Mystere

Mystere is indeed a mystery and it is the only perfume that has ever made me cry in pure disbelief and almost extatic frenzy. It was when I smelled the extrait the first time. That was also the first time I truly understood the meaning of the sum being larger than the individual parts. At least perfume-wise. I read the glowing and very different reviews here. People experience Mystere in incredibly many - and likewise incredibly different - ways. I agree with all of them and that’s the true magic of this. It’s everything, not at once or twice, but every time and then again. It’s new. And wise beyond years. I sometimes open my extrait thinking “just one sniff” and then I’ll put it back, fearing it’ll evaporate as soon as I take off the lid. One sniff is never enough, though. The true magic happens on your skin. It smells amazing from the bottle, where bergamotte in its purest form lures you in with its icy promise of coolness, but that’s not really Mystere. To me Mystere isn’t icy, once past the chilly metallic opening. Mystere is imaginative. A forest-floral fantasy dancing on my skin, providing me with a sense of wonder for more than 24 hours. Last time I wore it, I still got wafts 30 hours after application. It just keeps evolving and my mind keeps drifting from sphere to sphere. First time, I wore the extrait, I thought I was going crazy. It was evocative in a way I never experienced with a fragrance before. It send me back and forth in both time and space and just when I thought I had the answer to its effect on me, I felt something else or something more. I even held my breath for a moment more than once that day, simply to pause it from affecting me, but all in vain. It demanded my presence and my experiencing it, through all its tantalizing stages. That day it was floral, but at times fairylike, airy and non-tangeable with a damp, almost spongy moss base that seemed to have soaked up the intensity of both the animalic and spicy parts. Next time, I tried it, it was woody warmth, almost velvety in its thickness. The other day, where the weather was hot and humid, it came forward as a very austere green chypre with next to no florals detectable. Mystere is a tour de force of feelings and emotions like no other and a fragrance I’ll keep returning to. It’s my perfumed sanctuary, in spirit, body and soul.

Vintage Rochas perfumes are underrated gems in my opinion. I have a collection of miniatures, and Mystère is the latest I tracked down. My bottle is very old, and the top notes have turned slightly, but once it settles, it becomes the earthy, forest-y green scent of dreams. It is of its era, very 1970s in style, of the opulence that is not found in modern designer scents anymore. After the first few gone-off notes dissipate, Mystère becomes a hazy green scent, with lovely vintage galbanum the most dominant note. Bright aldehydes keep things clean, complementing the floral heart that follows. Polleny, hay-like narcissus is quite prominent to my nose, bolstered by sweet ylang ylang. Hyacinth adds body, fresh and lily-like, but is more subdued here than is typical. The floral heart is powdery, with soft spices adding interest. I get a prominent clove note in particular thanks to the carnation. Powdery rose follows. The mossy chypre base shines through from the early stages, complementing the florals beautifully. The oakmoss note is delicious - the kind that doesn't exist in modern perfume anymore - mossy, earthy, dense and dark. A cloud of patchouli and some soft woods enhance it nicely. There is an animalic musky undertone, giving an amber edge to the base. It fades to a musky, earthy skin scent, rich and full-bodied until final fade. Sillage is strong and longevity is long-lasting. It is a feminine-leaning autumn/winter scent. Old-fashioned in the best way, Mystère is up there with the best from vintage Rochas - even vintage French perfume in general. A beauty from another time. 4.5/5.

Where are the times when Rochas brought something like this on market under the inspiration of the wonderful Helene Rochas? Where? Long gone! This perfume is simplement magnifique! It is the quintessence of the strong woman, dressed in a dark suit, who walks relaxed on the street in the spring time in Europe on her way to lunch. It has everything, cold but strong, mysterious but also overwhelming, earthy but also floral, musky and powdery but also vibrant, everything a woman who demands respect can want. It smells like carbonic ice put in a red clay pot, over which cold mineral water is added, petals, a little citric shell and roots, earthy roots such as carrots. And it may sound strange, but it's divine, it's the smell like Maggie Smith should have in Death sur le nile, at that magnificent blazers and the impeccable image from the middle up, at which, some thought of adding skirts to be more "friendly" with the American-Hollywood and UK movies directors mentalities from 78, even if those blazers screamed pants and women on the Agatha Christie time were already wearing pants. I recently found two bottles at collector who wanted to sold it and of course I didn't even blink before buying and I'm euphoric. I had a business meeting the other day with a lot of my lodge colleagues participating at it, I used this and go, the moment I enter the conference room three of them instantly turn around, and one of them instantly said: this is an old Rochas, where did you hide it till today. It has that aura, it catches your eye, slaps you, you know it's in the building.

