Some classic, early scents can be enjoyed only for their historical notoriety — as the first perfumes that open the door for later, superior incarnations. But for me, Coty Chypre stands alone as an incredibly beautiful and complex scent. At once fresh and bracing, warm and woodsy, and softly floral, Chypre dries down on my skin into what I can only describe as a powdery butter. I keep inhaling my wrist for the almost milky richness of what's left behind, combined with a disquieting hint of civet, which adds enough funk to keep Chypre from signifying "old lady perfume."
Top notes: Bergamot
Heart notes: Jasmine, rose, lilac, orris
Base notes: Vanillin, coumarin, oakmoss, patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood, labdanum, styrax, civet, musk
Roja Dove in The Essence of Perfume, says of Chypre: "Coty managed to put the gentlest whisper of orris, vanillin, and coumarin into this creation which gave it a note of intimate luxury redolent of the warmth of soft intimacy where the shoulder joins the neck."
If perfumes have messages, moods, and atmospheres, Chypre's is, as Dove suggests, "intimacy." The effect is indeed that you are nuzzling up to someone and smelling the trace of a fragrance wearing off mixed in with their inimitable scent.
I was lucky enough to have won a small bottle of the Eau de Toilette with a milky jade Bakelite cap, still with the frayed gold cord around its neck. It is one of my most prized vintage perfumes.
Chypre de Coty was last nights decant frolic, tonight will be woodhue.
In a word: template. As a word, "chypre" has always held me. It's anagram is "cypher", as in a puzzle, a code? Pieces put together it is greater than sum of its parts. I agree that Coty's Chypre is woody, I did a side-by-side sniff with Mitsouko vintage EDT (decant TPC). Coty is outdoors to Mitsy's indoors, marmoreal to her flesh and blood, a rose to her peach, a big picture to her details. It's the missing link that informs me, "so THAT's what I've been smelling all these years," an accord I know best as mom's scarf drawer. Just lovely.
Posted by: julie | October 25, 2011 at 08:49 PM
Decant frolic sounds fun, julie! And cypher as an anagram of Chypre is so cool. It does feel like an idea, an accord, a representative of earth and moss and herbs. (I love the anisic/tarragon/licorice note in it.) Radically different from Mitsouko and its whispery chypre dry down. Marmoreal vs. flesh and blood is also interesting as a contrast. There is something, to me, both warm and cold about chypre and Chypre. I think warm because of the earthiness but cold/cool because of the idea of of moss and herbs...
Posted by: Perfumaniac | October 25, 2011 at 09:59 PM
Just got a vintage bottle today. Oh Heaven! This *is* Chypre, the epitome of Chypre. Now hear this, fragrance lovers...Do not allow your vast array of lovliness to hold a void where a bottle of this divine concoction ought to be, and in a place of honor. Swim in it; you will feel like you drank it because it is intoxicating- it is simply splendid. As you should know- it is very nearly extinct, so do try to grab some... you know you are worth it. As for me: How did I love perfume for these many long years without indulging myself.... I'm just so glad I did.
Posted by: Cathlyn | July 06, 2012 at 02:49 AM
cAN i EVER GET SOME CRESCENDO BY REVLON
Posted by: dIANE | February 22, 2013 at 10:47 PM