Note: Please understand that this website is not affiliated with the D'Orsay company in any way, it is only a reference page for collectors and those who have enjoyed the D'Orsay fragrances.


The goal of this website is to show the present owners of the D'Orsay company how much we miss the discontinued classics and hopefully, if they see that there is enough interest and demand, they will bring back the perfume!


Please leave a comment below (for example: of why you liked the perfume, describe the scent, time period or age you wore it, who gave it to you or what occasion, any specific memories), who knows, perhaps someone from the company might see it.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Chevalier by D'Orsay c1911

Chevalier by D'Orsay: launched in 1911.





Fragrance Composition:


So what does it smell like? It is classified as a floral oriental fragrance for women, heavy on the ambergris.
  • Top notes: heliotrope, mandarin orange, neroli and boysenberry
  • Middle notes: nutmeg, carnation, coriander, clove, orange blossom and tuberose
  • Base notes: sandalwood, incense, suede, benzoin, orris, ambergris, oakmoss and tobacco

I have a sealed bottle of vintage 1930s Chevalier by D'Orsay, however, I just checked it and it was a little loose so I moved the stopper a little without breaking the threaded seal, got some drops of perfume onto my skin and oh my goodness, what a heady, erotic, swoon-worthy fragrance.

The fragrance opened up with a quick rush of delightful sweetness like cherry tobacco, mandarin oranges, and boysenberries all dripping with the spices, nutmeg, coriander, and incense-laden carnations. Now, the creamy orange blossom and the tuberose are making love within the perfume and producing a heady, narcotic mix which whirls my brain into the upper stratosphere. As it is drying down, the tuberose and neroli don't die, they continue to propagate and mix with oak moss, powdery orris and ambergris. I detect a sort of animalic leathery sweet suede note and benzoin, but that isn't a listed note..

I don't get the citrusy smells, probably because it is the old formulation and  they have not survived. The juice has turned into a very dark brown, and almost sepia in color. It is a syrupy concoction, like a witch's dark aphrodisiac. I am enthralled and enslaved. I cannot stop sniffing my wrist, where the fragrance is still blossoming from the warmth of my skin.

I haven't smelled the modern men's version.


Reformulation 

Reformulated with modern ingredients and relaunched in 1995.

So what does it smell like? It is classified as an aromatic spicy fragrance for men.
  • Top notes: fresh lemon, basil, orange, lavender
  • Middle notes: nutmeg, mint, black pepper, cinnamon
  • Base notes: moss, patchouli, vanilla, musk

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