Femme Rochas 2013

Finally managed to try this in store today. The bottle of the current version available is not the packaging displayed in the image here by the way. Opens very strong but quickly dries down to a gorgeous warm fruity floral with a slight spice note to it. I don't get a strong cumin note from this like some people get but a spicy warmth that is very lovely. For reference I dislike very spicy fragrances, this is nowhere near one of those. Also confused about the comments saying it smells like BO it doesn't smell like that at all! Will definitely be buying this eventually. Update 28/10/24 - Just purchased this. Batch code says it's from March 2021, gold and clear cap. Such a gorgeous fragrance. Very strong opening of bergamot which softens over time blending with the plum and peach. The rose and jasmine add a lovely softness to it. The cumin surprisingly adds the perfect amount of warmth and spice to it. The patchouli and oakmoss (unsure if my version has oakmoss) adds a beautiful earthy woody green base to it. Heavenly fragrance.

Buckle up, because this one is no joke. From the start you are met with huge notes of stone fruits and cumin presented on a mossy base. Over time everything becomes a dense combination that plays right on the edge of being unctuous, but never quite crosses the line. It’s safe for family dinner, but I wouldn’t wear it to church. The cumin here is important, because it allows Femme stand on its own in the chypre fruity genre. Where Mitsouko is coy, Femme is ... let’s call it ... forward. Fatale could easily have been the second half of its name, because she takes no prisoners.

In one word:Wonderful! powdery Irish,sweet,leathery leopard fur coat,elegant,lascivious,lecherous, seductive,femenine,Catherine Deneuve in Bunuel's La belle du jour.A good example of how an old fashion chypre can be still modern and weared by both women and men in 2020,a time capsule to the 40's. What people indentifies as cummin I believe is Orris root, at least in my bottle unless is so well blended I can't detect it or your batch is different to mine.

I think the best description of this is from @amandavolpe : "smells like a woman wearing Mitsouko just had sex". It does indeed have the makings of a beautiful fruity chypre but with an added cumin note that makes it smell sweaty and BO-ish. Is it beautiful this way also? Of course. Definitely unisex. For around $30, this is a no brainer. Easy blind buy only for those who already like animalics or are accustomed to cumin.

The cumin doesn't scream at me like it seems to everyone else. Instead I get a slight animalic flavour, with beautiful floral and honey notes. On me this screams decadent, opulent, confident and sex. Pure sex. Will always have a bottle of this!

It is not floral anymore. I find it quite adherent to the old version (1989). It seems to me even deeper, spicy, cuminic. Head notes do not really feel it. I thought I was disappointed and instead ... I like it !!!!

tons and tons of cumin. my bottle looks like the old bottle, but it's got to be this reformulation-reimagining, because it follows this note structure. i love it. it could easily be a signature scent.

sono curiosa di sentirlo...spero non sia la solita delusione delle riedizioni

I'm kind of perplexed by many reviews: apparently people are smelling different formulations and there's no way to say when they change and how. This is indeed unreal. Also, I don't understand why people write here comments that are NOT reviews, but expectations and suppositions. This is not the right place and I truly wish moderators could put an end to this. I'll try to describe what I'am smelling, hoping to provide some help to others. Despite being in the old bottle I just bought it and based on the ingredients I definitely say it's the new versione. Also need to tell that I've never smelled the vintage. The scent is interesting: strong and very feminine and mature. Despite the strong peach notes it's not a sweet generic fruity at all, neither it's a floral scent. Not at all. The opening has definitely some citrus notes, and some fresh fruits, but cumin and spices are HUGE right from the beginning. The floral notes listed are harder to perceive alongside with it but oakmoss and patchouli are definitely a force, providing a soft war carpet underneath everything else. Plum to me comes later than peach and it's a very nice note indeed. Overall I quite like this one. It's not a girly scent at all, but it's a very nice fragrance for a night out: sexy and self assured. Definitely suited for cold weather since I can imagine it becoming pretty overbearing. But I do wish a bit more respect from PG to its consumers: it's pretty insulting to keep playing with formulation, especially considering they are using a old and respected name that leads people to expect something from it.