Magnificent majestic Mystere, the bedrock and foundation of my collection since the 80's, the one that let me know green leather chypres were my thing. Never equalled or surpassed... but we all know that don't we so I won't try to sell coal to miners. This is about the most smellalike scent to Mystere I've ever come across, (I've been searching for a long time) it's by Lentheric, was first produced in 1913 and it's called Sukina. I was at a car boot sale last week and there was a lovely lady with a tableful of old scents so of course I swooped. The first bottle I picked up and sniffed almost floored me, this was Mystere de Rochas, albeit with a less heavy galbanum top note, but beside that exactly the same, so similar that I even asked if she'd decanted another scent (Mystere?) into the bottle, she said no, they were untouched. Long story short, I bought it, then ordered another from ebay to confirm it really was Sukina and not a decanted Mystere in a Sukina bottle. It was really Sukina, couldn't believe it! So if, like me, you want to save precious Mystere for special occasions, get yourself some Lentheric Sukina for a slightly less galbanum infused hit, as otherwise it's exactly the same. Prices are decent, about a quarter of what Mystere costs. You won't regret it.

I received a mini of Mystere parfum today. I believe this is an older version, the bottle says Mystere de Rochas rather than just Mystere. What a civet bomb! I could smell nothing but civet for the first hour or more, then started to catch glimpses of the woods and some floral. I couldn't pick out the individual floral notes until a few hours after applying. I had a small sample of 'vintage' from one of the decant places a few weeks ago, and the juice from this mini is much stronger than that sample was. I will have to spend some time getting to know this one. I was hoping for a more woodsy smelling perfume, this one is all about the civet. It's quite obviously from the same era as Magie Noire, Opium, etc. :) eta 12/13/12 I've come back to Mystere and I'm getting almost a completely different perfume on my skin than I did when I first got the bottle earlier this year. A strong hit of civet early that very quickly faded and turned into into a gorgeous woody scent with just a hint of green and spring flowers. I've been wondering what to wear to the company Christmas party in two days that will be completely different form what anyone else is wearing. This may be it.

All secrets of seduction are kept in Mystère. On unleashing its trail the journey towards the mysterious, intriguing, magical places begins. A constantly tempting magic of its earthy-musky-animalic (read dirty) notes playing an enticing song on sounds of wind chimes in a gentle breeze.... inviting, sensual and erotic. A silent tide of its dangerous facet arouses mesmerizing everyone within her reach of great projection. Her controversial character makes it difficult to grasp her essence. She's elusive which makes her irresistible. Green curtains open the stage for civet, carnation, oakmoss, hycinth....in a seductive, sensual, coquettish dance....resulting, well, in a complete Mystère.... One of those real perfumes, with a power of seduction, talking softly yet with extreme passion mesmerizing you along the way and whose absence in the end is felt. The funny part is that while I'm writing this review, I'm listening to „A Victory of Love“ by Alphaville and lyrics caught my attention just when I was about to say: „I'm waiting for a shift in the air Hoping for your return, hoping for your sweet, sweet Return....“

Mystere was my first beloved fragrance I used to wear in teens' age. It developed my taste and desire for perfumes. For many years after, looking for similar fragrance, captivating, complex, luxurious, feminine, just simply amazing, came across many great fragrances but could not find anything else even close. Recently bought two vintage Mystere pure perfumes (5 ml one is identical to what I owned a few decades ago!!!) and one vintage ou'de perfume... all three of the gems smell almost identical.... and different from what I remember!!!.. The notes from memory come alive and are not heavily overlapped by "heavy" ingredients when warmed up either on skin or just in warmth.. The perfumes are original vintage have darkened so could the "heavy" "additions" be a result of time?.. Still beautiful and intriguing, the smell perfectly matches descriptions of other reviewers. I just wonder if the original fragrance is lost in translation in time...... One of reviewers said "goodby old friend", I would like to say, welcome back my friend, I still love you.

