Ispahan

„Ispahan the Great” First time we met, Ispahan and I, was at a friend's house. She was in the middle of moving, and packing down her things was apparently something she had postponed for too long. When I came by she was trying to make all her stuff fit into the moving boxes she had bought for the purpose. I made myself helpful by emptying some of her shelves in the bedroom. When showing her some of the many bottles that were on her vanity she said "hey, you can have them". So, among Byzance, White Linen and other jewels that are all used long ago, was Ispahan. A big bottle. Having these was a real treat. Being a student with no money, I was so thrilled that a friend gave all these fairly expensive perfumes. So I made a big mistake by not being the least curious about the Yves Rocher bottle. I knew at that time that this was inexpensive perfumes and therefore I jumped to the conclusion that it was also uninteresting perfumes with no qualities. Oh dear, how wrong I was. Luckily, I became wiser :) When finally I found it i the back of the closet and tried it I was stunned by its personality. It has great longevity, moderate sillage and an absolutely wonderful development. It starts out spicy, really spicy and a hint of vanilla. After half an hour the scent softens into a vanilla-nutmeg-tonkabean mix with tiny whiffs of flowers, and it stays like this for 3-5 hours. The last phase is vanilla. So lovely. The only drawback is that if you spray it too close to your face, your nose and mouth are overwhelmed with it and you start tasting it. So be careful. I like the bottle. It is pretty simple and the colour is deep. I just wish that they would not use plastic. Glass bottles are so beautiful and classy so why on earth (I know: money!) do they make it out of plastic? But there is nothing wrong with the vessel here. It prepares the user for what is inside, in my opinion. Since it is discontinued but still sold on ebay for a reasonable amount of money, I would not hesitate to recommend this to everybody. This is really a great perfume. So good luck hunting.

I am simply binge-buying this one: any ISPAHAN parfum extrait I come across on ebay inevitably lands in my perfume treasure chest, at ALL costs! For starters, there's a sentimental value in it for me: my late mother used to wear it on special occasions ( I believe, this was the only pricey (according to the USSR standards) perfume she ever owned - got it as a present from her boyfriend who had brought it from Italy in the late 80s, so it was a WOW item to have on a nightstand!) I, as a child , was facsinated by how unique my mother smelled! I am confident that this smell chooses its wearers, because if the skin is not moist enough to absorb the bordering on acid bitter notes at the opening - you are doomed. The drydown is plain strange: it's blue grapes and cold breeze with mimosa all over it, and once it settles - it's just too complex and beautiful for me to even attempt to break it down into single notes! I have now aquired a few pure perfume bottles ( that's the concentration my mom had ), and been simply too afraid to properly try it out - soooo scared that my body chemistry will let me down! A little dab on the wrist is all I could brace myself for, and it did not disappoint:such a sophisticated, very ladylike, aristocratic I dare say, fragrance! I imagine black cashmere tight sitting polo neck dress, vintage rings, a proper hairdo (the one we nowadays could not possibly manage even with 2 right hands at our disposal). It just has CLASS in it, in a very good standoffish way: understated, yet not mixing with the background. The new formulation was AWFUL. This was what I bought at 1st (was simply easier to get than the vintage!) and I rue the day: it really is just brown alcohol with some sulphur in it - NOTHING like the old velvety version. Highly recommended for all those who like old school perfumery with an unusual twist. The matt galss bottle and the packaging are simply THE BEST: the holy grail that Yves Rocher once got hold of.

I cannot believe my luck when I found this beauty in the back of my mom’s closet. It must have been there for years. My mom is not into oriental scents, so I got almost full bottle of vintage one in the black bottle all for myself. I remember wearing it back when I was 20 years old. I always liked this scent but now I truly appreciate its unique beauty. Ispahan is a sultry, dark and deep oriental. I have many other oriental scents including Shalimar but this one stands on its own. It is bewitching and beautiful. The black bottle that looks like an ancient vase that was discovered somewhere in Egypt after 4000 years of being hidden from the human eyes in the pyramids fits great for carrying this wonderful perfume. The scent opens right away with a strong, dark and sultry citruses and ylang-ylang. There is no day or sunshine in this perfume. It is all deep and dark starry night with haunting melody coming from afar somewhere in the desert. There is almost leathery and incense-y quality to this perfume right from the start. I also smell some spices, perhaps nutmeg. The scent develops beautiful with ylang-yland becoming more buttery and mixing with slightly sweet vanilla notes. The final stages are gorgeous vanilla (not like in a cup-cake) but woody and incense-y. The sillage and longevity are excellent. I am also impressed how well this perfume survived the storage. My mom must have had it for decades and it still smells just like I remember it. Overall score 9/10. Why YR discontinued this??? I love this beauty.

I just saw this on special on strawberry.net and was curious so checked the reviews here - checked back and yep, they seem to have the original formula because it's the black bottle and packaging pictured above. (Also, the packaging looks as if it's had a few knocks over the years!) Anyway, I took a punt on it and the bottle arrived today. At first sniff I thought "hmmm, this is okay, but I don't quite understand the fuss, it smells a bit like something my grandmother might have worn out to a really fancy dinner". After a while I started sniffing my wrist every few minutes just to enjoy the smell. As the evening wore on I realized that I absolutely loved it - even though I still think its something my grandmother would have worn out to a really fancy dinner, that's actually a really great way to smell! It's warm and calming and elegant and luxurious and frankly, a bit more womanly than the Escentric Molecules or Comme des Garçons I normally wear. But it's winter here in New Zealand and I think I feel an Oriental obsession coming on to get me through the cold months. Since it sounds like its hard to get hold of, I've just gone back and ordered a second bottle because its there, it's reasonably priced, and I'm now completely under its spell.

After loving the look of the packaging and bottle, reading the reviews and looking at the notes I knew that I HAD to have this too rare gem. We should really start a write in campaign to Yves Rocher to bring this beautiful lady back. Along with some others they have foolishly discontinued. Anyway.. Back to Ispahan. Of course my bottle is kind of old. It's the half ounce so no spray, just put your finger on the top and tipple some out. And at first sniff the bergomot hits like a turned alcoholic twist. Not very good but not choke me up bad either. And very quickly the ylang ylang is just THERE. Along with the sweeet mimose. So a lot of yellow florals in this otherwise sweet and spicey oriental. I know there's vanilla in it but to me that takes a back seat to the most delicious nutmeg scent ever ever ever. There I was, at the restaurant, celebrating my birthday, and I could hardly get my wrist off of my nose! And I actually got good longevity off of this! That's really rare for a YR fragrance on me. This fragrance truly is a masterpiece from YR. They've had some along the way. And for some reason they get discontinued. Unfathomable to me. If you can find this.... Let me know.