Discount Diamonds: Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds- La Liz Shows the Way

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Every trend has a beginning. Prior to 1991 the idea of putting a celebrity’s name on a perfume was unheard of. After the success of Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds the brands couldn’t find someone to partner with fast enough. Even this was a slow burn. White Shoulders was the third fragrance released with Ms. Taylor’s name. Two gendered versions of Passion preceded it. At this point in time Ms. Taylor was an all-caps large font “star”. The public fascination with her was voracious in a time where that played out in supermarket tabloids instead of Gawker. She had her own nick name La Liz. Because of the less relentless pressure she was able to ride that wave of notoriety without wiping out.

Her foray into fragrance wasn’t a failure through the two versions of Passion. It was just that nobody saw the popularity of White Shoulders ahead of its release. Perfumers Carlos Benaim and Olivier Gillotin were seemingly tasked to create an “elegant” white floral. This is all happening right on the cusp of fragrance trends taking a hard left towards fresh and clean. To their credit they designed White Diamonds as if that was never going to happen.

Carlos Benaim

White Diamonds felt like a throwback even in 1991. The perfumers throw a cloud of aldehydes over a fresh lily. In hindsight I can say here is where a little fresh resides. It disappears when a floral ingredient as exuberant as La Liz appears in tuberose. This is a full volume version. The indoles add a skank to it which jasmine and narcissus call out to. It heads towards a patchouli and sandalwood base given some warmth via amber.

White Diamonds has 6-8 hour longevity and above average sillage in its current formulation.

The bottle I own is from around 2000. I also picked up a mini of the current version. The biggest difference when comparing is there is more jasmine in the heart now. It still doesn’t hesitate in showing off the indoles. The base is also less complex, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. It isn’t as intense as it was in the original. Something is missing. I don’t think it dramatically changes things because it is the aldehydic top accord and the tuberose heart which makes this.

White Diamonds was a gigantic best-seller for well over a decade. Even after the trends went far away people kept buying it. Re-visiting it I forgot the freshness of that top accord and what a contrast the dirty indoles make with it. It still seems like an artifact of an earlier fragrance era. The influence was really felt in the hundreds of celebrities who would rush to put their name on a perfume.

Disclosure: this review is based on bottles I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Dana Canoe- The First Sport Fragrance?

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The more I learn about the history of some of the legacy scents the more I enjoy doing what I do. I’ve been looking at the fragrance shelf at my local drugstore for topics for this column. When I saw the box for Canoe Dana, I thought of my childhood in the 1960’s and 70’s. During that time Canoe was one of the staple perfumes worn by men. When I started digging into the history, I learned it was originally marketed for women.

Canoe was created in 1936 by perfumer Jean Carles. The desire was for a fresher counterpart to Dana Tabu. I couldn’t quite pin it down but sometime over the next 25 years Canoe became a man’s fragrance. By that point the fresh fougere had changed its target audience. From a current perspective it is hard to have seen a fragrance with such a barbershop fougere style being marketed to anyone but the guys.

As I was re-visiting it for this review, I was surprised at how relevant is still feels. It reminds me of a lot of other choices from more recent brands, all of them with “sport” in the name. It made me think that if Canoe wasn’t the first sport fragrance it is close.

When thinking about haw M. Carles would approach a fresher alternative to Tabu It isn’t hard to imagine. Bright citrus, rugged lavender, clean cedar, herbal clary sage and some fresh heliotrope. That’s the backbone upon which this scent was built.

It opens with tart lemon matched to the slightly powdery lavender. This is the only place where I kind of see the idea of a feminine. Most other masculine perfumes of this time used a more herbal lavender. The powdery part is more present. It only lasts for a short time as clary sage extracts that herbal quality of lavender. The clean pencil shavings scent of cedar comes next along with a spicy geranium enhanced with clove. Heliotrope adds floral lift through this early development.

The biggest difference I noticed with the three versions I had came in the base accord. My circa 1970 bottle has the softness of oakmoss with musk to form a pseudo-chypre foundation. As this was reformulated through the 90’s and further that base accord changed its focus to vanilla. In my bottle from around 2000-ish there is still a hint of musk and moss but not much. By the bottle I bought a month ago even that hint is gone it is all vanilla over the final stages.

