The first perfume from Réminiscence, according to the house, Patchouli was born in 1970 in Juan-les-Pins, signed by Maurice Sozio and Zoé Coste. Sold today under the name Le Patchouli, as an eau de toilette intense meant for everyone, it brings together Javanese patchouli and cedar, sandalwood and vetiver, over a base of vanilla, tonka bean, labdanum, Tolu balsam and white musks.
In 2013, Kafkaesque saw it as the reference patchouli, dark, earthy and woody, with smoky cedar and vetiver; she nonetheless found it average, too bitter and too camphorous for her taste, and suspected a reformulation.
What critics say
Kafkaesque, December 2013
Kafkaesque began her December 2013 series on patchouli with Réminiscence’s, which she considers the benchmark of the genre: a dark, woody, earthy patchouli, very much of its time, and still a cult favorite for many.
At the opening she smells cognac and dark chocolate, smoky cedar and dry vetiver. The patchouli takes on a mentholated, camphorous facet, which she compares to Serge Lutens’ Borneo 1834.
In her view, the vanilla arrives only with time and softens the whole into a creamy patchouli, lightly touched with cocoa. She finds it too camphorous and too bitter for her taste, and ultimately judges it quite average.
Finally, she wonders whether the formula has changed: a friend who wore it a great deal no longer recognizes it, and she doubts that the Australian sandalwood listed is a match for Mysore sandalwood.
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