Bond Street

This was the first perfume I literally fell in love with...I was 14 years of age and babysitting for a couple who lived in our street. Upon arrival the lady of the house opened the front door to let me in - I was absolutely amazed at her appearance (she was wearing a strapless black taffeta ballet length evening gown with strappy satin very high heeled sandals) and this beautiful perfume just wafted around her as she moved. I had never seen anyone look and smell so beautiful - I never got over it, indeed it was my first purchase that I saved up for when I commenced working when I was 16. I wore it for years and then graduated to Chanel 5 and Arpage and my love affair with perfume has continued (I am now 72 and wearing Jean Patou's "Sublime" when I am not wearing Guerlain's Samsara or YSL's Paris). Would love to try this gorgeous fragrance again but guess it would be hard to get,if not impossible! Cheers, Alexandrarae

Yardley is a much underrated perfume house. "Bond Street" is one reason it deserves more recognition. "Bond Street" is a golden perfume: warm and ambery and very autumn-like in character. Every perfume house had an "autumn" fragrance, this is one the best.

Bond Street by Yardley was my granny’s signature perfume before she discovered Charlie back in 1979. She wore the two of them depending on the occasion. But for me Bond Street is attached to so many wonderful moments. It was flowery but also had woods that made it smell incredibly elegant and classy! It’s aldehydes gave it that characteristic and opulent notes of those old fragrances that are not made anymore. I can still feel it’s gorgeous whiffs while my young and beautiful grandma in her 50’s was sitting in her boudoir putting her makeup on, fixing her reddish hair and looking like a movie star. She wore it until it was practically imposible to find it anywhere. So she kept wearing Charlie and Max Factor’s Epris to replace Bond Street. She always had two signature perfumes. Reviewing it really brought so many beautiful memories that made me smile while writing these lines. That’s the magic of fragrances. Even though some are long gone just like my grandma, we will always have them tied to magic moments we will always treasure.

UPDATE: Jan 13th 2020: Long delayed review. got a vintage perfume version of this. This is a delicious well blended Oriental floral with deeply comforting basenotes. Its refreshing to sniff something free of aroma-chemicals. Quality oils in here too as the liquid is thick and leaves a sheen on skin. The lighter citrus top is so inviting, with the middle strong on the Heliotrope, all bedded nicely with earthy tones. Classic traditional and good quality as my little bottle looks like its from the 70s and still smells amazing. Will be fantastic for layering experiments too. Great for everyday wear, lasting 6 - 8 hours. ......................................................................................................................... So excited! Just ordered a mini of this on ebay. No idea if there are different concentrations but the noted are vintage fragrance heaven to me. Blind buy faith - works a treat! Will update when I get it. Some on ebay right now if you are looking.

Although his name does not appear to be found on this site, the creator of Yardley's very stylish Bond Street perfume was W.A. Poucher, who was that company's chief chemist for over thirty years, and who was also responsible for some of that company's other great successes in the forties, fifties and sixties of last century. He was also the author of a number of highly regarded textbooks on the subject of perfumes, soap and cosmetics, updated editions of which are still on sale and in which can be found fragrance formulas of that time. As well as his expertise in perfumery, he was also a renowned landscape photographer, and published a number of books on this subject as well. A biography by Roly Smith, dealing with his life, (Poucher died in 1988 at the age of 97) is entitled A Camera in the Hills and is well worth reading.

I just got my bottle, vintage toilet water version, maybe from 50s. It's strange that to me Bond Street hardly smells Oriental or Floral, it's a soft dry leather kind of scent, especially at the beginning. The opening notes tend to be dry, green herbal, then the herbal green notes fade and it stays soft leather for quite a long time. There are some oriental or floral kind of notes emerge gradually, and about 20min later, it becomes more warm oriental/spicy one. This "warm up" phrase is really amazing, you could really feel the scent evoles slowly. I read review says Bond Street is not a Haute scent, not Guerlain or Caron kind. Maybe it's right. but I won't go far say it's simple scent.

To think that mum used to buy this at our local pharmacy and use it as after shower cologne and her and us (yes, I am that old)! I remember the box and the bottle so well. And the scent was incredible. Now you cannot find it for love or money ... actually, you can find it for A LOT of money. This is one of those one-of-its-kind scents that make history. Like Audrey Hepburn it is unique and inimitable. I wish to heaven Yardley would bring it back. NOT reformulated, please!