Gem Parfum

Gem is a dark fruit beauty, full of prune compote and stewed peach, razzle-dazzled with coriander, plumped up with fatty clove pink and ylang-ylang. It's hypnotic, nocturnal, both salty and sweet, enveloping me as I wear it, but not as boastful as others from its time period. It emits refinement, a more classical sensibility, echoing L'Heure Bleue and Femme, but leaning just a bit more into carnal space with a civet and labdanum-heavy amber in its dry down.

Gem has a distinctively vintage scent that is definitely 80s and yet reminds me of even older vintages. I think it might be among those influenced by L'Origan (Coty.) These notes are the same in both: coriander, peach, ylang, rose, yasmine, amber, civet, vanilla And these ones are similar: sandalwood / rosewood, "spices" / cloves and cardamom, cedar / cypress The most famous scent influenced by L'Origan is L'Heure Bleue. Notes that are absent in L'Origan but present in both Gem and L'Heure Bleue include carnation and iris. So perhaps Gem was not directly influenced by L'Origan but by L'Heure Bleue. Even so, it's of that lineage. Despite having lots of floral notes, Gem does not smell floral in the way that L'Origan and L'Heure Bleue do. Instead, it has the 80s ambery fragrance of its own time. But it definitely displays its influences. It's a great option for those who enjoy vintages of both the 80s and earlier times.