Moon Drops

Moon Drops is a dreamy drift on pillow clouds to snuggle-land: aldehydes in warm hues, ylang ylang rendered pastel, glowing lily of the valley will-o'-the-wisp, berry accents, carnation-punctuated powdered wood incense. As it subsides, it's a light amber honey and cuddly musks. This is comfort and repose, quelling the quarreling, muffling the din, stupefying the mind in the most magnificent way. It's a personal retreat back "home", a vacation from madness. I have a knack now for disassociating myself from any associations, having disciplined myself from leaning on lazy tropes, reducing a perfume to its intended gender, class, or context. Decontextualizing fragrances allows us to read it in an open-hearted way. So, a number of noses might associate this with another age, intended for a matronly woman, not intended for the modern, the masculine, the "with it." If that's what it takes to be "with it," while wearing this I want to just be "without it" for awhile and be suspended in its charm, and marvel that this was in the bottom shelf of the perfume case of a drugstore in the 90s (my box has a UPC bar code on the base of the box). Once discontinued by Revlon, it was produced by Prism—I haven't any knowledge of that version. This version, perfectly preserved and not so old so that I risked soured aldehydes and turned components, is stellar.

Over the last couple of years I’ve managed to pick up a couple of gift sets (cologne and dusting powder) of the original Revlon Moondrops. This has always been one of my favourites since the 1970s .. I have a bottle of the prism version which I have to say I love, but my vintage stuff I save for special occasions.. I’m not great at picking out notes but I can say this perfume is just dreamy beautiful and so feminine. We sadly live in an age of sickly sweet perfumes that all smell pretty much the same, Moondrops is very similar to Estée Lauders Estée, it was probably copied and mass produced at a time when women didn’t just treat themselves to a bottle of posh perfume (I certainly couldn’t afford to) .. for anyone who hasn’t tried this perfume I can only urge you to do so, it is stunning.

@alphairone, I absolutely love your review of Moon Drops!! I need to snag a bottle soon. My late mother always loved this one, and it smelled so good on her. I'm in the process now, of getting some vintage perfumes that my mother used to wear. I'm missing her so much lately, and I just want to smell like her. It comforts me. Your description was so wonderful, that it makes me want to get a bottle from eBay as soon as possible. I haven't tried the Prism version either, so I'm really afraid to buy that one. And I agree with you...Moon Drops sounds like something that will send you into snuggle land. Love it!!

As I understand, this was created to be an Estee economically accessible dupe for the masses. It's much more strong than Estee, in fact, it's a little bit like nasal napalm but wow it is gorgeous. My mother wore this a lot and even when it became harder to find in the 90s, she would scour places such as Makro and dusty pharmacies to procure her olfactory poison. These days since I refuse to pay the dumbass exorbitant prices for MD on Ebay, Estee is a DUPE for MD for me now lol. This is pure nostalgia for me and my mother driving me to school in a bottle.

It is easily available in South Africa, and considered an "old lady's perfume". I tried it today and it is not that heavy on me. A bit sweet, but not unpleasant. It is not expensive here. Update: I bought a bottle and to my surprise I am loving it. it starts off rather sweet, but the woody notes come through shortly afterwards and it evolves into something resembling warm spicy cream soda. I couldn't wear it every day, but I find it amusing and different. Yes, it is very retro, but at 61, so am I.

I used to wear and love this in the early 70s .. I recently bought a bottle of prism moon drops and unlike many reviewers I wasn't disappointed.. it's beautiful and evokes many memories, I love how it smells on me, ok if I have one criticism and it's a small one, it would be that it doesn't last as long as its original ( although it lasts several hours) but at the price I bought it I can top up as and when.

This drugstore fragrance is beautiful!! I scored a bottle of shimmery body lotion first as a blind buy and it was love at first sniff. I purchased the concentrated cologne next and layered them last night before bed. It smelled familiar and comforting and is still smelling just as heavenly this morning!!

This IS my mother, for so many years! And likely why I made Estee Pure Fragrance Spray in the pineapple cut-glass bottle my signature scent for decades.

I need to get some of this!! I've only seen it on ebay and it is pretty expensive. What to do??

Well, I got a vintage from eBay, and some of the aldehydes have gone sour. When those burn off, all I'm left with is more aldehydes. I don't smell anything else, and then it's gone. Overhyped? I certainly don't get anything like Barbara Herman raved about! No sandalwood at all, big fat bummer. The box I got was the "touch perfume." I wouldn't recommend this perfume to anyone who already has a great aldehydic perfume. I feel like this is, well, is what it was - a drugstore version of more expensive perfumes, made for women who couldn't afford perfumes at department stores, or who didn't want to spend that kind of money.

