Hey Hey POSSE!!! Let’s take a walk down memory lane today. Silences is one of the old school chypre fragrances that is still available at discounters for an incredibly reasonable price. Back a few years when they started playing with it for the modern audience I bought a bunch of the 25ml travel PdTs and they regularly get a workout. I’ve only used up one full bottle but there are a couple of half bottles lying around and a couple of full.
Silences PdT by Yves Tanguy and Jean-Claude Niel for Jacomo 1978
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange blossom, galbanum, bergamot, lemon, green notes, cassia
Heart: Iris, jasmine, narcissus, hyacinth, rose, lily-of-the-valley
Base: Vetiver, musk, sandalwood, oakmoss, cedar, ambrette (musk mallow)
When I think green fragrance CHANEL No 19, Niki de Saint Phalle, Futur and Herba Fresca are always good choices but when I want the driest, greenest green, a green so parched it’s like being in a green desert, then I turn to Silences. Somehow Silences manages to create a green that is dry like a pine needle or a palm leaf. A scent that has more to do with the bitter bark of the rose bush and camellia tree. Austere to the point of arrogance.
PDI
Galbanum, ivy, bergamot, vetiver and oakmoss are the star attractions here. They create a shadowed effects if you’ve just walked into the forest from the burning sun. Suddenly the temperature drops 20 degrees and the cessation of superheated sunlight and air instantly makes you feel better.
Ultimately a unisex fragrance, I love its bitter elegance. Can imagine it being the favoured scent ofd those dried up old skeletal society wives as they air kiss the people they hate with all the warmth of air from a fetid crypt. A perfect scent for autumn as the heat of summer leaves the northern hemisphere.
Further reading: APJ and Yesterday’s Perfume
FragranceNet has PdT $10/30ml
How green do you like your perfumes?
Portia xx
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I haven’t tried Silances since the eighties. I was so afraid of the reformulation but as I read this I feel that it will be my next blind buy. I really love dry green scents, where JC Scherrer is one of my favourites closely followed by Weekend (Patricia de Nicolai).
Hey Neva,
I love Weekend too. What a great frag.
For so little I think Silences a good blind buy, even though I eschew them as much as possible.
Portia x
Hi, Portia! Silences is a real favorite of mine. I like it more than No. 19.
SHHHH Pam,
ME TOO!
Portia xx
I love green perfumes. I also like woody ones. And combine either of these two things with the word oriental and I’m in heaven.
I only have a 5ml splash bottle of this I got on eBay. Sigh. I tend to save it for when I’m really in the mood or I’m reminded I actually own it, like today. Always afraid I’m going to klutzily spill the whole bottle.
I’m hoarding as much vintage No.19 as I can get my hands on. Unfortunately, I’ve also bought a few bogus bottles on eBay, so I tend not to shop there anymore.
Hey Tatiana,
Yeah, I’ve been cheated a couple of times on eBay too. Good vintage No 19 is becoming harder to find. I have an EdC and parfum of it that should keep me well enough and a modern EdT. I reach for Silences and Niki de Saint Phalle far more often though.
Portia x
This one has been on my radar for a while now and $10 just convinced me to give it a go!
Please come back and tell me how it went KateE,
Portia xx
Love that painting — Hip, Hip, Hurra!
Silences gets so much love, it seems legendary. I’ve not tried it but must give it a sniff someday soon. My most-worn green fragrances are usually gentle (Infusion d’Iris), citrus-floral (Parfums DelRae Debut), or herbal (Eau de Guerlain). Time to branch out.
Hey Tiffanie,
I think Silences was so easily available and Jacomo was never hugely expensive so many of us have fond memories of it. I came to it late but think it the driest and most austere of the greens,
Having said that, your selection is beautiful and varied already.
Portia xx
Great review. Silences PDT is very nice. I gave one of my bottles to my mother in law because I don’t love it quite enough to have two (prefer no 19, Heure Exquise and Scherrer I) but sometimes Silences is just the thing. And I had two bottles because ut’s such a great bargain.
