Malabar

[MARCH 2024] Crown Perfumery's Malabar (1919, *1994 revival edition) arrived in impeccable condition. Cute, regal emboss of the Crown Perfumery bottle in the back; a minimalist take to its 19th century counterpart. And for under $200AUD it's a no brainer, for any history lover of perfumery and the arts: With a medicinal depth on first burst, the fragrance wafts meters away from my skin and has changed the atmsophere of the room with its aldehydelic powdery-sweet-sour orange-blossom-amber-civet scent. On the contrary to the image of India's Malabar/Kerala, there is zero dramatic, dark black pepper or "malabar cardamom" present to my nose. None. On contrary: Tropical indolent ylang-ylang. Malabar's particular soft-sandalwood sweetness can be detected to one's nose in close-up. Make no mistake, this too, is no chypre-- unlike Roger and Gallet's Fleurs D'Amour (1902) or Night of Delight (1930), there is no buttery castoreum leather note, no dark depth of any such tobacco or incense of sorts to be had here. Zero trace of Grossmith. The perfume of Malabar, too, could be said similar to a vintage Chanel bottle (coincidentally I own the talc form of No. 5 to strengthen the base of Malabar and its likes). Malabar, however-- is far less soapy, less shrill, and zero percent fruit jam-like to the nose. I have to also say, I know what Floris' Edwardian Bouquet smells like. Malabar, that is not. Floris smells too cold, shrill-y, and urinal cake-like I sadly have to admit. For the same price, Crown Perfumery's Malabar-- (if you can believe they have multiple bottles for sale pre-IFRA ban online)-- is all natural, and a pleasure to enjoy as a form of light, impressionist-styled work of olfactory art. This is a quite dreamy, Edwardian-era bouquet. Shall I say this is fitting for the Belle Epoque? Hold one's horse; there is no cake-like gourmand to this scent. No almondy heliotrope play, no cherry, no fruit jam or vanillas here. But yes: it is delicious; juicy-sweet-tart play of ylang-ylang, civet, and amber brightens and humours the air around the wearer like idyllic sunshine. (And no nose-irritating drugstore impression cliche of neroli or bergamot to be found.) This is not the equivalent of an emotional Tchaikovsky, nor of Debussy's fairy tale art-noveau orientalisms. For that, try Parfum De Marly's Delina, or the tea-like daintiness of the Violette from Bon Parfumeur (recommended contemporary cheapie.) So free of any burst of sharp alcohol to the nose found on today's "cheapie, vintage" reformulations, Malabar is of natural powdery-sour-sweet ylang-civet-amber play with a hint of Indian sandalwood to ground the perfume into mild 'umami' earthy-powder delight: Malabar is a realist-impressionist jaunty, sunlit stroll in the park like Ravel. Malabar: Top notes: aldehydes, cardamom, clove. Middle notes: jasmine, ylang-ylang, orange blossom, muguet. Base notes: sandalwood, civet, amber, oakmoss.

From the Perfume Intelligence site: "One of the legendry Arabian fragrances once offered to the Maharani of Jaïpur, the wealthy Indian princess and famous society beauty of the 1940s and 1950s. It was originally formulated in 1919, a rich floral-oriental edp with notes of ylang-ylang, lily of the valley and jasmine on base notes of exotic spices and aromatic woods. Re-launched in 1989." This is indeed a woody spicy floriental with prominent notes of jasmine, ylang ylang and a soapy lily of the valley, along with a less obvious but very present heliotrope. It is quite potent, and longlasting on me. The opening is a little astringent, a little green, a little medicinal. The resins appear early and stay for the duration, and provide an interesting resinous, balsamic quality that is almost piney, and a little sappy. Oak moss for certain. No tonka or vanilla, nothing sweet, creamy or gourmand. Instead this is bracing, a little austere. Some would consider it masculine; it is thick, but not smoky, with no incense vibe. An old school floral oriental, Malabar has an exotic spiciness that opens with a clove/carnation note and finishes with what i believe is fresh green cardamom. This does not really blend seamlessly with the heliotrope, they don't clash so much as they poke their little heads up and down like pistons, clamoring to be heard. Eventually they exhaust themselves, and fall into a muttering stupor, allowing the woods to dominate, along with the rich floral heart. Composed of ylang ylang, paired with jasmine and a hint of rose, it is a potent floral accord. At this point the LOTV is strong, and soapy, and I wish it wasn't. Now there is sandalwood, cedar, maybe cypress, but no patchouli, and something else, something deep and sappy and mysterious, something woody but not dry. This is an austere aesthetic, as jtd says, there is no intention to seduce. This is not a pretty or sexy scent, but to me it is beautiful. By the end, this seemed to be very green, a woody green floral more than an oriental.

I feel fortune to have known the Crown Perfumery during its second incarnation in the 80/90's when they had the store in the Burlington Arcade. Barry Gibson faithfully recreated the original fragrances. Ok, we'll never know how faithfully but they certainly say within the traditional perfumery style. ( Some upstart who's name escapes me, apparently bought the brand identity, offered to honour it's history, yet asset stripped then traded on it and created some over priced, boring junk but I wouldn't really know much about that ....) Malabar is an aldehydic floral that sits at the intersection of: No5 / Miss Dior / Joy /Liu. Yes, it's THAT good. EDIT: after wearing this for 3 days I can attest - it LASTS for 3 days !! I accidentally caught my jacket sleeve and it's still there. It's a good thing that it's an astonishingly good perfume. The more I wear it, the more I get No5 and Guerlain Liu as it dries down to those strong but soapy aldehydes, there's even a touch of vintage Charlie in there. That's it, I'm calling it - THE best Crown Perfumery made and that's saying something !!

Usually vintage perfume that smells this good has some rough edges or signs of aging. This has none, smooth as a baby's ass. I'm sold Update. I like this so much more in the summer day than the winter night, the 2 times I've tried this

I went through a bottle of the original Malabar about 10 years or so ago. I believe that the florals had the character of ylang-ylang more than that of a rose or a jasmine. The closest scent to it is one by L.T. Piver's Le Reve d'Or. I probably wouldn't ever buy this again (aside from the fact that it's well nigh unobtainable) because there was just something slightly medicinal smelling to my nose.