The cumin is strong in this one! Cumin is not a note I find appealing in perfume. I understand how animalics such as civet and castoreum can add depth, sensuality, and some dirtiness in fragrance though they are difficult notes for many people. But cumin smells exactly like BO. For example, I like Luten's Fleur d'Oranger, but that cumin note keeps me from loving it, and I wait in anticipation for it to finally recede! Enter Femme. The first blast is straight on cumin, but it is a restrained cumin, if such a thing is possible! Yes, there is a distinct smell of BO, but something, the peach I assume, makes it bearable. As a matter of fact, I almost like it! After a while, it becomes less pronounced and blends in with what I imagine to be other spices - cinnamon comes to find - even though they are not listed, and the fruits add just enough sweetness to make this a fragrance I can wear and enjoy. Other than the vanilla, I get little of anything else. Today I tried layering it with some vintage Balenciaga Quadrille, and it's beautiful. My bottle is shaped like the old bottle with a gold cap instead of black, and I'm not sure what makes it different if anything, but overall this is a nice perfume, albeit challenging. Good projection, sillage, and longevity. EDIT - Interestingly enough, I am wearing this right now as my bedtime perfume, and I am liking it much more. "Femme" is the perfect name, as right now, I feel very womanly and 100% seductive! I've never experienced the original, so what I am smelling now isn't tainted - or haunted - by the past.

This is a very interesting fragrance. It does smell like dirty underwear, but not in a bad way. For some magical reason if I spray this during the day, the cumin is overpresent and it smells sweaty and sticky. But at night Femme really blossoms. The flowers and the fruits make for a heady combination. Femme isn't sexy. It's not mysterious or alluring. It's explicit, sexual, it's vulgar. It smells like a woman who wears Mitsouko and has just had sex. I might have just gotten out of the shower, but I soon as I spray this, I feel dirty. I love the experience of wearing this perfume, but it's definitely not something I can picture wearing on a daily basis or as a signature perfume. It also doesn't last very long, 3-4 hours maximum. Sadly, I haven't smelled the original Femme, so I can't make a comparison. Edit: I finally scored a vintage bottle and to my nose there are two main differences: no stinky cumin and the leather is way more present. Otherwise, the current reformulation is pretty close to the original once the cumin note is gone.

ETA: I thought my sample was the old formulation, but turns out it was the newer one, hence the strong cumin note. This is good-- it actually works as a peppery, woody oakmoss substitute. I expect the old formulation will be more green and floral though, and it’s still easy to find, so will try a FB of the vintage at some point. An old-school spicy... at first busy and powdery, very “perfume counter.” Something reads as cumin, perhaps the cloves, carnation, and oakmoss. There’s also something dry and woody, like cedar. A few minutes later, it turns into an ultra-elegant, concentrated and sweeter Mitsouko. I get some of the fruitiness, but not too much; it feels like the dry skin of a peach rather than the juicy flesh. Citrus and florals take back stage, letting the wooded oakmoss shine. A classic chypre, Rochas Femme highly elegant and wearable with just the right amount of dirty earthiness to feel sultry.

Smells very much like an older Avon perfume. Which is not a bad thing, since I used to love the antique Avon perfumes, like Here's My Heart, Persian Wood, Regénce... I get no fruits at all. Not even on my clothes. This smells like something a flapper from the roaring 20's would wear to a blind pig or a dive bar..again, in the best of ways. A sexy, warm, woody, jasmine wonder, with a patchouli kiss. Yes, I like it very much. Decent performance and a nice price point. EDIT- so yes, the fruit does come forward, but on me, it's just a whisper on the skin, a bit more prominent on the clothes. So well blended, I would never call this a fruity perfume like say, Vince Camuto perfumes tend to be. And lots of the celebrity perfumes are. This one really gets better the longer it's on!

And I’m back again. I love this when I can’t smell the cumin. When the cumin makes itself present, however, I feel like I’ve spread curry paste all over my body. Not a pleasant feeling, although I do enjoy eating (mind you, not spritzing) curry. The problem is, this Femme is capricious and I never know which one I’m going to get: rosy peach or peach curry. I’m stuck in a complicated, voluble affair with this fragrance.

I don't get any of the cumin stank at all, which I actually kind of hoped for. It's just spiced fruit on me, not bad at all, but surprisingly clean.