I wore Mystere way back when, and I remember it was very intense and unusual, so when VKW pointed out its availability on a certain etailer site, I ran to purchase one. I wish I could restrain my impulsive nature sometimes, because the "new" Mystere is not a perfume, its a crime - not even a real, bloody, nasty, evil crime, but an insignificant and stupid crime, like jaywalking or urinating in public. The "new" Mystere comes in a vile little round bottle with a pathetically flimsy plastic top. The bottle itself looks like someone stuck transparent red contact paper on it. The Mystere juice is something else - it dispenses only the vaguest trace of something sort of perfumish which then proceeds to vanish without a trace in half an hour. The greatest crime of all, truly blood curdling to this perfume lover, is what some eejut over at Rochas did by reformulating the intense, gorgeous, sexy Mystere into the insipid doodoo that is the "new" Mystere. My advice: avoid at all costs, there's better bathroom sprays.

I have just received my order of Mystere (post takes a long time to reach me) and need to confirm Moyra's comments. This is not even a reformulation of the original; it's a nasty, cheap, cynical attempt to deprive people of their money - and in my case, fond memories of the real Mystere. I am so sad and annoyed that I didn't curb my impulsive nature, too. I bought quite a few bottles in the hope I could see out my days on Earth swathed in Mystere, but I wouldn't use this trash for anything. It's tinny, weak, chemically, sour.... Perhaps now is a good time to explain just how important the real Mystere is for me. It is THE perfume that got me into perfume. My mother wore it; she died when I was a kid, and I never knew its name until I smelled it years later on a customer. She took one look at me and said, "You look like you've seen a ghost." Essentially, I had smelled a ghost. What I now have smells like an insult.

Mystere goes on pleasantly dry, with some skankiness from cumin, a little whoosh of aldehydes, and a cool, dark, cypress-shady breeze. Within a few minutes there’s a ruddy-spicy warmth from the carnations, and then in the far drydown it simplifies into woodsy earthiness with a halo of dry spices. The woody-cumin skin scent predominates throughout. It’s subtle, earthy, natural. Works on days when you don’t want to be wearing “big perfume.” Mystere feels like walking under the shade of gnarled cypresses in a Mediterranean or Californian coastal-scrub landscape, with cliffs overlooking the sea. It’s a very “Saturnian” perfume, as far as traditional planetary correspondences go. Cypress, narcissus, cumin, and moss are “under Saturn”, and Mystere is a rather dark and dry, mossy-earthy chypre. It feels mature, grounded, a little intimate and a little austere.

This perfume is my Time Machine to the amazing mid 80s, one can not understand what a smell of French perfume would mean for 15 years old girl raised in Soviet Union. My friend’s mum had it, we would put one drop of it on and walk into frozen wintery night to go to after school classes. That what it smells for me even now - desperate hope of better future from simple and difficult today. It was also the first perfume I bought from the first salary I earned in the beginning of 1990s. Thanks God for eBay, I bought a vintage bottle and it still works. Even if there would not be as much personal history involved I still think it is one of the best perfumes ever made. I don’t feel separate notes in it, it is like heavenly chord playing simultaneously, gradually disappearing in the distance but still recognisable in its completeness.

If you love Mystere, still mourn its discontinuation AND you're on a budget, you must know that BalMan by Balmain has a drydown very, very, VERY reminiscent of Mystere. I wore BalMan yesterday and on my pillow last night and this morning woke up smiling in the marvelous sillage and wondered (only half awake, mind you) "did I dab on Mystere before going to sleep?". I have so very little of an EDP mini that I seldom do more than sniff it -- which I just had to do this morning. Voila! Amazing! Perhaps I shouldn't be telling this secret I have only just discovered, at least until I've purchased several more bottles of BalMan for myself while it's still incredibly inexpensive online... but I won't be greedy. Anyone who loves Mystere is more than OK in my estimation, so treat yourself and try BalMan!!!!

I had to find a pressi for my best friend, it was urgent, so I fleed into the perfumery at Nesttun, Norway, I smelled a very nice perfume, which I could afford, wrapped it in a paper in a hurry, they were closing, this was back in 1981, or 82?, I just remeber the case so very well, also because I still have the old pictures of us, but not the excact date.... My bestfriend was ever so happy about this perfume, it smelled heavenly!!! And, of cause I couldnt buy a similar to myself, the one I found was the last, but I could have shoot myself in my leg - because ever since I have wanted this perfume for myself, and, it was no where to find in this rocky nowhere .... Really, I should have keept the perfume for myself and bought her a soap insted.... hmfr...

