Question:
Here's a challenge for those of you who know the chemistry of perfumes. I have an old favourite that is no longer available. I was able to buy a small bottle of it on ebay this week, so I'm not about to run out any time soon. It's by Coty and it's called Monsoon. It used to come in a dark blue opaque bottle, squat and round, with a weird walnut whip cap. I have absolutely NO idea what the composition of this fragrance is, and to me that's part of the attraction of it. It changes as it dries down, and I would say (with my amateur nose) that the basenotes are woody. It's definitely not a floral fragrance. Whenever I wear it, I get asked about it. It lasts for ages, and has a lovely warmth to it.
Anyway. I can't analyse it, and I wondered how one would go about reproducing something like this, given the materials etc, if you don't know what the composition is.
Or...how one would go about finding what the ingredients of an old fragrance like this are? Are there lists held anywhere? It was discontinued in 2001.
Cheers,
Clemmie

Answer:
It must be your skin (ah, chemistry, dear clammie!), since it is apparently classified as a floral chypre . The perfumer is Maurice Roucel, creator, inter alia, of Guerlain Insolence and Lolita Lempicka "L"
Notes I found:
Top: Madonna lily, ylang-ylang, gardenia
Heart: green floral notes
Base: amber, sandalwood. oakmoss

Hope to have helped a little

Answer:
Originally Posted by Lady_in_Black It must be your skin (ah, chemistry, dear clammie!), since it is apparently classified as a floral chypre . The perfumer is Maurice Roucel, creator, inter alia, of Guerlain Insolence and Lolita Lempicka "L"
Notes I found:
Top: Madonna lily, ylang-ylang, gardenia
Heart: green floral notes
Base: amber, sandalwood. oakmoss

Hope to have helped a little That's a great help, thank you! It's funny, I go for florals normally (and chypres), but this one has never smelled floral on me. It must be the sandalwood working its way through. It's a 'heavy' fragrance. In fact, it's everything I don't normally go for. It's a very strange combination, but it works so well on me (and yes, probably my skin, it smells amazing on me).
When you say you found those notes, did you find them by smelling it, or by looking it up somewhere?
Cheers,
Clemmie

Answer:
If you like the madonna lily, try Anais Anais by Cacheral. It's the main note and I like it much better now that I'm older. As a teen it was a little too much. I get lots of compliments when I wear this.

Answer:
Originally Posted by kumquat If you like the madonna lily, try Anais Anais by Cacheral. It's the main note and I like it much better now that I'm older. As a teen it was a little too much. I get lots of compliments when I wear this. I used to wear Anais Anais decades ago. For a while it was 'my' scent, and everyone used to buy it for me at Christmas and birthdays etc. But after a while, I started to find it a bit sweet and powdery for my taste. Monsoon isn't a bit like Anais Anais on me. It's much heavier and has a more oriental smell to it (yeah, chemistry!). I always think of this one as my 'mysterious' fragrance, because I've never been able to figure out what was in it.
Clemmie