Rochas Secret de Oud Mystere Eau De Parfum Spray 100 ml

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As I look around the Dead Letter Office considering what to write about there is a shelf which seems overpopulated. The label there reads “Rochas”. It has some of my favorite perfumes on it. I always look as I wonder how it can be the perfume is grand while they missed the consumer. Ever since the post-war release of Femme the brand has flailed about trying to find something which would share the popularity of that. It has led to a few eras over the past eighty years. One of them occurred in the late 1970’s early 80’s. It started with Mystere de Rochas.

Then I pause. It's all right. It's an '80s chypre jungle I got into. Super dense, with lots of shades. Disco lights, terrycloth covers and hygienically excessive things worked into a complex natural growth. Little ironed out, without the urge to dismantle everything into its sterile individual parts. And with a latent herbaceousness that is sultry and vegetable. Sparkling tiger eyes. Survivor.The Rochas fragrance and cosmetics division was an enormous success, and Marcel Rochas closed the haute couture division in 1953, before passing away in 1955. With fragrances now the main focus, Rochas' young wife Helene, who was just 30 years old at the time of his death, took the helm and turned the house of Rochas into a multi-million-dollar company before selling it in 1971. I’d also compare Mystère to wine, although it doesn’t smell a bit like something to drink. Some wine is pretty and easy to drink, but the wine that satisfies best with a meal often isn’t the fruity stuff that’s so great as a summer apéritif. Instead, like Mystère, it’s structured, bitter as coffee, yet silky and rich with the character of the grape from which it’s made. Also like serious wine, Mystère isn’t a perfume for new palates. Among the floral notes, hardly any flowers stand out, only carnation and jasmine are slightly in the foreground.

P.S. I did a little research and asked to other perfume collectors: some shared my same experience with mossy vintages. I'm curious to know if any Basenoters did. But I also wonder if you are reacting to a different ingredient or a different combination of ingredients. Here's why. There's a lot of talk of oakmoss on the perfume forums these days, often with great approbation, as in "YEAH!!! this is the biggest oakmoss bomb of all" but I have to say that I have never, ever found oakmoss to be a loud or obtrusive note. It's subtle, earthy, not at all sharp or heavy and even has a slight, haunting sweetness to me. I'm sniffing my sample of Evernia prunastri absolute from Eden as I write this, and it smells just like the oakmoss in my vintages. It smells absolutely beautiful to me. I think Elena Vosnaki describes oakmoss well here: Acqua di Gio is a versatile fragrance that can be worn for any occasion. It is perfect for a day at the beach, a night out on the town, or a romantic evening. It is also a great choice for everyday wear. On the one hand, because it presents exactly the direction I like and, on the other hand, because it allows all the notes used in this fragrance to become a highly complex, elegant and present whole. The lore of the perfume is along the lines of others which touted the “hundreds” of materials to be found. It might be so, but it spins on an axis of three primary ingredients of narcissus, patchouli and oakmoss.And that over a remarkably long period of time, Mystère easily lasts 14 hours with me. One is also very well perceived, but even if the fragrance has a clear presence, it doesn't play anybody against the wall I would recommend the colder season because of the warm aura. But this scent deserves a closer look, because there are so many different variants, even those that are less brittle and much more lovable. If you are looking for a classic luxury perfume that is both stylish and timeless, then Acqua di Gio by Giorgio Armani is the perfect choice for you. Released in the late 70s as a women's fragrance, I find Mystère to be absolutely suitable for men, if you're into quite distinct floral notes. The scent is also not sweet at all Since the fragrance has long since disappeared from the market, but I wanted it in any case, I looked around a little. And in a well known online auction house I finally found it. Mystère’s tapestry of notes forms a fragrance different than the sum of its parts. It’s almost a mood more than a scent. Mystère smells like I’d imagine Yves Saint Laurent’s dinner parties smelled when Loulou de la Falaise and Betty Catroux were at the table surrounded by candlelight, smoldering cigarettes, 1930s art and careless wit. In that same way, Mystère is dated, yet eternally chic.

Mystère is a thoroughly seductive, attractive and erotic fragrance. But here the perfumer doesn't fall into the house with superficial or even vulgar lechery, so to speak, no he manages to keep this erotic attraction subtle, subtle and profound. Never does the fragrance whine around loudly, never does the fragrance appear cute and playful somewhere. Here a certain seriousness is quite noticeable. Mystere arrived in 1978 and after Rochas was acquired was reformulated. That 1989 reformulation dumbed everything down. It is the only confirmation I have that even though M. Mamoulas perfected the art of more the only place it lives on is in the Dead Letter Office. It opens with a familiar hiss of aldehydes and galbanum. This sets the stage for the greening of things to come. Narcissus forms the core of the floral accord. M. Mamounas unfurls an assertive version of this which would be too sharp if left on its own. He expertly weaves in a bouquet of other florals to form an ameliorating wreath of mostly white flowers. We then come to the base where the classic chypre accord is present in patchouli, oakmoss, and a woody accord of cypress and cascarilla wood. Usually the wood is sandalwood, but this choice is much lighter in effect. I think it is so the oakmoss can just coat everything in a velvety soft green blanket. The patchouli modulates the earthiness present in the oakmoss. Whenever I need a reminder of why I miss oakmoss Mystere is a good reminder. It flows in a gorgeously textural way as it sweeps up the narcissus in its embrace.

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Your description of the Mystere mood is very accurate. Late seventies at its best. A bit of a wilting Studio 54 after party ambiance and an awakening from the Champagne, cigarettes and drugs of the era.

it's fine, I'm glad you took part to this thread and offered a different point of view, I appreciate the way you investigate the often hard to explain fragrance world

A small puddle of sparkling wine on green overgrown ground. I greedily slurp the dew, which according to its sour note can only be an old, noble drop. Somehow expired, but deliberately. Like a Norne today, but instead of the sweet-etheric, fermented woody, like nothing known in nature. Real oakmoss. I'm thinking Success, Paco Rabanne, Lauder for Men. It's hard to know where to start and where to stop having sex. Perfumer Nicolas Mamounas developed Mystère in 1978. Jan Moran’s Fabulous Fragrances categorizes Mystère as a “Chypre – Floral Animalic” and lists its top notes as galbanum, cascarilla, coriander and hyacinth; its heart as violet, narcissus, May rose, jasmine, tuberose, lily of the valley, carnation, ylang ylang and orris; and its base notes as cypress, oakmoss, cedarwood, musk, civet, patchouli and styrax.