I really enjoyed the vintage version of Femme, a rich, fruity, spicy chypre - a classic of the genre by Edouard Roudnitska himself. A bolder, less refined chypre than, say, Guerlain Mitsouko, it had an opulent, irreverent charm. It also reminded me a lot of Amouage Jubilation 25, my favourite modern chypre. I bought a large bottle of the current Femme EDT for next to nothing in order to compare it to my vintage miniature. While they are similar, it is a shadow of its former self. The current EDT is a cumin bomb - the oakmoss and leather of the original are nowhere to be found, nor the cinnamon, which was the most prominent spicy note in my vintage miniature. Obviously oakmoss has been banned for use in perfumery for a while now, but this doesn't fully explain the big deviation from the original formula. Femme (EDT, purchased 2024) opens with an intense, sweaty cumin note, so strong and pungent it brings to mind curry. The fruity notes temper it somewhat, but the peach is much more subdued here than in the original. The plum is bold, sweet and jammy, but is somewhat harsh. I get a fleeting detergent-like soapiness up top, bright but also harsh. Femme remains a cumin bomb throughout, with little development. I get some soft powdery rose after a while, but it feels like an afterthought. The animalic, mossy leather base of the original that so charmed me is absent here, replaced by a lacklustre cloud of patchouli, some thin, synthetic woods and a hint of musky vanilla. Its performance is powerful - sillage is enormous and longevity is eternal. Two sprays lasted on my skin for over 24 hours and post-shower, so be warned - apply sparingly! Unisex despite its name, it is a cold weather scent. Imbalanced, harsh and with an underwhelming, undeveloped "chypre" base, Femme EDT is ultimately disappointing in my opinion. It's not the worst perfume I've ever smelled, and will work for people who enjoy cumin scents, but it pales in comparison to the masterpiece that was the original. Buy a vintage bottle, or invest in Jubilation 25 instead. 2.5/5.

Me and my new fascination with chypre fragrances I heard of this one and it’s similarity to amouage jubilation 25 for women and since I was smitten by the latter being a actual alternative to mitsouko which is one of the greatest scents of all time I had to try it I heard some reviewers show their happiness with this thing and they kept mentioning the cumin I was nervous every time they explained how the cumin changes the composition of a very close “relative” to other chypre scents So I ordered it while having high hopes that the cumin might not be a problem and still nervous at the same time It arrived and for the price let me tell you from the presentation to the bottle the brand definitely could’ve charged more but they didn’t The moment I sprayed it on my skin a couple moments later I said..............”NO” The cumin destroys the composition completely it pisses on it so bad that it seems like someone made a mistake composing it And the idea of “olivier cresp” which is one of the greats in this industry actually ruining this was an annoying thing to witness It was stinky ...... it was airy.......you could feel the cumin fighting the original dna like it’s an enemy as much as the quality was good but the whole structure was a disaster Performance was good for an EDT

Oh no I bought the wrong perfume! They have completely reformulated it, this is completely different perfume from vintage Femme, not even a nod to the old. This is aldehyde, cumin and amberwood, the three notes I hate most in a perfume. It is headache inducing. Whatever plum I noticed is gone in five minutes, instead I’m battling a strong mid note of cumin and amberwood, maybe even labdenum(?). It sounds horrible and it is, but the whole is much better than its parts. It’s strong and kinda addictive. Later a smokiness comes through (another note I hate) but it works. Definitely leans masculine. Overall it’s an ok scent for the right nose but it is NOT the original, not even close. I feel cheated.

Congratulations my dear Rochas, you have transformed the version of 89 by Olivier C. who was a cold, but amber perfume with a little of glamour very suitable for the powerful women and the feminist movement of 80-90, in another stinky scent, for paid "luxury" ladies, which is no longer related to the original of the 40's, which was strong, incense with fruity notes nor with the feminist jewel of 89. This reformulation is not made by Olivier C., it's made by Jean-Michel Duriez, who was their creator till 2015 and I'm not surprised it's gone, after this failure. Femme Rochas has been one of the perfumes that resonated in the halls of European feminist lodges since 89, now is a sweat, commonplace, escort seductiveness perfume....another jewelry is gone. Jasmine in it is horrible.It's uncontrollable, it gives you a headache and it's very sweet.I have described in more detail all the variants on the page for the one from 89. What can I say, I bought it and threw it away in the same hour. I forgot to specify, if you want Oliver's version, take the EDT is it still clean, they didn't reformulated it.

