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Well, i was wrong...i won't say this smells bad, because i still have to smell this perfume on someone with the right chemistry. It was not until around hour 10 that this wonderful fragrance had finally disappeared. I do not doubt it could have lasted longer, had I resisted the urge for body hygiene. And I remind you - we are talking about the EdT here! This is sort of everything that works for my skin…..Not too sheer or wispy or sweet or skanky. Big florals but in an anchored way that never floats off nor overwhelms. I’m dying over the hyacinth in the beginning. This combination just feels like the floral that most works with my skin, and then a smidge of incense with a woody base. Sandalwood can be so sweet on me, this is perfect. Do I wish maybe it could last just a bit longer? Yes, but not many occasions I don’t say that. I’ll take what I can get.
When I started to re-ignite my interest into perfumery a few years ago, I wrote a lengthy review on the reformulated version L‘Originale, which I felt was super prim-and-proper, very white and very beautiful. Over the time, however, I fell a little bit out of love with it because, while I continuously liked the heavy white florals and the powdery, almost talcum notes, some of them felt screechy. Not overall bad, but I just did not like it not well enough anymore to want a full bottle. Refreshing, cooling, soothing, this Anais Anais was wonderful to spray on right after the shower or even spray some on the bed linen because of the really strong image of cleanness and comfort like a cozy bathrobe or a fluffy towel. It positively blooms in the warmth, with the flowers just radiating on the skin. In this current weather, the more deeper notes present themselves: leather, smoke and vetiver become very apparent. This was a summer scent for me that I lived in as a teen and I loved it. The hyacinth and LOTV was so realistic, the heart earthy and mossy, and the dry down a delicate and airy floral infused powder and sandalwood. I finished the bottle and when I replaced it was repulsed to find that it had been reformulated into a screechy mess bearing zero resemblance to the original formula.Another complaint would be around the longevity as this scent simply doesn't last much. Considering the price though, I can forgive that. What I do recall: the incense and amber were very potent on me and it made the floral notes feel dusty and hyper feminine. I don't recall anything green about it, but my chemistry has always been odd, losing some notes and making wood and amber come forward fast. I remember I had to be exceptionally caution not to spray too much or I'd feel like it entered a room before I did, which is something I've never liked, having grown up in the 80s when fragrance was very in-your-face more often than not. I get the rose, and in the dry down, I get the best bits of all, sandalwood, dreamy lingering incense, I get musk. The scent is photorealistic flowers (lily and hyacinth) mixed with powder and it does have a mysterious dark side. At the same time, despite the dark side, it is so incredibly innocent. It’s hard to explain that paradox and I think that’s what makes it so mysterious. It is also a sophisticated scent, certainly a vintage feel. It's not very long lasting on my skin, nor does it have a great sillage. On me it has a slightly boozy quality, possibly from the leather? Though this comes out with the top notes and not the base notes. The flowers are INTENSE! On me there is a very sweet top note along with the booze, but not a gourmand one...more like an intensely sweet flower. The middle note on me is dominated by tuberose, and since it's my favourite flower, I'm not complaining! In fact this is way better than all the other tuberose perfumes that I have tried!
Incredible. Just so strong. I can still smell it one day later... even thru clothing changes and a shower. Somehow this is still with me. I decanted a bit into a spray, but I'm going to treat this lil treasure as a Parfum. Truthfully, I never quite get a drydown to AA, prob because at some point 12+ hours later I have to change clothes and/or bathe. :P I would love the skank/leather/incense. Anyway, I got a sample of this gal today and couldn't wait to shower and wear it. Can a scent be heavy and light all at once? First sniff is bold floral, tuberose maybe. It was bright and made me so happy! Smells so cheery. But soon it becomes something deeper, more spicy, smoky and herbal. I still smell the flowers, but they have become more subdued. I knew that with all the notes listed that this one would smell completely different from anything I currently own. But I had no real idea what to expect from it. Anaïs Anaïs was worn by my mom in her youth - her first gift from my dad apparently, so it is close to my heart. I have a bottle of the current version, marked "L'Original", but recently acquired a vintage miniature of this, the true original. I've compared the two versions, and while the new one isn't a bad recreation of the beloved original Anaïs Anaïs, it is a simpler, sweeter, less nuanced version that runs out of steam at the drydown. I still like it, it does the job and evokes memories, but this 1970s original is superior. When dry this scent develops into a warm little puff of incense, but it's mostly woodsy with sandalwood and cedar wood. An amber holds it together and smells really good but it is still very much a kind of sandalwood based fragrance. The flowers and the woods are so evenly paired as to make it one of the most delightful marriages of florals plus woods ever to be formulated into a fragrance. Anais has received numerous praises from the Fragrance Community. It was reformulated and re-released, and updated and several flankers have also been released. But for me this is the sweet beginning of it all. I passed this over in the 80's and 90's, dazzled by the glam haze of Opium, Balahe, Paris and L'Air du Temps. I must've tried it but never bought it. I was under the impression Anais Anais was for girls; pretty, but forgettable. What I loved at the time were complex, opulent, sexy perfumes.
