Monday, February 7, 2011

Vintage Viviane Woodard Perfume Quartet Review

My quartet of Viviane Woodard perfumes comes from right around the time of Brownie Wise's tenure at Viviane Woodard- I imagine she would've tested and approved all of these fragrances. She probably had an opinion on the bottles and packaging, too! The perfumes are: APERTIF, Les fleurs Enchantees, PRIMEVAL and Pensees, all released 1965.

I'll give a mini review by pairing each perfume with the 1950s-1960s era blond (like Brownie!) that best exemplifies the spirit of the scent:

image: flickr

Primeval: billed as a rich blend of woodsy notes intermingled with velvety mosses, roses and jasmine. It's mood is "exotic, sensuous, daringly provocative". Primeval smells to me very sensual, soft moss and rose chypre topped with aldehydes. A smoldering blond like Lauren Bacall would wear Primeval especially well.


www.listal.com, fotografados-por-helmut-newton

Pensees is said to comprise of warm sandalwood and rich patchouli notes blended with velvety mosses on a sweet, thick base of amber. This soft oriental scent creates a warm, romantic mood, evoking the womanly beauty and allure of Catherine Deneuve.



Apertif: warm and fresh, this slightly soapy and green floral accented with herbs features jasmine and ylang-ylang. Surprisingly carnal with a musky dry down, Apertif would bring out the best in wild-child types like the youthful, semi-feral Brigitte Bardot.



Les fleurs Enchantees: Beguiling and radiant with a tender yet stunning dry down, this long wearing, orange blossom and rosey sweet floral would suit the beauty of Marilyn Monroe to a tee.

In terms of quality these scents are surprisingly decent, especially given their age. Not at the level of the finest French perfumery to be sure but very solid efforts and quite a steal for the prices they command. I reviewed the pure perfume vintage version of all of these scents.
Interestingly enough you can still buy two of the vintage VW perfumes, Primeval and Pensees, from their online store; repackaged and reformulated, of course!

The perfumography for Viviane Woodard perfumes includes:


Alter Ego  1958
Baloo  1958
Et Tu  1958
Je Pleur  1958
Rikki Tavi  1958
Frevo  1960
When in Rome  1961
Pensées  1965
Primeval  1965
Aperitif  1965
Les Fleurs Enchantees  1965
# 1 Viviane Woodard  1965
# 2 Viviane Woodard  1965
Ring My Chimes  1965
La Belle Epoque ?
Mirrors ?

The Vintage Perfume Vault, where the scent of yesterday's vogue lives.

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