L'Air du Temps

Now Smell This: a grand white floral

Angela, on May 22, 2017, smells an old extrait, probably from the 1990s: a grand floral thick with white flowers, in which she picks out gardenia, jasmine, rose and carnation, and which rose and spicy carnation keep from turning into a bridal bouquet.

She describes a base of soapy musk thickened with moss, amber and sandalwood, an old-school foundation rarely smelled anymore. Nothing groundbreaking in her eyes: like crisp sheets, a basic that never ages but has stopped feeling fresh.

Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez: a recognizable skeleton

In their 2008 guide, cited by Now Smell This, Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez still roughly recognize the fragrance, a lily on a salty amber background, but judge its quality terribly diminished over the years, to the point of showing only its bones.

Nigel Groom: one of the great five

Nigel Groom, in his 1999 guide, reports that it was counted with Shalimar, No. 5, Arpège and Joy among the five greatest perfumes in the world, and that a bottle was said to sell somewhere on the planet every second.