Hey Mrsdalloway,
Oh yes, buying extra at bargain prices is what we do.
Your three faves are a spectacular green triumvirate.
Portia xx
I’m a fan of green fragrances, too, Silence is one of my favorites. I like the description of a green desert. I’m all scented up but I’ll get Silences out for tomorrow.
Hey Rosarita313,
Did you do it? Was it a hit?
Portia xx
Yes! I’m so glad you posted about it, Portia, I really had forgotten about Silences and it smells wonderful, so crisp and dark, heavenly!
Green is my favorite category of scents, and galbanum is my all-time favorite note! Love Silences. My bottle is the edp. Just went and spritzed a bunch on! Mmmmm. Thanks for the reminder Portia.
Hey DinaC,
I’m not sure I know the EdP. Sounds good.
Hope you enjoyed your green waftings.
Portia xx
Oh Lord I love Silences. Particularly the PdT. (I’ve worked my 3.3 oz bottle down about half, and there’s a slightly-used 4.2 oz bottle in the closet, waiting for its turn. When THAT’s gone, I will mourn.) The EdT is, to my mind, a lot drier and a lot more unisex, more vetivery, than the PdT, which presents a lot of rose and iris along with the galbanum and moss. Or maybe it’s just MY bottle; you know how vintage stuff can begin to vary with age, but the florals in my bottle just sing to me.
There’s an eerieness to it, a smooth meditative quality that I love. Silences is one of the scents I associate color with, and it’s a bed of olive and deep greens with ribbons of pink and periwinkle blue.
For some reason I can’t name, I didn’t like Futur. It was… brash, maybe? I should try Niki de St. Phalle again.
I always think of you, Mals – and Shelley F – whenever I think of Silences!!! xoxoxo
Hey Mals86,
Great to see you.
Yes, the EdT and PdT are quite different. EdT is DRYER!! Ha! So, parched. Ha Ha ha. I don’t remember exact differences but I prefer the PdT so I moved my other along and started hoarding.
I wonder if Futur was too white floral on chypre? It’s much more wearable than Silences and I wonder why it’s not a bigger hit.
Portia xx
Your description of the society wives made me spit-take my coffee! Love it! But Silences sounds like my jam — I am all about both galbanum (especially ANYTHING made by Germaine Cellier) and chypre. Gonna get my little tushie over to Fragrance.net and grab one!
YAY HeidiC,
I was laughing when I wrote it too. Sometimes my nasty makes me giggle.
Can’t wait to read how you love it.
Portia xx
LOVE. IT. Just got it yesterday. It’s not quite as icy as No 19 — Silences has less iris, more chypre — and not quite as screaming galbanum as vintage Vent Vert (which I also love) — but it scratches many of the same itches, and for that price point, HELL YEAH.
I’m going to have to either get a decant or get a full bottle. Silences sounds up my alley. My favorite green perfume is no 19.
Hi there Eldarwen22,
A bottle is so cheap. I reckon you’ll love Silences too.
Portia xx
This is one of my all time favourites. I never want to be without a bottle of Silences. Elegant, without giving a damn about being likeable. The Tom Ford Very series draws heavily from Silences for inspiration, and I am saying this as a big compliment for Tom Ford
Hey Christos,
“Elegant, without giving a damn about being likeable” you nailed it.
Yes, I liked a couple of TF Vert too.
Portia xxx
The green family is a favorite of mine and I’ve a bottle of Niki de Saint Phalle sitting in one of my on line carts waiting patiently! Silences has been on my radar for one of the greens though I’ve yet to try it. EL Private Collection is one I’m still ‘working’ on but my favorite is JL Scherrer.
Hey JenniferS,
SCHERRER!! It’s beautiful, I love it too. In don’t reach for it so often because I only have a small bottle and the others I have backups of so spritz with abandon.
Portia xx