Coty L'Aimant Creamy Skin Parfum - 15 ml

Product Information

L'Interdit is springtime in Paris. The delicate warmth, the affectionate kisses given by the Sun. A huge springtime bouquet in the hands of a fairy godmother, possibly the very one that helped Cinderella get to the ball and did many other lesser known acts of kindness, because she considers helping to be her main goal in life, especially if that means helping disadvantaged children… And when she walks down the streets of Paris - her very own, magical Paris, that Hepburn so adored! - she gifts not only smiles to strangers, but also individual flowers from her bouquet. That is how generous she is! According to the other version, Audrey herself decided that such a wonderful fragrance must be released for sale, because one needs to be generous and share the joy given to her by L’Interdit with all the women on the planet.

It is generous, and what relates it to the first (and the only real!) L'Interdit is the image of Audrey Hepburn, Givenchy's muse. The vintage L'Interdit perfume is first and foremost a bouquet of spring flowers: daffodils, irises, lilies-of-the-valley, violets. Plus roses, however the latter are likely white, possessing an ever so delicate fragrance. It has aldehydes that are warm like the springtime sun. It has the soft sweetness of sandalwood, labdanum and tonka bean. It also possesses a delicate cream-powder note. Spring flowers typically have quite a ringing sound to them, but in L'Interdit they seem to be clothed in some gossamer down while the violets and irises are decidedly powdery. However the flowers still retain their freshness. And a sensation of being caressed by warm springtime air never ceases while you wear the perfume. Some might say that I have just come up with my very own fairy tale (Audrey would not judge me, you know.) The first version has never seemed believable to me: It is nothing like the relationship between Hepburn and Givenchy, for she was Hubert's muse, his source of inspiration, and he would never breach an openly expressed forbiddance to do something. Plus Audrey herself had never been egotistical - she demanded no special treatment for herself. François Coty and Vincent Roubert created L’Aimant over five years, and the fragrance launched in 1927 — for context, the same year that saw the birth of Lanvin Arpège, Caron Bellodgia, and Jean Patou Chaldée. In his book Perfume, Nigel Groom lists L’Aimant’s notes as bergamot, neroli, peach, strawberry, jasmine, rose, ylang ylang, vanilla, vetiver and sandalwood. The fragrance fell out of production, then relaunched in 1995, when Groom claims it became the most popular perfume in Great Britain.However today we have the great granddaughter of the L'Interdit fairy - the one that entered the perfumery scene in 2018.

Fortunately there is still a lot of the original L'Interdit around online if you want to investigate, and at a variety of prices. Of course you have to be careful that you're getting an original pre-1993 bottle. The parfum has held up the best. My edt faded within 2 hours, so I drenched myself in the parfum. Like the bottle illustrating the article, the juice in my bottle is now dark brown, and it was when I bought it around 2001. But it hasn't gone to alcohol, so I don't think sunlight darkened it; it's just old. The only thing that relates this perfume to modern-day designer fragrances is probably the gourmand note. I have tried to determine what it is most like this time - is it praline, cotton candy or hot toffee? No, this time it's creamy fudge. Very fresh creamy fudge that is redolent with vanilla. The woman who could personify L'Interdit 2018 is not some fragile angel nor the pale Goth girl… Our girl is healthy, her cheeks are flushed with color, she is always carrying a basket of fruits, berries and sweets around; she has flowers in her hair and a grape vine for a belt. She reminds you of not so much a fairy but more a deity of fertility that is used to pretending that she is a mere mortal. When she needs to, she can look dazzling: the grape vine, jasmine and orange blossom then turn to a floral-leafy weave of the fine embroidery on her dress, while the wild strawberry turns to the rubies of her jewels. Look what I found for you,” my coworker said and handed me a Coty L’Aimant perfume ad shrink-wrapped on cardboard. It was all in gold and red, featuring a woman in a 1950s coiffure gazing into a tiny stage peppered with various L’Aimant products, from perfume to compacts to body powder. Each product was adorned with a horseshoe magnet encompassing a heart. “To be a magnet — wear a magnet — always!” the copy said. Chanel No 5 is a tropical winter garden covered in snow. After all, the perfume was created while inspired by snow. However, under that snow we find gorgeously fragrant ylang-ylang, jasmine, orange blossom and roses.For me, it is an insult, an act of dishonesty and travestism this new fashion that, sadly, it is already a trend, to give the name of beautiful, venerable perfumes of the past, that should be pampered and enshrined by their mother perfume houses which, rather have became the stepmothers, to modern, mediocre fragances, that have nothing to do with their glorious ancestors, that could only appeal the young customers. L'Interdit, the new Joy, the new Miss Dior, and so on and so goes... Oh well, do try L'Interdit, 2018 though. It will bestow its flowers and berries on you generously, bringing a shot of liqueur to your mouth and offering you a delicious morsel of creamy fudge. It is also likely to lift your spirits. However the idea to create a perfume in addition to the dresses indeed came to Hubert Givenchy in 1954 when he was working on Audrey's costumes for Sabrina. In his mind, the perfume had to epitomize Audrey, her tenderness and her light... Thus L'Interdit from 1957 was indeed gentle like the heroines Audrey created on the big screen. Or even more delicate, like Audrey herself, like the Audrey loved by friends and relatives - she who had once confessed: L'Interdit, 2018 is a vivid fragrance, but rather more generous than loud. Despite some serious sillage, there are no truly shrieking notes that could spoil someone's movie night or make one's subway ride home virtually intolerable. L'Interdit, 2018 generously gifts you all of its seductive notes without ever pushing any particular one on you.