After owning a vintage bottle of Femme Parfum, I was curious to see how the modern formulation held up as I’d never tried it. I blind bought a bottle of the EDT, and unfortunately it was a bitter disappointment to put it bluntly. The vintage version revolves around the beautifully soft, smooth and seductive composition of creamy oakmoss and dark leather alongside cinnamon and sweet plum. The current EDT has completely lost the oakmoss and the leather, and seemingly the cinnamon too. This can only be described as a cumin bomb, it’s absolutely overpowering with the only saving grace being the sweet plum in the background. I’m not sure where this cumin has come from, this doesn’t smell anything like the original. You might as well save your money and cover yourself in curry powder rather than buy this, or better yet just find yourself a vintage bottle which is a masterpiece.

I love "old" Femme in its amphora shaped bottle, with its sultry layers of leather, oakmoss, woods, plums and peaches and its marvelous hint of sweaty cumin. So when I saw this in the departmentstore I was prepared for the worst. A flat patchouli maybe? A sugary sweet plum? No. Nothing could prepare me for this. I get a single, clear note out of this linear perfume. Cumin. Strong, sweaty, sharp, spicy cumin. Cumin top, cumin heart and cumin base. This is not Femme. This is not even perfume.

I bought it thinking it was closer to the old version, but I realize the bottle is different. I wanted cinnamon spicy goodness but instead got a cumin bomb. Its an interesting exotic scent, but the excessive use of cumin is ruining it for me. Who thought replacing the cinnamon for cumin was a good idea? It doesn't smell bad, but its just not something I would want to smell like. My husband said it even smells medicinal. A blind buy fail for me. I want to sell it or give it away.

Another fatality of the IFRA/aromachemical/big corp mafia. Replacing the animalics and oakmoss with cumin destroyed the balance and richness. This reformulation feels austere and masculinized. We need to stop buying the propaganda, the reason our perfume has no smell, our food has no taste, and our clothes no longer last a season is profits, not some high minded attempt to make the world safer for us.

This is not an ugly reformulation. This is a launch of a new fragrance completely different from the original and much appreciated Femme, using the same name with the purpose of exploiting the fame of it. The result is completely disappointing. I am embarassed to review this fragrance. I love old Femme, this is a vaguely inspired perfume, really difficult to recognize and very easy to forget.

I live in Italy and I didn't see these new versions yet. I hope that they will never arrive. I don't understand the sense of these new launches. There are some Rochas discontinued fragrances that a lot of perfume addicted like me hope will be resumed like Alchimie. Why Do they decide of relaunching Madame Rochas and Femme?????

What a bad surprise, I had the vintage version and also the one made in 1989, but this one is so different, without the characteristics who made Femme so special. In my opinion the best version is still the 1989 version, not to thick, not too weak , really full of charme and sex appeal.

Winx da profonda conoscitrice del profumo originale, aspetto di vedere la tua review. Ma credo sarà deludente, temo, difficile che una riedizione sia migliore dell'originale. In effetti stavo meditando di acchiapparmi una boccetta di scorta prima che lo facciano sparire.

Io ho visto in giro ancora la vecchia versione, forse è meglio così.

Sorry but I'm a hater now. This the first perfume I've ever had actually make me fell sick. Why the hell is IFRA out there regulating oakmoss or whatever when stuff like this is allowed to roam free. Amazed that this is called Femme because it's overtly masculine to me. On spraying, a few limp rose petals timidly venture out, then flee, cowering in the wake of the overpowering cumin blast. It smells of sweat and other unspeakablethings, hideously savoury and almost meaty. Like a man who stands too close at a party, while he explains why showering more than once a fortnight is actually like, really unnatural for the human body, along with cleaning your teeth and eating vegetable matter. After a long day of correcting people and explaining how Jordan Peterson actually makes some really good points, you know, he returns to his flat to collapse into his unmade bed, next to a half eaten kebab and a suspicious bottle of lotion. While he slumbers, a little gremlin, in the employ of Rochas Ltd, steals in through the windows and siphons the sweat from his body, and that's how they make Femme Rochas. As I was scrubbing this off in the shower I got a nosebleed for the first time in years, which probably wasn't connected but I've put my sample at the back of my top shelf, far away from my other perfumes, just to be safe. I hope whoever created this vile substance is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. So what I'm thinking is I might not like cumin in perfumery.