I love vintage perfumes, and I'm on a cheapie-drugstore kick. Picked this up for $10. And it's the Prism version. Um... this is... weird. I like the vintagey-aldehyde-powder but the fruity-ylang ylang stuff is coming across like rotten fruit. It's kinda strong, this was 1 squirt on a tissue test- which has dried down in 1-2 hours. I'm still excited to try this on my skin because I like about 60% of it. There aren't fruit notes, but something in this is rotten-sweet. Maybe it's something sweet clashing with the other notes? Maybe ylang ylang and amber? It's the kind of smell that turns your tummy a bit. But it's gone now. Whew. I will say, I love aldehydes- this has a makeup powder soapy vibe. The softness of the drydown is nice. Another cuddly bedtime scent IMO. Something soft and sweet- girlie actually. Due to my huge collection- there isn't any wow factor IMO. I am not getting anything overly incense/spicy- more like a creamy powdery floral. If there is incense, it's sweet and creamy/woody- not Opium/Poison-like. Actually, looking at the notes... I'm getting the aldehydes-powder and carnation with sandalwood/woodiness. Mayyyyybe musk and vetiver. The fact I can't nail this down is a good thing! I can't wait to try it proper on my body! The prob is... between a huge box of cheapies from Fragrancex and a swap from here... I'm loaded up with about 8-10 NEW smells! LOL! My next day tissue test is a very pleasing, light woody/powdery floral with a creamy sort of incense! I love it now! This dries down fast, which is good, but the lovely soft drydown lasts ALL night on a tissue test, so long lasting! Smells like the color mauve to me. But it does smell old fashioned. I buy vintage scents for that reason, so it's a good thing. I finally wore this proper, and I do love it! It's like a very pink scented old fashioned French SOAP to me. Soapy, flowery, musky, and just a teeeeny bit woody/spicy. So, I must be getting the aldehydes most. The gag-worthy weird initial blast from my tissue test didn't really show up on a proper wear, so that's good! This can't be oversprayed IMO, and has delicate sillage and good longevity. A personal cuddly scent.

I got it because I was hoping it would be a successful dupe for the gorgeous Estée or Very Estée..It`s the Prism Perfumes version. The box looks cheap, the bottle also and even the label started peeling off on opening..The initial spray is alcohol and maybe a bit of lemon washing-up liquid. It`s very muted, by the time the notes start to properly develop- 20 mins, say - much of it evaporated so you can`t really make out what you`re smelling..I get mainly muguet, aldehydes, carnation and sandalwood and a bit of jasmine also. It`s really watered-down so I had to give it a good 3-4 sprays to actually get any bit of decent testing material..After 15-20 mins it stays linear. It clearly has a cologne-vibe to it: it is the kind of scent that the ladies in the 70s who didn`t like Opium or anything heavy or too harsh wore. Probably someone from my family too, therefore I`d still associate someone in their 40s with it..It smells clean and toned-down, airy and a tad bit sour-green, but not in a bad way. A springtime number it is, it smells like something created for spring. And for daytime wear, strictly. Other than that it is actually similar to Estée, not completely though, but I guess it is a similar type of scent. Yet Estée and Very Estée are much better done and much better quality. There`s more sandalwood and carnation here, which makes the scent feel a bit more dated, and Estée has honey and lily which makes it more round and sweet. I mean I find both Estée and Very Estée timeless and appealing, this one smells like room-spray or air freshener according to my hubby, rather than a perfume: I guess it`s because of the scent being watered down also. I`d love to try the original Revlon version. Just to change my mind about it slightly. I`ll keep it in my collection until I can get my hands on a bottle of Estée or Very Estée. Then I`ll pass it on..

Dark, thick, and stinky, my sample of Revlon Moon Drops is clearly marked "vintage", which of course doesn't mean very much, since the perfume was launched in 1970. Is my sample from 1970? 1980? 1990? 2000? Who knows? What a perfect illustration of how perfumes transform over time in unpredictable ways, making comparisons to other people's experience of them more or less irrelevant. Could be a great perfume or an ugly Tabu knock-off. But wait: which came first: Moon Drops or Tabu? Perhaps Moon Drops was an attempt to re-create the signature scent of Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble. I suspect that they might have taken a liking to this dark, thick, stinky, and rather tawdry-smelling syrup. All of this to say: to each her own sample and her own perception of that sample, as well. (Post-script: Tabu was launched in 1932!)

No mention of muguet (lily of the valley) or jasmine which is noted on the Prism box. The rest are somewhat there. I get no sweet rose, no carnation, but a sharp aldehydic burst not unlike Estee's Super Estee edt/edp. Only thing this is not as sweet. I can only imagine what the original would be like, if it had rose and carnation. Sounds more my type of scent than LOTV which I do not really fancy. Nevertheless, this bright aldehydic scent lasts long and the drydown is like Estee's Super edt, as someone else mentioned. I don't get sandalwood either - I wish. I had hoped Moon Drops would bring something cool, herbal like and aquatic. This should have been called Sun Shower!

I recently got Prism version of Moon Drops. I don't know the original but this is a well-done spicy-floral perfume to me(for the humble price !)and I like it. It has some comforting effect on me. I can sleep well whenever I use it before bed, kind of softness. I think I indeed detect Muguet initially just after a splash. I like the balance between floral and spice though I don't get Rose's presence. It reminds me of one of my favorite Indian incense of by-gone days, which I forgotten the name.

Got super lucky on an ebay auction!!! got 100ml for a song. Can't wait - sounds yum. Will give feedback - its a blind buy UPDATE: Very soft and comforting. Would work in all weathers I think. The florals are so subtle and hard to distinguish from each other. But its a sweet blend that manages to avoid being cloying. Would love to try the vintage formulation. Mine is the Prism one with a drippy sprayer but for what i paid for it, I can't complain.

Prism Relaunch Moon Drops Really nothing like the original devine Moon Drops. Reasonable fragrance for the price but doubt I would buy it again. Revlon unfortunately has no interest / intention to do a genuine relaunch of the original oil based fragrance which had a most amazing staying power. This cheap little Prism Moon Drops is gone before you know it !

My mom just bought a bottle of this, so i think its still available. Try to steal from her but she always notices its gone. Really strong and lasts sooo long. I dont smell the floral in it though.

Moondrops is India in a bottle, it reminds me of the heady incense which permeates the bazaars, it is sultry, and comforting in it's warm notes.A very seductive perfume.

Next to this the only perfume that came close was between Poison and Opium.Moon Drops is really dreamy stuff.