First Van Cleef & Arpels Review

I doubt if anyone would pick this as a J.-C. Ellena creation, so different is it from the sheer, pared-down style that has become his trademark.

First is an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink type aldehydic green-floral that basically recalls a finely milled French soap. It possesses a remarkable 20% Hedione however, and therefore is fantastically diffusive and bright.

Of course, nowadays 20% is perfectly standard but in 1976 such a level was quite revolutionary. To put things in perspective, Eau Sauvage (1966), in which the molecule débuted, contained less than a tenth that amount.

A very definite perfumey perfume.

Nose: Jean-Claude Ellena

House: Van Cleef & Arpels

Release date: 1976

Notes (per Basenotes): Aldehydes, hyacinth, jasmine, rose, amber, sandalwood.

Rochas Femme (vintage) Review

Femme by Rochas, is a fruity-chypre with a prominent peach lactone note that instantly recalls Mitsouko. Containing roughly a third of the vetiver oil used in the latter, it's less green, more woody-spicy and above all, cuminic.
Great stuff !

Nose: Edmond Roudnitska

House: Rochas

Release date: 1943

Notes (per Fragrantica): bergamot, peach, plum, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, amber, musk, oakmoss, sandalwood.

Rose Royale Review

Rose Royale is a neon-red rose construction with a notable appley/peachy facet and a spicy woods and amber diffusion. 

Nose: Sidonie Lancesseur.

House: Lalique

Release date: 2014

Notes (per Fragrantica): apricot, peach, osmanthus, rose, cashmere wood, musk. 

Iris (reissue) Review

Le Galion’s is an affable, middleweight take on iris. The top notes are intensely green in the direction of galbanum and fig leaf. What follows however, is much more sedate: a lightly woodsy-powdery orris backed by an unobtrusive amount of ambery sweetness.

Nose: Thomas Fontaine (after Paul Vacher)

House: Le Galion

Release date: 2014 (reissue, 1937 original)

Notes (per Fragrantica): bergamot, citron, mimosa, hibiscus, iris, lily, rose, galbanum, cedar, amber, musk.

Sortilège (reissue) Review

Sortilège opens with a classic chord of soapy aldehydes that’s rounded and sweetened by a ɣ-undecalactone type peachy note. Once the fizziness dissipates however, what remains is a rather thin, honied pink rose over labdanum. 

Longevity is only so-so.  

Nose: Thomas Fontaine (after Paul Vacher)

House: Le Galion

Release date: 2014 (reissue, 1936 original)

Notes (per Fragrantica): lily-of-the-valley, lilac, ylang-ylang, aldehydes, jasmine, narcissus, rose, iris, mimosa; sandalwood, vetiver, labdanum, musk, amber.

222 (reissue) Review

However 222 smelt in the ‘30s, it’s probably fair to assume that the current version isn’t much of a smellalike. In fact, with its prominent use of several very popular, modern synthetics, it feels quite up to date.

A spicy, musky woods scent, 222 almost comes across as an elaboration on Cashmeran, which molecule (present here) has just such a rich and complex odour profile. After a fresh, citrus-green opening, the perfume gains in peppery smokiness leading to a somewhat dry, (sandal/) woods and amber base with additional resinous accompaniments. The pronounced musk component meanwhile, adds plump fleshiness to the composition and a second-skin type quality.

Nose: Thomas Fontaine (after Paul Vacher)

House: Le Galion

Release date: 2014 (reissue, 1930’s original)

Notes (per Fragrantica): violet,myrrh, styrax, lavender, geranium, coumarin, oakmoss, cedar, sandalwood, vanilla, leather.

Tubéreuse (reissue) Review

Together with gardenia and ylang-ylang, tuberose constitutes the Holy Trinity of Creamy White Florals. In addition to some unique molecules, the ratio of two lactones in particular are responsible for tuberose's scent profile: jasmin lactone, which as its name suggests, has a jasmine-like floralcy, as well a peachy-apricot fruitiness; and δ-dodecalactone, whose odour is a tad fresher, even metallic.

Le Galion’s Tubéreuse is pretty much a textbook example of a tuberose perfume: a mélange of fruity floral and salicylate notes suspended in a voluptuous, creamy-fatty mix that’s sweetened perhaps with a touch of vanillin and/or tonka-coumarin.  

The fragrance is much less daring than, say, Christopher Sheldrake’s Tubéreuse Criminelle (Serge Lutens, 1999), with its enlarged dose of wintergreen (methyl salicylate), but at the same time, easier to wear.

Nose: Thomas Fontaine (after Paul Vacher)

House: Le Galion

Release date: 2014 (reissue, 1937 original)

Notes (per Fragrantica): mandarin orange, galbanum, pink pepper, pear, tuberose, rose, orange blossom, raspberry, cedar, amber, musk.