What is the commonality between Shalimar and Angel, Opium and Femininity of wood, Miss Dior or Treasure? All are unexpected, disconcerting fragrances, in breaking with the classical codes and the audacity of their creator, their inspirer proved to be winning.
By order of entry, here are the top 10 perfumes * cults that have marked the last decades.
- Chanel N ° 5, the aldehydes revolution
"A woman's perfume, with the smell of a woman, a perfume like never before. That costs a lot, inimitable. I will put everything in perfume. Nothing in the presentation. Simple bottle, no name. A number. "
At the request of Coco Chanel, in 1921, the perfumer Ernest Beaux set to work. He tries to recover the freshness of lakes and rivers beyond the polar circle and experiments new chords: aldehyde notes that give a metallic, mineral aspect. Associated with massive doses of jasmine and rose of May it obtains this perfume perfectly balanced, revolutionary and which meets immediately a huge success.
Success never denied since it continues to culminate in the Top 5 of the best-selling fragrances. Among all the bottles presented Mademoiselle chooses the fifth, appoints her name: Chanel N ° 5
His Fan Club : Mailyn Monroe, of course, but also Anne Hathaway, Kate Moss, Eva Mendes.
It is made for you if you like: aerial notes of aldehydes, femininity of jasmine and rose softened vanilla and sandalwood. If you prefer more carelessness, transparency, choose L'Eau Première, its abundance of flowers and the sweetness of its musks.
- Shalimar de Guerlain, the first great oriental
"With this vanilla overdose I would have just been able to make a sorbet. Jacques Guerlain has made it a masterpiece. "
This was the reflection of Ernest Beaux (creator of No. 5) in discovering Shalimar. Legend has it that in discovering a note of synthesis, ethylvanillin it poured into Jicky, another homemade perfume. Thus was born in 1925 the first great perfume of the family of orientals.
It is the American women returning to New York on Normandy who first fell under the charm of his captivating, sensual notes carried on board by the wife of Jacques Guerlain. Success has not been denied and Shalimar remains one of the most perfumes, most offered in the world.
Her Fan Club: Monica Belluci, Ornella Muti, Jane Birkin, Estelle Lefébure ...
It is made for you if you like: the captivating scents, the creamy sweetness of the vanilla, the powdered heat of the balms for a wake of an unheard-of sensuality. If you prefer a lighter version, you will choose Shalimar Cologne, a modern creation with citrus notes of fresh flowers and vanilla.
- Miss Dior by Dior, the impertinence
Another bold challenge. Christian Dior has just made his New Look revolution nine months earlier and on December 1, 1947 he presents to some customers the first Haute Couture perfume: He wants it elegant and impertinent and especially in total break with the old-fashioned "parfums de boudoir". He therefore chose unpublished notes, green, agrests, galbanum and gardenia awakened by the audacity of the clary sage. It is the first chypre, both fresh and hot!
At the Christmas of 1947 it is madness and all the beautiful customers haute couture - but not that! - snatch this perfume for Parisiennes elegant, feminine and sensual.
Her Fan Club: Katie Holmes, Jessica Alba, Melanie Griffith.
It is made for you if you like: fresh and bold departures of clary sage and gardenia, softened by a bouquet of jasmine, pink and neroli on an asserted background of cyprus: oak moss, cistus labdanum. If you prefer a floral delicacy, Miss Dior Absolutly Blooming will delight you: notes of acidulous fruit, on a duet of roses and white musks.
- Patchouli of Reminiscence, an inimitable Hippie Chic
When one asks confirmed perfumers which is the most beautiful of the Patchouli all answer that of Reminiscence. In the 70s, Zoé Coste is based in London where she sells jewelry in Portobello. Next to her stand she discovers a patch of Patchouli leaves and their particular smell. Back on the Cote d'Azur, she met Grasse, Perfumeur Maurice Sozio, and, handing him a leaf, said: "I want a perfume that smells like that!" Thus was born Patchouli. Before his release no one dared to overdose the note to 70%.
Round, fluffy, sensual, this ode to the years "Peace and Love" has only one defect: those who have indulged in it can not abandon it.
His Fan Club: Julie Piétri, Cathy Guetta, Laurence Boccolini, Lorie.
It is made for you if you like: the woody notes of Cedar, Sandalwood, and Vetiver, on a background of Tolu, vanilla, Tonka bean and patchouli in majesty. If you prefer fresher notes at the start, Patchouli Blanc will seduce you: aldehydes and badiane, hawthorn and sandalwood supported by white musks offer a beautiful brightness Patchouli.
- Opium by Yves Saint Laurent, transgression
"If I chose Opium as the name for this perfume, it is that I have intensely hoped that it could free the divine fluids, the charms of seduction that give rise to mad love, fatal ecstasy," writes Yves Saint Laurent at the time of the launch in 1977 of this semi amber flowery.
The concentration of this perfume is a record, and a rumor claims that its notes are addictive. Advertising campaigns play provoc '. They are even accused of being pornographic. It does not matter: Opium has had immense success since its release, and thirty years after its launch there have been more than a billion copies worldwide.
His Fan Club: Heidi Klum, Natasha Saint-Pier, Carine Roitfeld, Salma Hayek.
