A little Moon Drops solid perfume on my pulse points, a polyester maxi dress, some frosty orange lipstick, and this '70s lady is ready for the Key Party!
I've been trying to get my hands on Moon Drops perfume for a good year, but I could never quite bring myself to pay eBay prices for it.
Instead, trolling around Etsy last year, I spied this cute "Rajah's elephant" pendant designed by jeweler David Webb and filled with Moon Drops solid perfume. It was cheap, and I bought it.
So I'm going to make a virtue out of a necessity and do a first on Yesterday's Perfume: review a vintage solid perfume!
I hesitated to write about it because I'm not going to get the full development of top notes to base notes. (Right? How can a solid perfume have true top notes — the lightest, most volatile notes that disperse into the air first?)* The good thing about solid perfume, though, is that it lasts for ages. I can put a little bit of this stuff on and the next morning I can still smell it.
From its hippie-dippy name to its sexy-musky character, I understand now why eBay snipers are always on alert when a bottle of this comes down the pike. I can only imagine how beautiful the perfume is if the solid perfume bewitches me this much.
With honeyed ripe fruit and a whisper of powdery orris, spice from carnation, and a rich base of woods, amber/Benzoin, musk and styrax-moss for an incense/chypre quality — Moon Drops is dripping with beauty and complexity. Throughout all this richness I can smell the sharpness of ylang-ylang and lily-of-the-valley, lifting the perfume back up from sinking into its own decadence.
Top notes: Aldehydes, gardenia, peach, raspberry, bergamot
Heart notes: Lily of the valley, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, carnation, orris, honey, tuberose
Base notes: Sandalwood, musk, cedarwood, moss, styrax, amber, benzoin
Moon Drops makes me actually think of the moon dripping with the most beautiful scents the earth has to offer in their ripest, most decadent forms. Although it's powdery, it's not the powder of a vintage scent that one reads as "old lady" (at least not to me). I think instead of fine, glittery dust that makes things iridescent and luminous — orris as moon dust, if you will. If I put it on at night, the next day there's a subtle honey-fruit-spicy-sweetness mixed with musk lingering on my skin. Soooo sexy!
I think I'm going to carry this solid perfume around with me as a comfort scent while it's still cold out. In the meantime, if anyone wants to decant a tiny amount of the perfume to send my way, I won't protest. I'd love to compare the solid perfume with the actual perfume and will update this post if it happens!
* I got the perfume notes from my trusty Haarmann & Reimer Duftatlas, but it's included simply in the "floral" category, inexplicably. I'm confused by this because its base is decribed by them, and experienced by me, as "balsamic and sensual." In any case, what I'm not getting from the solid perfume is its "aldehydic fruity" quality, along with bergamot. I get fruit, but none of the sparkle. I'm so curious about the perfume now!
Sigh. This is why learning about The Lost Perfumes is dangerous.
But I thank you for the introduction anyway. Plus, congrats on the solid being a score...I do love it when solids turn out to be a Good Thing.
Posted by: ScentScelf | January 16, 2011 at 07:05 PM
I spotted some Moon Drops cologne while doing a little research on vintage perfumes. It's at Quirky Finds if you are interested. (not affiliated)
Posted by: JoanElaine | January 17, 2011 at 12:38 PM
When I got to the frosted orange lipstick, you had my full attention. Yikes! I remember those days.
So, did you get any top notes, or any sort of development, from the perfume? Did it smell oily? And do tell, are you going to actually WEAR the pendant. We want to know.
Posted by: Anne | January 18, 2011 at 04:02 AM
Hi Anne - I could smell some of the fruit notes (warm and creamy rather than sharp or too sweet). The only development I could get, though, was a deepening of the BEAUTIFUL base notes — sandalwood, etc. As for wearing the pendant? I actually wore it on my birthday with a black blouse (although I wore Bandit perfume). It's cute!
Posted by: Perfumaniac | January 18, 2011 at 12:34 PM
Hi JoanElaine. It's on my list of wants!
Posted by: Perfumaniac | January 18, 2011 at 12:36 PM
Charlie Red is my favorite fragrance, I receive compliments every time I wear it, it has a delicious aroma and I prefer it over any other.
Posted by: Tag My Friends | January 29, 2011 at 12:44 AM
My late mother wore Revlon's Moondrops in the mid-1970s! It was a delicious, womanly scent! She also wore (around that same time period) two other fragrances very similar to Moondrops - Estee Lauder's signature Estee and Avon's Unspoken. All gorgeous scents!
Though Moondrops and Unspoken are long discontinued, I personally have Estee Signature in my collection and enjoy wearing it especially in cold weather.
Posted by: Susan | January 31, 2011 at 06:23 AM
It's so nice to be able to remember someone based on their scent. Thanks for sharing this, Susan!
Posted by: Perfumaniac | January 31, 2011 at 12:49 PM
I find this article very wonderful and informative. I like the name they put on this new product line, it keeps me thinking of an exquisite and extraordinary fragrance.
Posted by: perfume | April 18, 2011 at 08:25 PM
Sounds lovely! Right now I'm pretty much obsessed with 70s scents that have that earthy floral thing going on: Babe by Faberge, Estee, Ivoire, and the greatest and most stunning of them all: Ginseng Perfume by Jovan...dear lord I find it so exquisite.
In looking at my 1984 H&R Guide, Moon Drops seems to be a close derivative of Estee (which mothered most of these other scents that I'm loving). Do you find that Moon Drops connects palpably with the other "sweet florals" in that H&R map column, like Estee, Ginseng (have you tried it?), Babe, Yendi, etc.
Posted by: Robin | October 13, 2011 at 11:42 PM
Is this elephant pictured in the ad? I can't see the image well enough
Posted by: Ruth Peltason | January 09, 2012 at 05:06 PM
Hi Ruth, The elephant is not in the ad; its a locket with solid perfume inside.
Posted by: Perfumaniac | January 11, 2012 at 06:12 PM
I would really love a bottle of moondrops perfume not the solid...Revlon needs to bring it back in ... It would sell big time...
Posted by: Maureen | February 13, 2012 at 11:50 AM
I CANT UNDERSTAND WHY REVLON WOULD DISCONTINUE SUCH A FABULOS FRAGRANCE.
I REMEMBER I BOUGHT A GIFT FOR A FRIEND OF MOON DROPS IT WAS IN A BEAUTIFUL TIN BOX WITH PERFUME AND COLONGE AND I THINK LOTION. BEAUTIFUL
POSTED BY: VIRGINIA "ginny stoner LARGO .FL
Posted by: VIRGINIA STONER | June 23, 2012 at 01:27 PM
Virginia Stoner: First: awesome name. :-) Second, yes, I have the same question about a multitude of fragrances I love: WHY REFORMULATE??? Or DISCONTINUE???
Posted by: Perfumaniac | June 23, 2012 at 07:58 PM
Hi. I am looking for the Moondrops oil. That is the only one that works for me. Had it a few years ago and could never find it again.
Posted by: M. Vermeulen | November 16, 2012 at 09:27 AM
Can any1 help me plse I'm lookin 2 buy a bottle of moon drops perfume but don't want 2 buy it on Internet is there any shops in Belfast like boots that sell it?
Posted by: Debbie Martin | December 18, 2014 at 01:25 PM