I have reason to believe my bottle is the Cresp reformulation; a "parfum de toilette," I'm assuming from the 80s-90s. Decently strong sillage, and oh yes - the head-scratching cumin. In whiffs of the obvious spice, how the cumin weaves so haphazardly between literal food and a "nature's soap," as if it was a green-earth herbal product pitched to hippies. It delivers quite strongly on the skin and even fabric. However, as a trail in the air, somehow the cumin dissipates. The scent leftover from spraying within the room is a pretty melange of fruits and florals, with the whisper of naked skin conceived in the original '44 Femme. Never while being worn though. As the cumin fades off in the drydown, I unfortunately start sensing a fine, wooden spice cabinet in the kitchen. Unlike OG Femme, sweetness bows to...savoriness. Ironically enough, the leather note in OG Femme gave me a comparison to jerky - another bewildering food-like note that quickly gave way to the soaped skin accord, dancing among peach and oakmoss like Mitsouko's jaded older sister. But it wasn't as jarring as this is; in fact, that combination ended up quite sexy. While I desperately wish that this cumin note was traded for a nutmeg, cinnamon, or even incense instead, perhaps this is the tradeoff the reformulated Femme wanted to reach for - animalic, no - feral almost. Yet it's also incredible; could it be the cumin note itself giving that dirty-soapy quality all along? I can't even figure out if the cumin note is complementary or acting as total blockage. Now when people sing about being brave for a fragrance, this should be somewhere in the top 10. The true 'parfum de puta,' if Tabu could ever relinquish it. I bet it could be some kind of proto-Tom Ford release today. Sometimes cold winter weather tends to mute notes and favor others. Despite most advice to not wear this in warmer temperatures, my cat's curiosity is fervent to believe heat will bring out the stone fruits and vanilla of this fragrance as they were meant to be. Otherwise, it would be damned to smelling of Taco Bell in the distance...

I modeled for the Femme by Rochas which is selling now in the red or honey colored liquid and vase or woman's torso shaped bottle. I absolutely adore that fragrance and provided a lengthy review for it discussing it's social cultural context in World War 2. This is a review for the 2013 reformulation. The 2013 perfume was never that popular. It smells good but it's definitely less spicier and not to mention has a shorter life. On me it didn't last more than 2 hours. I hate when that happens. While not a body mist, it's still not full bodied enough on its own for me to enjoy. There is a cumin note but it never gets too aromatic nor spicy. The plums and peaches (and maybe apricot) are definitely there. Smells sweet and good if you like fruity scents. This is mostly what this perfume is a sweet peach scent. The dry down is pure vanilla sweetness. This is a sweet Femme like the daughter of the original Femme and she's all of 15 years of age. There is for a moment a rose soliflore it smells very much like one sweet little rose and then a jasmine white floral scent joins in but I find that this is more fruity than floral. I like it. I'm not crazy about it but it will do. I wear it in spring and summer months in the day time and wear it whenever I've put on fruit shampoo. This is not too different from a good fruit scented shampoo. It's sweet and fruity fresh and lovely but not as captivating as the classic original Femme. The first Femme has woods and patchouli and other spices to keep it in a higher level than this one. But this is not bad for a peach perfume. Sometimes I just want something simple and not complicated. This is not cheap in any way it's really well done but in no way does it resemble the first Femme. However if you like fruity florals this one will satisfy you for sure.

I'm not ready to try the old Femme so I'm wearing this to psych myself into wearing the vintage. I like to do that. I had a good intro to vintages through Shalimar. This is a sweet fruity floral scent. I can smell plums, peaches and oranges. It's fruity and delicious but like a fruit cocktail. The problem is that I think this new formula released in 2013 is an eau de toilette or toilet water, very watered down and lighter. It doesn't last as long as I would like for a fragrance. It's fresh and sweet with fruits and flowers but it's absorbed by my skin like a sponge in a matter of 20 or 30 minutes. I had to keep spritzing on the perfume. Sweet plum and peach embrace cumin and spice, followed by a Bulgarian rose which is powdery and soft. There's also a sweet jasmine. But the fruit top is still lingering around like an invisible plum. The dry down is mossy and woodsy it's also a patchouli leaf. The moss is dominant. Smells like the first time I smelled Femme on my mother but lighter and more powdery. The scent is sweet and feminine, not smoky or heavy. It's a good intro to fruity florals. This perfume makes me feel flirty and fun and like putting on a vintage 1950's poodle skirt or bell shaped dress to dance the night away to jukebox music. Such a pretty scent!