It is made for you if you like: the real wakes ... Pepper and coriander, Ylang, iris and clove on an exceptionally sensual background of myrrh, opoponax, benzoin, musk ... If you privilege the impertinence to the sensuality you will like Black Opium and the electric energy of his notes of black coffee buried in an armful of their white.
- Sisley's Eau du Soir, a love story
Hubert d'Ornano, after l'Eau de Campagne wanted to offer, in 1990, a Perfume unique to the woman he loved, Isabelle d'Ornano. "As a promise of eternal love," he recalls in his memoirs, "a memory of the Andalusian gardens, when daylight gives way to darkness and the flower of seringa that she loves so much exhales its scents."
Thus was born this flowery-chypre with an elegance and an affirmed femininity that met an immediate success.
His Fan Club: Amanda Sthers, Amira Casar, Demi Moore.
It is made for you if you like: the sensuality of a Cyprus, flowered with seringa, obviously, Ylang, iris, warmed by notes of Patchouli, cistus, amber and Musk. If you prefer tender notes you will like Moon Evening, its touch of peach and its rose of May and its delicately honeyed bottom.
- Lancôme's treasure, an asserted opulence
"I drew my inspiration from these ultra-feminine women who are not afraid to leave their mark, it is composed of the most noble raw materials that sign a remarkable opulence.It invites to the embrace, testifies a femininity to the pure state from the beginning to the end ", declared in 1990 the creator Sophia Grojsman.
His output is the subject of a mythical commercial: Peter Lindberg follows Isabella Rossellini in the Louvre, around the Inverted Pyramid of the Napoleon Court, a pyramid evocative of the bottle. This film, the music of Briche and Portal and the beauty of Isabella Rossellini contributed to the immense success of Trésor, this rich fruity floral bouquet.
His Fan Club: Kate Winslet, Ines Sastre, Elettra, daughter of Isabella Rossellini, Emma Watson.
It is made for you if you like: peach and apricot notes wrapped in roses, violets, iris and heliotrope on carnal background of vanilla and amber. If you prefer more mystery and sensuality, La Nuit Trésor will seduce you with its mysterious heart of Rose Noire eroticized with an orchid Vanilla and incense.
- Féminité du Bois by Serge Lutens, the feminine woodland revolution
When in 1992 Serge Lutens proposes this suave and mysterious sensual harmony it creates a shock in the small world of perfumery. "Breaking taboos is natural to me," he said.
Since his first trip to Morocco he is pursued by the idea of a perfume with cedar notes. "My perfume keeps the cedar in emotion, like an olfactory marquetry." Since then, this composition that contains 60% of wood has charmed thousands of women ( and men) who love the discreet elegance of this timeless fragrance.
His Fan Club: Kristin Scott Thomas, Chiara Mastroianni.
It is made for you if you like: the spicy notes of cinnamon, the discretion of violet leaves and the sensuality of benzoin, sandalwood and of course, cedar wood. If you prefer to vary the pleasures Serge Lutens has composed interpretations of Femininity varying the proportions of the ingredients: Wood of Violette, Wood and Fruits, Wood and Musk, Oriental Wood ... It is up to you to choose.
- Angel by Thierry Mugler: a fragrance to chew
The brief of Thierry Mugler to Olivier Cresp, the perfumer, is simple: he wants to find the perfumes of his Alsatian childhood. His grandmother's tarts, the fairgrounds and their beard to Papa, the fragrance Shalimar of his mother. And this color sky blue, aerial and celestial. A difficult bet but how successful ... after 608 tests! When it was released in 1992, this blue "juice" in its amazing star bottle immediately seduced. And today it still remains, at 25 years, n ° 5 of sales in France.
His Fan Club: Renée Zellweger, Isabelle Adjani, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman.
It is made for you if you like: the gluttony of sun-dried fruits honey and whose patchouli is rounded with vanilla and a touch of caramelized chocolate. If you prefer chocolate hazelnuts, you will melt for Angel Muse, with acid notes of grapefruit meeting a melting heart of hazelnut cream.
- A Garden on the Nile of Hermes, an Impressionist Journey
For Elisabeth de Feydeau, Jean Claude Ellena tells how, in 2005, during his trip to Egypt he had the idea of the composition of this Garden on the Nile: "We oblige towards a mango aisle, the green fruits are at I'm gonna get a smell: a profusion of fragrant images: resin, orange peel, grapefruit, carrot, opoponax, juniper, fresh and sweet smell, energetic and tender. . " Floral softness, watery, mineral vibration of wet stone and smoke of incense like a cold fire.
His Fan Club: Jessica Alba, Catherine Deneuve, Sharon Osbourne.
It is made for you if you like: the intriguing smell of green mango, the gentle bitterness of grapefruit, the delicacy of the lotus between hyacinth and peony in this green and woody fruity eau de toilette. But you can escape to other Parfums-Gardens of Hermes, like this Garden after the Monsoon where ginger, cardamom, coriander pepper and vetiver evoke a new olfactory expression of India.
* Thanks to Elisabeth de Feydeau, author of Les Parfums , Robert Laffont.
