#chamade

Notes: Aldehydes, galbanum, hyacinth, Turkish rose, ylang-ylang, jasmine, lilac, blackcurrant buds, lily-of-the-valley,  sandalwood, vetiver, musk, amber, iris, Tonka bean

Launched 1969 by Paul Guerlain, and named after the Francoise Sagan novel La Chamade.

This is an intensely yellow perfume. Not gold; yellow.

The opening is very sharp: aldehydes, galbanum, and lemons. Holy aldehydes, Batman!  It reminds me of my grandmother’s perfume, which was Arpege, another classic aldehydic floral.  It’s very formal, and, yes, old-fashioned.  There’s a piercing, faceted glitter, like a yellow diamond.  It takes itself seriously.

And underneath, there’s a bit of a warmer, spicy, fuzzy glow.  A little dusty, like a table full of knick-knacks in a dim, richly carpeted room. 

The crystalline sharpness sticks around for a full hour (that’s a very long opening) and slowly, imperceptibly yields to a spicy yellow pollen smell, which is the narcissus. Luca Turin says it’s a “beautiful, strange, moist, powdery yellow narcissus accord that had the oily feel of pollen rubbed between finger and thumb.”  This is exactly right.

And around that narcissus, you get warm yellow haze from the ylang-ylang and the warm-tangy glow of sandalwood.

A good four hours in, you start to get sweet, mellow-yellow benzoin and clean talcum powder.

Chamade

Chamade