Jean Patou Chaldee Heritage Collection Eau de Parfumee Spray for Women 100 ml

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Eureka! This smells exactly like my aunt's old Beatle albums! Her cat peed on them at some point and she had sprayed perfume on top to mask it. Molecules intermingling organically, a bit of aging, a bit of creeping mold, et voila. It makes me think crazy cat lady - not that there's anything wrong with that (I intend to become one myself). This fragrance is just not my cup of chai. Oh, eeui, took forever to wash it off! In this battle I am extremely surprised to be choosing the Reboot over the Boot. One reason is I think this new version is more truly close in style to its suntan oil beginnings. M. Fontaine shows an understanding of its history and the 2013 version smells like something I would smell on a beach or next to the pool. When I smell my vintage versions I’ve always giggled a bit at the thought of a beach full of women smelling like Chaldee on a summer’s day. The 2013 version feels like it easily could be seen like that. This singular achievement has me excited for M. Fontaine’s future efforts because I think he gets what it means to be a Jean Patou fragrance and with the restrictions placed on him by IFRA I think he is the best person to try and revive my beloved Jean Patou. I wish I could take the opening minutes and sillage performance of the new one and fuse it with the vintage. Then we'd have the perfect Chaldée: the best of both worlds. This perfume disappointed me so much. I love all of the notes listed, but the opoponax in the dry down is so sharp and powdery on me. The opening is all daffodil and orange blossom, and absolutely beautiful. Within 5 minutes it turns to hairspray on my skin and makes me feel like those old ladies at church in big hats, brooches, and too much too-light face powder. Eau de Patou is luminous and vibrant. It conveys a sense of relaxation and rest. It was originally created in 1976 as a fragrance that will be a favorite both to men and women. Its composition gives a sense of freedom present throughout the day. Bright and luminous fruit notes shine with drops of bergamot, Sicilian citrus, Guinea orange and sweet lime mixed with peppery lavender and orange blossom. This fragrance is delightfully fresh yet sophisticated in the manner of Jean Patou.

I suppose many of these "classics" started to get simplified and cheapened down in ingredients from the 2000s on, so there tends to be a similarity, because they must be using the same molecules. My batch of Sublime unfortunately smells like dirty alcohol. Just alcohol, patchouli, ylang-ylang, talcum powder, and this weird plastic metallic Duracell note. So for the scent itself, while it lasts, beautiful, a good 8/10. Sillage was reasonable, this leaves a very delicate scent trail. But longevity, is virtually zero, maybe 2-3 hours, tops. Now if this only cost a tenner, I'd go for it, no doubt, and just keep topping up. But for this price no chance!I'm thinking maybe around May time, when you might still have an overnight frost before the day warms up. One of those simple pleasures in life, where if you are up and about early enough, even in the city, you can walk along a main road and see no other people or traffic, and revel in the fresh, sparkling clean feel of newness and potential. As though the new day was made entirely for you alone. I actually did experiment with mixing 1:1 the vintage and the modern versions of this scent, and the result sat somewhere right between the 2 versions, demonstrating their similarities. If I could have only one, I'd choose the vintage Chaldée, as I would in most cases of vintage versus its modern reformulation. I just like experiencing the original ingredients as they were created by the perfumer, even if the composition is a little tired from being in the bottle for so many years. But if you missed the old Chaldée, I think you might really appreciate this version and enjoy wearing it and feeling some of the old feelings you remember from a long time ago. It's one of the best reforms I can think of. And if you've never owned Chaldée, and you enjoy deep, rich, amber-y floral orientals with orange blossom and narcissus as prominent notes, a classic structure, a touch of incense from the myrrh and a certain vanilla-tonka sweetness underneath (vintage Ysatis has a similar vibe), I'd honestly recommend giving Chaldée a try. I'm very glad I took the chance and bought it. The saddest part of Collection Héritage Chaldée? The base. Though its heart notes are OK and true to smell, and conjure the spirit of 1984 Chaldée, gone is my beloved tropical beach/suntan oil experience that's so sensational in 1984 Chaldée. Perhaps those dense musk and floral amber notes are forbidden by IFRA now...or no longer available? Or was that particular accord deemed "unstylish" for today's consumer? We'll never know.

I love powdery perfumes, but then again, I can get a similar dry drown from other fragrances that won't abuse me this much with their top and heart notes. Shalimar comes to mind. Hell, even Chantilly by Dana treats me better. It may sometimes seem deep and skanky - at first, but that should soon spin and lift higher. The longer its on the more heavenly it gets. It opened with smoky citruses and burst of sweet flowers, extremely powerful and I must say - I'm pleased. You can't find that kind of quality in perfumes that are made nowdays. This is definetely not "old" or "dated". So, I saw a sample of this Patou fragrance in a bright yellow box (I have a thing for yellow) and came here to read the composition. Sounded promising, if not what I would consider my usual type. I bought a mini bottle and have tried it out tonight. It has so much of the same feel, all of the mysterious powdery luxury of Joy, but so different. It's lighter, warmer and definitely a "yellow" scent from the ylang-ylang, but not screaming-yellow. It's a cashmere-soft, golden, expensive yellow. The ylang-ylang and sandalwood definitely present the strongest, with amber, coriander and oakmoss and also very noticeable. I don't wear most florals well, but the woody elements and the bergamot balance them to suit my skin.

Of all the perfumes in Ma Collection, two stayed in my mind over the years — Chaldée and Colony (maybe the first time I smelled pineapple in a fragrance). Today, I'm reviewing Chaldée in two forms: as it was re-released in 1984, and in today's Collection Héritage range. Jean Patou Chaldée Eau de Toilette The drydown is really soft and creamy in a bright sense. There is no darkness or gothic aspect in it. It is really a bridge between powerful aldehydic perfumes of 70s and 80s and overly sweet and fruity frags of the last decade.

perfumer Henri Alméras, 1984 Ma Collection reissue); orange blossom, hyacinth, lilac, jasmine, narcissus, opoponax, amber and vanilla.The original Sublime is a creamy, buttery yellow floral - so rich I feel you could get away with calling it oily, with a touch of oriental spice within a chypre base. Having been released in the early ‘90’s, it appears a deliberate move away from those powerhouse 80’s releases. But the chypre seemed to lose its identity in the ’90s. It was seen as both suffocating and passé when compared to the self-effacing new style of ’90s perfumes and their notes of air, water, light and apology. After the loud florals and orientals of the ’80s, modernity in perfume came to be synonymous with minimalism and the chypre became synonymous with old-fashioned. Traditional perfumes became outmoded and ‘classical’ perfumery started to seem like bad Hollywood Regency–stylistically overburdened yet without the saving grace of true kitsch. Sublime has a finger in so many different pies that the term hybrid doesn’t quite capture it. Chypre? Oriental? Woody Floral? Yes, and then some. I think of it as a Resinous Woody Chypre. Cop-out? Sure, but it fits. It’s also fruity, floral and powdery. Powder over woods creates a sweet-tart dynamic similar to the vetiver-vanilla dissonance of Habanita, but in Sublime it is quieter, less stark. Mandarin and ylang ylang give Sublime a lusher feel than the expectable bergamot/white floral found in many chypres. It follows a long arc and the drydown takes its time arriving. Atypical for a ’90s perfume, the basenotes are the most complex part of the perfume. Resinous woods define the drydown–vetiver, patchouli, and especially sandalwood–but amber, musk and civet keep the woods from growing sharp. The pillow-soft drydown is classically proportioned and has the diaphanous depth of traditional woody orientals like Vol de Nuit and Bois des Isles.