This is another 'classic' that I decided to blind buy (Arpege was another one as well). I believe I have the latest version- clear and gold capped EDT. I watched lots of videos and read a plethora of reviews; I'm perceiving this is a much different way that what I anticipated. This is almost straight up stone fruits to me. It's gorgeous! Foremost, the plum is prominent and there is a spiciness that pulls it from being overly sweet to sultry. Not spicy in the form of it smelling hot or reddish in any way...but in a warm and coziness found by the heat of a wood fire. I think the cumin is the spice I'm picking up most but it does not smell like the bottle from my spice cabinet. It could be bolstered by cinnamon or maybe something like nutmeg (neither listed in notes). The dry down is still plum on my skin with that warmth and a bit of vanilla. This is not gormound but my skin pulls a charming amiability from this. I do not find this difficult to wear or get any unsavory whiffs AT ALL. While this is not like most present day scents I don't find this old fashioned or vintage to my tastes. But perhaps I'm just starting to show my age. LoL Might be worth mentioning my husband does not like this after it is first applied, but he does compliment it after it settles.

I posted a review last winter, and have since had some disagreements with myself. Original comments from 2/8/22: I have a newer bottle of EDT which looks like the older bottle, but has the notes represented here. I'm fascinated by this perfume. Sometimes I hesitate to wear it, but I never regret it. Would be a good companion to Cartier Declaration (men). No sentimentality. Gritty, adult. So glad this exists! Update today: 9/9/22 Well, even though my husband likes this, I am going to release my bottle to a new home, because as others have said, it really is overshadowed by the cumin. I'm glad to have the chance to try some of these classic great fragrances in reformulation, because the reformulations have led me to seek vintages, which I wouldn't have done w/out trying these capitulations first. On the other hand, it can leave you with a feeling of being cheated, yes. Live and learn. It's just too sad that an art is being hobbled by what to my mind are questionable regulations.

I have a newer bottle of EDT which looks like the older bottle, but has the notes represented here. I'm fascinated by this perfume. Sometimes I hesitate to wear it, but I never regret it. Would be a good companion to Cartier Declaration (men). No sentimentality. Gritty, adult. So glad this exists! Update: 9/9/22 Well, even though my husband likes this, I am going to release my bottle to a new home, because as others have said, it really is overshadowed by the cumin. I'm glad to have the chance to try some of these classic great fragrances in reformulation, because the reformulations have led me to seek vintages, which I wouldn't have done w/out trying these capitulations first. On the other hand, it can leave you with a feeling of being cheated, yes. Live and learn. It's just too sad that an art is being hobbled by what to my mind are questionable regulations.

This is so nice. I smell peaches and plums which even as the fragrance opens, it never disappears. This is a fruity perfume but it's spicy with cumin, floral with jasmine, woodsy with oak moss and sweet-gourmand ish with vanilla. All of the notes in this fragrance are detectable and you are in an olfactory paradise smelling each one of them. This is a more subtle version of the original classic Femme which I have smelled on my mom's friends. I like this version better. The plum is juicy, the jasmine is pronounced and the vanilla is too. Delicious, spicy and sweet. Smells like an autumn fragrance, not a summer scent. Even so I wear this whenever I want. Here in Florida it's always warm so this scent is perfect for me.

I mostly get a synthetic peach with spices and a leathery undertone at the base. The peach is quite prominent and loud, which, unfortunately, reminds me of peach-flavored cough syrup and makes it a bit challenging for me. However, there’s something undeniably sensual—almost carnal—about this fragrance. It comes alive on my skin with each wear, drawing me in to explore its layers. That intriguing quality makes it exciting to experiment with, despite my initial reservations. I can’t help but wonder how it compares to Mitsouko. I’m hoping Mitsouko leans more into earthiness—if that’s the case, I might just have to snag a bottle!