Here I am, spoiling myself with some vintage Mystere, wondering what went wrong with modern perfumery. This aromatic chypre has me drooling and longing for a bottle so badly it’s almost a physical pain; this is a seriously special perfume, I don’t know why it isn’t talked about more. The opening is character-building for sure: sharp, herbal and intensely green with a bitter-pissy singe on the nose. This soon adopts a soft, sort of fizzy yet gentle pillowy bitterness with the galbanum, among soft spices, musk and a boatload of oakmoss. What a perfume! It’s hard to put into words how fantastic this scent is, for it is something you have to really experience. Unfortunately bottles are hard to come by, let the hunt begin...

This is one of the most beautiful fragrances I've ever experienced. It has all of the mystery, depth and sultry overtones of vintage Magie Noire without the dark heavy aspects of that heady brew. Mystere is woody,spicy and musky with beautifully soft florals. It is the most interesting animalic chypre which invites hours of arm sniffing. This is a very warm, cedar laden mossy fragrance that beguiles and enchants. My bottle is vintage EDP and disappearing way too quickly. The longevity of this beauty is more than 12 hours and the sillage is moderately heavy. There are vintage bottles of this fragrance for sale on Ebay, but they are few and command high prices. Oh,what I wouldn't give for a bottle of the vintage parfum!!

I'm almost tempted to say 'they don't make them like this any more.' My mother wore this and we bought it for her every xmas and birthday for years. With the result I have bottles and bottles of it - including a pure Parfum unopened. I love it. It's heady, warm, spicy, woody and distinctive. I love the way it enters the room before I do! It commands a presence, but not in a Poison way. it's much more mysterious. I will always love this perfume as it reminds me of my mother. It is just as she was - beautiful, smart, elegant, sexy and utterly charming, Men loved her, women respected her. There were aspects of my mother that I never knew - and this fragrance is just like that. A true classic

Nicholas Mamounas, you are the ******** MAN. This is one of my oldest, love - no adoration - at first sniff, the top of all my collection. In an airport duty-free shop I once smelled a whole bunch of perfumes, then THIS - which was so different and unique, and I was struck for life. It is my number one signature perfume, since the late 1970s when it came out. It is now discontinued. The formula ran to over 200 ingredients and there is no way it could survive IFRA, is my guess. I have a too small stockpile, and I only break it out for special occasions. A dark forest. An animalic chypre. Mystery. That is correct sir. And the bottle is the *best ever* bottle design I have ever come across.

I got this perfume from my grandma! She bought it in the 80s, on an airport in Germany. This perfume just screams 80s! When you first spray the fragrance you get hit with this strong herbal, green, almost jungle-y smell. The smell of galbanum is quite prevalent. The drydown smells animalic with a hint of incense, vanilla and moss. Overall I would call this perfume herbal, spicy and green. This is a very love or hate fragrance, so I would not blind buy it. Plus, this fragrance is discontinue so it may be hard to find. This leans unisex to me. Overall, if you are a fan of green, animalic perfumes, you might want to try looking for this one!

This is one of the nicest scents I ever smelled and it is really unique - I cannot think of any other scent, even natural, which reminds me of it. What I smell most is the oakmoss, hyacinth and civet, but in a quite elaborate state. I can relate it a little bit to Paloma Picaso, probably the scent I feel closest to this one, but they are not really alike, and with Diva, but less. I can also see some similarities with Cabaret, but even less, very faint, more to do with the scent texture. This is really really special. The only thing to me is that sillage was not great. It is a pity to have been discontinued a longtinme ago.

Naturalmente gli ingredienti sono molto maggiori di quelli elencati,più di un centinaio,come nella maggior parte dei profumi creati in quell'epoca. Mystere è verde ebraceo,molto ricco e sofisticato,ha uno sfondo misterioso blu vellutato e colori che sembrano acquarelli. Mystere ha un'atmosfera grigia,forse data dalle note animali che qui erano naturali, dal muschio di quesrcia, dai fiori di cascarilla, storace, rosmarino,violetta, cipresso verde cupo e fiori nascosti. Mystere è molto affascinante anche se piuttosto freddo come genere, non lega con Opium,anzi sono antagonisti. E non assomiglia neanche a Magie noire.