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It’s just the right amount of everything to my nose. I really adore this perfume. Funny because my sister had this one in her bedroom, dressing table, around 7 years ago. I dismissed it. Because at that time, I was moving into “ newer” scents. I think Anais Anais is too clever and important of a scent in modern perfume history and relevancy to disregard. Even in all its dry, screechiness, its powdery lily-of-the-valley soaked bouquet, it very successfully embodies and (if I may) critiques historical French perfumery; paying homage of a bygone era of luxury and perceived innocence. Not only has it stood the test of time concerning the criteria for what makes a perfume a classic (a feat when you consider it always was and never has tried to be anything more than an inexpensive drugstore perfume), but performs like a beast-much more than todays weak spectrum of ‘high-end’ over-marketed nonsense that so often fails in sillage and longevity. This is a women classic that doesn't necessarily smell dated under condition one doesn't overspray, that is - application should be very modest. If overapplied it starts to remind of YSL Kouros and that "toilet" smell.
Anais Anais shares similar DNA with other musky white floral classics deemed as old fashioned such as Nina Ricci’s L’Aire du Temps, which came more than a whole generation ahead, and was at the time considered a fresh and contemporary scent marking the beginning of a whole new era and symbolized freedom in a post-war world (WWII) with endless optimism and opportunity. I was having a conversation with my partner the other day about why I don't really like floral fragrances, when I love smelling flowers in real life - we have a walk where I live called the King George Memorial Walk and this time of year, it takes me forever to get from one end to the other because I'm always stopping to sniff the new blooms. Then I had an lightbulb moment. Aged around 19, I graduated from the So..?s and Impulses and my first two real perfumes, which I rotated daily, were Anais Anais and Amarige. Yup. That's a WHOLE lotta flowers, folks. I think it was overkill. My poor, developing nose was blasted by a literal flowerbomb and has shied away from petals ever since. Well I’ve returned to my first love. And it’s so beautiful, and is giving me exactly what I need in this time of my life. I've always been curious about Anais Anais - my mother says it was one of the first fragrances she bought for herself and has always had a soft spot, but I think she 'grew out of it' long before my time and I'd never tried it on myself, although I've thought of Cacharel very highly as some of the most distinctive and well-thought-out scents at their price point around. I bought a very cheap bottle of this because I figured it'd be nice to have something simple and comforting to wear at home in quarantine and I'm in love with it. On one level it is definitely a very familiar, soapy white floral, "youthful" almost to the extent of baby powder - but the florals shimmer through in incredible clarity at points, fading in and out the same way that you catch a scent on a breeze.For me it’s an absolute love. It’s hard to be unbiased because I do have memories with this fragrance, since it was my second fragrance and I wore it every day when I was 16. I don’t have my old bottle to compare, but this version is definitely enough to evoke ~98% of the memory, maybe a little less potent which might be a positive thing. It might be slightly soapier than the original as well but I’m not totally sure about that. This is the work of a genius and even though I have never been a huge fan of Anais Anais I would certainly list it among those scents who have marked a milestone and opened new territories to explore. I hoped the dry down would be nicer on me, at least it lasted for some hours which is good. But it still smells like patchouli and talc powder. Oh yes - "A twist", but Anais Anais keeps beeing clean, quite green and pastel floral, great for the spring. Gentle but bright at the same time. Loud and clear. There is certain heaviness here, but not for the winter time. It truly has a spring character. For the bright, sunny day which is not too warm. Evokes awakening and everything is livelier after the winter dullness.
When drying, the bottle it flaunts has nothing to do with what it actually becomes, that is, a long-range bomb between powdery iris, dried roses set in the sun, dirty and dark jasmine, to the tone of oily aromas , herbal, intense and soapy. The middle of this fragrance is really crazy, besides personality it is necessary to have faith to wear Anais Anais! Citruses are not dominant in this scent at all. White flowers, strong musk and solid pinch of incense are the dominant notes in this choir. This scent is kind of "immortal". Indeed it reminds me of already mentioned Kouros, but does that mean that this is not a "womanly" scent? No. It can be misinterpreted in modern times, but only if overapplied. With mild application it might even garner a few compliments. I was gifted a bottle of this in my mid-20s, now in my mid 40s with the same bottle (which is perfectly fine given the age) and I still don't like this one. I'm going to be the unpopular opinion here and say this smells like something my grandmother would wear (she didn't wear this one), an instant "old lady" smell to me. My 22 year old son thought the same thing. Yes, I know, people hate that term but I just don't know how else to describe it, no particular time period or memory comes to mind and "Mature" or "Outdated" doesn't fit it for me.
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When I was a kid of 15 (1990) I can remember the glossy Cacharel ads for scents like Anais Anais, Lou Lou and Eden. They were exotic, magical and even a little dark. Who knows....maybe drooling over those ads and others like them might have planted the seed that has blossomed into the lovely obsession I have today.
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