The mystery and allure of chypre perfumes is unmistakable. Known by perfumers to be one of the more difficult perfumes to achieve excellence in, chypres, when well made, carry the flair of a woman who refuses to apologize. Historically considered a representation of high fashion and class, chypres represent an era of dynamic natural perfume that has sadly been replaced by more commercial, soapy scents, as the term 'musky' can imply dirty or dank smelling in some minds, and the notion of 'old lady perfume' can be a hard imprint to replace.
The idea of the chypre perfume embodying a musky base note accord touches the heart of perfumery, where it has been said that each perfume must contain a hint of the feral or indolic - something that smells of flesh and human pheromones, something animalic, even slightly of feces. That hint of animalic that is easily smelled in a jasmine grandiflorum absolute, when blended, diluted, and applied to the points where the blood pulses beneath the skin, opens like a first kiss and sings the songs of human longing. This is an alchemical note in the opera of perfume.
My favorite of the chypres in my fleeting affair with commercial perfumes was Mitsuko (Guerlain, 1919). I can still smell it when I say the word. I had a beautiful soft suede jacket that my now husband had purchased for me our first Christmas together. I wore it with a satin red scarf and if I could find them today somewhere lost in the boxes of one of our moves, it would no doubt still smell sweet and musky of Mitsuko and feel the sparks of new love all over again.
There is something really special about a chypre that is hard to put a finger on, but in Vintage Violet I humbly attempt to capture the uniqueness, the boldness, and that sexy something that a chypre can evoke. Vintage Violet features a slightly modern edge, with grassy green notes of violet leaf, and artisan tinctured orris root which gives this the necessary ionones that give the perfume the elements of a violet fragrance, while drying down into a complex seduction of woods, florals, and secret ingredients of root and leaf.
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100% Natural Botanical Artisanal Fragrance by GATHER perfume
A NOTE FROM THE PERFUMER
** Due to the fact that I - Gather perfume - use exclusively 100% natural materials, batch variance is to be expected. This is the same in any luxury, handcrafted art medium ( such as dance and opera) and agriculturally dependent arts such as viticulture, honey, or microbrewery. Gather perfumes are often limited editions for this reason, as well as the fact that some materials can only be obtained for small windows of time or no longer available at all. If you prefer uniformity in your fragrances, you may want to consider a more commercially available or mixed media brand.
With Love, Ananda
Listen to Yana's review of Vintage Violet!
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No refunds or exchanges. Please see policies before purchasing. Samples are always recommended. Perfume is subjective.
