Hello Stinky Fragrant Peoples on the PERFUME POSSE!!
It’s dirty old Portia from AustralianPerfumeJunkies back in the Posse for another tremendous Thursday. We have had a sudden downpour and cool snap here in Sydney. It was boiling today and this evening the heavens opened bringing stinging cold rain. How do I know? At 10pm when I heard the first opening salvo from up there I had to run out to the line and get all the clean towels and bed linen off. It was only mildly dampened so into the dryer for 15 minutes, perfect! BTW the sky here in central eastern Australia has gone a red colour. If I stop posting or start wearing only one fragrance or I get skinny then you’ll know I’ve been invaded in a personal way by alien life forms. On to Madame Rochas.

Madame Rochas Intense EdP by Guy Robert 1960

Madame Rochas Intense Photo Stolen FragranceNet

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, honeysuckle, hyacinth, orange blossom, green notes, bergamot, lemon and neroli
Heart: Jasmine, Bulgarian rose, tuberose, Lily-of-the-valley, Oriss root, ylang-ylang, violet and narcissus
Base: Sandalwood, vetiver, amber, musk, cedar, oakmoss and tonka beans

I have spritzed myself heartily and breath in a big sweet, green, aldehydic burst of fragrance that reminds me how I love perfume. Having worn Lys Mesiterranee for the last few days with some modern pretties for evening this bold, animal, sensual blast is a welcome surprise. Some of the reviews call Madame rochas a soft grey, snowy fragrance, and maybe for its day it was but now it’s a ferocious beast! A note list that includes almost every flower and base known to perfumery on loud. This reformulation happened before the big clean change over during the 1990s and is kind of a swansong of its kind. It’s interesting that the reviews I read mention Jackie Kennedy as the icon that best represents Madame Rochas. “Cool, unflappable and French” to paraphrase PerfumeShrine, but I don’t smell that at all. I breath in flamboyant and cheeky, good time girl but smart, clever and moneyed. Don’t get me wrong, Madame Rochas is old fashioned, but it’s the good bit of old fashioned. This is a great fragrance to show that you are so damn cool you can wear something outrageously gorgeous, loud and present.

People talk of fragrances offering them support and backbone, this offers you, “Don’t give a rats ass cred.” If I want people to believe I am beautiful, interesting and oh so now then I will in the future choose Madame Rochas Intense.

A little history: The real Madame Hélène Rochas commissioned Guy Robert to create this. Her husband, who died young and left her in charge of the company, had Edmond Roudnitska create Femme for her wedding day a few years before.

Further reading NowSmellThis and PerfumeShrine

Parfum1 is where I bought mine for around $70
SurrenderToChance has Madame Rochas EdT that starts at $3/ml

If you have liked wandering through my fragrant ramblings then you’ll probably LOVE AustralianPerfumeJunkies where we witter on about fragrance every day too.

Wishing you wonder and joy at least once each between now and next Thursday,

Portia xx