because a friend of mine told me that she read somewhere that Maria Callas loved it. She was actually obsessed with it according to that gossip and made it her signature fragrance for many many years. Because of this I just could't skip trying it! Well, what can I say? Maria Callas was an absolutely eccentric, very strong and almost violent personality but also a very passional, deep and complicated one. An opera queen like no other and a inequalled voice. This perfume is probably like her: intense, not well understood, feminine in a totally different way, a little bit masculin, not "pretty" in a common way and quite unfriendly. They say she ate like a monster and this scent could also eat you, with a certain elegance and a big hunger. It also smells very "old", but not in a granny way. It smells of old perfumes for rich ladies that are totally out of fashion and weird now. Then vip ladies' style was more about extravagant elegance and luxury rather than showing up fake boobs and long thights to the whole world. It smells very scaring in the beginning, like a horrible mess of 500 notes put together in a random way: leather and aldehydes, something strongly animalic, rose and carantion thrown into the mess for good measure. Then all the different notes start to find their own place and to set to something with more sense, still very strong and daring. Not for the faint at heart. I have no idea if it is deluxe or cheap. As far as Ican remember the price was not too high. They say maria Callas' ghost still wander in the downstairs galleries of the famous theatre La Scala in Milan. I wonder if she appears smelling like a cloud of Detchema. Quite scaring.

I have tried an EDT version of this and my overall opinion is that it is nice but it is not for me. This is definitly a perfume for a older lady, who dressed up in her couture gown, with her hair made up and making a statement. When i look at the year of production, i see that at that time it must have been popular scent, but today it is really out of fashion. Reminds me something of a Ysatis maybe, but not that strong, more soft. To be honest it really reminds me of a soap i used to use many years ago. I think it was "Camay" by Procter&Gamble, but in different countries it might have been under different name. The more i sniff it the more i get the resemblance to it. EDT version DOES smell like pure soap! I don ́t want to smell like a soap. after the drydown it smells more like a hairspray, but becomes very pleasant after many hours. I am sure that because this was an EDT version it is quite sharp because of it ́s concentration, and EDP or pure parfum might have been bit different. But still after all this is a mature woman scent, which is not really for me yet. Please do not remove this comment, since others might find it useful. Not every rewiev should be positive, so people like me wanted to make a blind buy might find it very informative. Thanks.

Sharp adehyde roses. This is sharp roses with aldehyde and clean powder with bit of musky soap. It has sandalwood, hiacynth, lily of the valley, carnation, bergamot, salt salt salt, and hazy ylang. I don't really detect any orris! The dominants (at least from 0 to 10 minute in) are the the roses, aldehyde, salt, carnations, hiacynth, sandalwood, soap, musk, powder, the ylang. I have sniffed this blend before, and i believe it's kind of similar to "1000" by Jean Patou, definitely not similar to "Dans Le Nuit" by Worth. It's quite common and not a blend i have sniffed before! now i can't deny that it could be a revolution back in the 50s when it first out, but i believe this has been replicated so many times AND you can find allot of blends that are a variation of this one. This blend is indeed beautiful for those who loves the roses, soap, floral, and roses with bits of animalic in a very vintage Victorian frame. Cute. Edit (25th Nov 2019) Trying it again makes me detect clear jasmines! indolic indeed beside all what have been mentioned above. Musky jasmines are there since first applied but not that animalic as the Indian jasmines, so rather the sambac jasmines.

This reminds me of both Joy de Patou and Lasso by Jean Patou, but less sweet and not as deep as Lasso and too much hyacinth to correctly pull off Joy. It is but a shadow of both but stunning in its own right. Right off the bat hyacinth and carnation worry the top and middle notes like a bull terrier with its favorite toy, not willing to give the other notes adequate room to breathe. Musk, leather, tonka, which usually show up and stay for the finale can barely get a curtain call because of the overpowering reach of the hyacinth and carnation. A little musk and orris root , vetiver and tonka try their darnedest to get a piece of the limelight, as they are so used to getting in the dry down, but alas they stay overshadowed by, you guessed it. In the end the dry down is my favorite part. Even though such a strong presence is finally tamed, albeit just barely, it drifts into a tenaciously soft and aldehydic skin scent. I believe if the term Arte Deco had a fragrance this would be it.

That Rosemary's Baby cultural reference is a devilish gem of a connection. "Detchema: An air of innocence bears the seed of guilt..." I still need to work on the ad copy. The Internet also tells me, in Tibetan, 'detchema' means "That which brings pleasure". Now you know. As for the scent of Detchema, ...it's another pleasant take on the aldehydic floral. Sparkling fatty aldehydes on top, powdery, woody musk below, ...and a multifloral blend sandwiched in between. Of these the rose is most distinct, no surprise there, ...most of the rest is a a white floral wall, ...but for a moment near the start, there was a muguet-like tartness. Perhaps also carnation (why not?) but if so, the accord is light on the eugenol. Detchema: quite pleasurable, fully wearable, ...and still, ultimately forgotten. Another minor tragedy in perfumery, fallen beneath the scythe of time, fashion, and competitive marketing.

I'm wearing Detchema right now from a vintage miniature pure parfum from the '80s. It's a crisp aldehydic scent melded with bright citrus, similar to Eau de Caline by Jean Patou, and it's also reminding me of Fleurs de Rocaille by Caron, a comparison which blogger Perfume Shrine notes as well. (I do not think it smells like Antilope by Weil.) I like it a lot. Edit: I've acquired a vintage parfum de toilette from the 60s I think, and it's a lot dirtier and civety, with the deeper basenotes emphasized more than the lighter aldehydic and citrus notes of my "cleaner" smelling 80s parfum mini. This 60s version reminds me of Chanel No. 5, but "dirtier," not as streamlined and pretty.

Now i also have this fragrance in a pure parfum concentration and it is much better than the EDT version since due to fragrance concentration it is more full bodied. I thought about this one quite a lot and i bought it for the future since i think i might begin to wear it in a 10 years from now and enjoy it. It is really a statemnet fragance for a woman that know s what she wants. Yes, it is a soapy smell, reminds me in some way of the original formula of "Ysatis" by Givenchy but more sudden and harsh. Try to wear this one when you need to feel really confident and a little bit agressive even.