Femme is all femme and I mean dirty, sexy, animalic and dichotomously powdery, floral and refined. For me it starts off as an earthy, green, peachy cumin bomb and then during dry down softens to powdered peachy, fresh green rose where the cumin is softened but still pronounced. If you like something with layers and contradictions, something dirty and yet refined you'll like this one. She's not for everyone though. I wouldn't at all call her modern like the sweet, fruity bombs of today but I also wouldn't call her dated and this could very well be something niche. She is self assured. I like her contradictions.

Balsamic, mossy peach with some aldehydic fatty-ness beneath. This feels like it wants to be a big shoulder pad affair, but it also feels older and therefore more restrained. Some of the opening fruit notes fade right away, and a musty sandalwood floats to the top and lingers there. It’s essentially a fruity chypre on a strict diet. Although it starts out as enticingly complicated, it devolves into something moribund, vague, and gaunt entirely too fast. Not awful by any stretch, but it the lacks the balls of the fiercer femmes.

I am devastated at the reviews for the "new" Femme! I was hoping that it would be the same as the original which I adored. It was the perfume that I kept for balls and dinners and dates with that "special man". I will give it a try but feeling very apprehensive. I don't understand all these "reformulations" of loved classic perfumes. I have checked what was in the original and can see for myself the new one is definitely not anywhere near the original. Alexandrarae

Poor Roudnitska ! Maybe in the next few years they are going to reduce Femme to either to plain plum or plain patchouli . Please change the name of this new thing . A Woman is so much more ! I never smelled Femme in the oldest version , the one with dark lace on pale background box . But I can wear beautiful '89 Femme version with no problems . In the previous reformulation to this Thing 2013 something had changed which turned hairsprayrish on my skin .

I was looking for something to wear with vintage outfits and I'm not sure if my decant purchased from ebay is this or the original. I assume it's this version. I'm getting mostly warm soapiness but in a rather comforting, cosy kind of way that I don't usually get with soapy perfumes. It's wearable and rather pleasant. I'm used to fresh, fruity perfumes but I could get to like this one. Usually soapy 'old' style perfumes give me a headache.

@Descartes: there is absolutely, positively cumin in the post-1989 Femme reformulations, per multiple sources. And I'll admit I never considered the overlap in scent profile, but no similarity had previously occurred to me between orris and cumin. The former is violet-like or carrot-like, and the latter reminds me of Mexican and Indian cuisines, and others of animalic funk?

@maplesinmetalmust - thank you for your somewhat graphic review. Here I was wondering if this scent would be too fem for me! I think it's quite likely I might enjoy this fragrance for the very reasons you detest it. This is why I gave your review a thumb up. I'd give it two thumbs up if it were possible. Negative reviews can sometimes be so helpful. Keep up the good work.

Longévité exceptionnelle ( + de 12H ) Un parfum capiteux, Old School mais intemporel, Des notes de miel et d'épices, un peu fort au début, mais ensuite le parfum laisse s'éparpiller différentes notes toutes plus agréables les une que les autres une valeur sûre. Par contre je déconseille en été, car il est assez lourd a porter, plutot un parfum d'Hiver

I have juste received this gem.i vé found it very interesting and very complex. It s green but more spicy and less flowered than some others It had nothing similar to chanel 19 but it reminds me more Giorgio Beverly s yellow but femme de Rochas is more spicy than Giorgio. Beautifull it is Worth to try it if you like green flowered spicy

This is a gem like the original formula. Cumin is very dominant in the opening but the dry down is very similar to the original, maybe only little weaker. In this case, also strong and beautiful. This one is correctly edt, the original should be edp, maybe even perfume. Anyway, love love love both of them.

I purchased what I thought was 'old' Femme (1989 perhaps?), of course it came sealed--what I now have is the 'old' bottle shape, but with 2013 clearly stamped on the bottom. What is this? It's a lovely fragrance alright, but, certainly not the new shaped bottle from 2013. Very confusing to me. :(

New version.Ok,this has very much resemblance with one francesca bianchi perfume,and i can’t recall which one.Very very similar.And i got some hint of animalic notes,not too much,just a hint.This ia a very nice chypre,and as a man,i can say it’s very wearable.The price is phenomenal.

I don't find prominence in the cumin note although it's there. I sense stone fruits with a touch of warmth. Very feminine but not complacent in this 21st century. I love it because it moves away from the dominant notes: Vanilla, Coumarin, Praline and Popcorn.