Discount Diamonds: Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum- The Affordable Vintage Experience

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One of the things new perfume lovers discover is vintage perfumes are held in high esteem. These are older formulations of existing perfumes which contain currently proscribed ingredients. It also refers to discontinued perfumes of a particular style usually from the first half of the 20th century. In the last year I have received a couple of interesting questions from readers asking me to describe a vintage-type perfume. Because of the difficulty of finding them I tried to come up with a good answer. Except it eluded me.

What kept running through my head was these are what are frequently called “old lady perfumes”. That kind of description is lacking in many ways. What makes them interesting is these are the opposite of today’s lighter offerings. These are the fragrances which left a trail behind the wearer, for better or worse. That power is part of the appeal as well as the reason some turn their nose up at them. I kept wondering if there was a good example that might come from the Discount Diamonds section. After a year of thinking about it, Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum might be the affordable vintage experience.

Mon Parfum was released in 1984 by Sra. Picasso. She had a career designing jewelry before giving perfumery a try. Her goal was to create a perfume which hearkened back to the earlier part of the century. Working with perfumer Frank Bocris they would create a multi-layered floral over an animalic base which snarled.

It begins with a citrusy green top accord. Lemon is surrounded by coriander and angelica giving the contrast. The floral heart is headed up by a duet of jasmine and hyacinth, but it is so much more. M. Bocris adds in the freshness of muguet, the lushness of rose, the fleshiness of ylang-ylang, the powderiness of mimosa and the opulence of orris. This is what those early florals were all about a recognizable leader with a parade of others adding nuance and depth. The fun of this is if you concentrate you will notice all the flowers I mentioned. They don’t just become flower soup they are a filigreed bouquet.

As much as I enjoy the floral heart what makes this amazing is the animalic base. In my original bottle M. Bocris used all of them. There are times I wondered if it wouldn’t sprout hair on my shelf. That isn’t the version you can purchase today. Those animalics have been significantly changed or banned. Whomever oversaw the current reformulation did a great job. While this might not roar as loud it still shows its fangs in as fully an animalic base as can be achieved today. That turns this into a sultry sexy perfume.

Mon Parfum has 16-18 hour longevity and gigantic sillage. Trust me a drop or two will do.

I recommended to my correspondents to go pick up a bottle online. Once they did, we had a really nice conversation using Mon Parfum as a starting point on vintage perfume. If you want to see if vintage-type fragrances are for you here is the most cost-effective way I can think of to start.

Disclosure: This review is based on an original bottle and a new bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

Under The Radar: Paloma Picasso Minotaure- The Right Time has Arrived

Posted on by in Mark Behnke, Under the Radar and tagged , , , .
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The ranks of discontinued perfumes are full of examples of fragrances released at the wrong time. I am often lamenting that if that particular scent was released today it would be a big seller. It is rare but some of those early out-of-step perfumes have managed to survive until the trends caught up with them. Because they have been around so long it is no surprise that they have fallen off most people’s radar screens. This month I’m going to try and put Paloma Picasso Minotaure back into play.

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Paloma Picasso was the daughter of famed modern artist Pablo Picasso. In 1984 she released her first perfume called Mon Perfume. It was a very classical chypre done very well and it sold pretty well. Eight years later Ms. Picasso would follow-up with a masculine fragrance called Minotaure. She worked with perfumer Michel Almairac to create a wonderfully complex perfume which struggled to find an audience in 1992. It would go out of production for a time but it has been placed back on the shelves as of 2012.

Where Mon Parfum nodded to a classical composition Minotaure was doing anything but playing it safe. M. Almairac used a very green geranium as the core which he surrounded in bright citrus, vibrant herbs, woods, and leather. Today this kind of structure is not unusual if not necessarily common. In 1992 this was not on trend.

Minotaure opens with a big bright flare of citrus to which lavender is added. This was a common opening but M. Almairac added what he called a “marine accord” trying to nod to the beginning of the aquatic trend. This set of ozonic and salt spray notes makes it feel like you are standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean with fields of lavender and citrus at your back. Tarragon, sage, and rosemary provide a strongly herbal transition into the heart. M. Almairac takes geranium and uses it in a concentration not usually found, as this time it is the star instead of providing support and depth. It makes it the perfect pairing with the herbs as at this concentration the green qualities of geranium are amplified. This all gives way to a lovely leather accord and sandalwood in the base.

Minotaure has 10-12 hour longevity and above average sillage. It is a 1990’s powerhouse go easy when applying.

M. Almairac produced a perfume twenty years ahead of its time. If Minotaure had been released in 2012 I think it would have been talked about and lauded. Just because it is from 1992 doesn’t mean it’s not relevant in 2015. It means its time has finally come.

Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke