Salut de Schiaparelli

Salut extrait arrived today and confirmed rumours for Elsa Schiaparelli's perfumes: they are legendary and unique, both in fragrances and in packaging. The fragrance is deep and sensuous, while it stands on an imaginary base made of blaster, in the design of a flower! How avant garde for its time in the mid 30's! The perfume itself, at a first sniff, exhales a very deep aura, combining benzoin, oakmoss, lily of the valley and freesia, on an aldehehydic ground. The rest of the flower mists exist no more, as of its old age, but isn't it amazing to get glimpses of some of its notes, after a so long time? That's why I admire and adore the very old perfumes, they manage to surprise me with their endurance in time.

Vinyl plastic doll's head + subtle monoi oil--a total scrubber! As a Schiap frag fiend, this was a bummer! I purchased this rarity for my birthday, in one of those sets of 4 Schiap parfums in a shocking pink presentation box, the frags in crystal bottles with cube touche oreille stoppers, all gold corded and sealed. Even the box was still wrapped in cellophane, which was partially degraded but sealed. All 4 bottles showed evaporation--some a lot, some a little. Salut had about 1/2 - 2/3 remaining, the color rich translucent amber. The stopper was frozen and I managed to open it by placing a clean, dry wash cloth over the cube as a "cushion" and twisting the stopper clockwise using needle nose pliers and it released. The aroma out of the bottle was fairly harsh--amid chemical chaos, I detected white and light purple flowers plus a vestige of benzoin-ish sweetness. I dabbed it on my freshly showered skin and recoiled, noting the dilute resinous texture, which left a shiny-ish veil after drying on the application points. 20 minutes later, I lifted my forearms to my nostrils and again recoiled. An hour in over dinner I thought for sure the elixir might have bloomed, but I had to scrub it off without further delay. Twice. Very pleased to experience it, but this one seems not to age well--caveat sniffer!