Canoe (2021) has 6-8 hour longevity and average sillage.

The variation in the base does not change the appeal of Canoe, it alters it. It seems as if perfumer David Apel was asked to oversee the reformulation. I like the choices he made because it doesn’t overwhelmingly change what Canoe stands for. Even now perhaps the first sports fragrance.

Disclosure: This review is based on bottles I own.

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Aspen for Men- Fresh as Fir

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One of the stock answers I provide to someone who doesn’t live near a place to buy fragrance is to go to their drugstore. When people think of the points of sale for fragrance, they often forget the local drugstore. These are very commercial economic choices. That does not mean poor. There are lots of the perfumes on those shelves that have made this column over the years. I’m going to add Aspen for Men to the roster.

Aspen for Men came out in 1989. It was part of the turning of the men’s fragrance tide towards fresh. All the companies were vying for their place within the category. As we know eventually the aquatic based ones would win the day. Back then that was still undecided. If there was a style that was giving those aquatics a run for supremacy it was the fresh woody. In most of those cases the fresh wood of choice was fir or pine. The terpenes which define the scent profile are refreshing which made it easy for perfumers to build around them. Harry Fremont was the man behind Aspen for Men. Just as it was with the competition the idea was to capture the sensation of mountain hillside under the sunshine.

Harry Fremont

Lemon with some mint form the high-altitude sunlight accord. This is typical of these open-air top notes. The fir trees come forth wreathed in the green of galbanum. This is like being surrounded by evergreens. Combined with the top notes it is a very pleasant experience. It finishes with oakmoss, amber, and musk to add in just a hint of that lumberjack aesthetic.

Aspen for Men has 6-8 hour longevity and average sillage.

You can find a bottle of this for less than $10.00 right on the corner where you pick up your prescriptions. As I revisited this I wondered if I would have liked it as much on re-examination if it had won the fresh war of the 90’s. It didn’t. Thirty years later it is still fresh as fir.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Halston- Facts are Better than Fiction

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I am always happy to see the process of perfume making portrayed in pop culture. The most recent example comes from the Netflix series “Halston”. Ewen McGregor portrays the iconic American designer. As he begins to branch out his first foray is into perfume. The business partner he has also has a stake in Max Factor. He brings them together to produce a fragrance.

Here is where the story diverges from reality. In the show they show Halston and a female perfumer having this psychological examination of ingredients. I knew the perfumer was Bernard Chant who was not known for collaborating with his creative directors like the way it is portrayed. This is all played for dramatic effect towards a storytelling goal.

Bernard Chant

The truth is more interesting. As American fashion enters the 1970’s they are beginning to gain an equivalency with the European labels. Halston was aware of being part of the group which was defining the American aesthetic. As he moved to creating fragrance, he wanted to put an American stamp on that too. This is where he and M. Chant would begin. Not with jock straps and cigarettes as portrayed on the screen. Instead a much simpler concept an American chypre.

How do you plant a star-spangled banner on a chypre base? You build a delectable fruity floral. The lusciousness of peach provides the fruit. It is rounded off with some leafy green and sweet melon. This is a fleshy fruity accord. Ylang-ylang is used to accentuate that. Tagete extends the green as indolic jasmine rises towards the fruit. For those searching for the jock strap accord the indoles are as close as you’ll get. The chypre accord in the original is a classic sandalwood, oakmoss, and patchouli which falls together with the fruit and floral pieces.

This has been reformulated a lot since 1975. The current version has a chypre accord which is lighter in tone with more Iso E Super than sandalwood. The peach and jasmine are still as vibrant as they were in the original.

The current version of Halston has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.

If you’re interested in the perfume after you’ve watched the series, it is easily found at most of the big discounters. The show did remind me what an important piece of American perfumery this was back then. That’s the truth which is better than any of the fiction.

Disclosure: This review is based on vintage and current bottles of Halston I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum- The Affordable Vintage Experience

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One of the things new perfume lovers discover is vintage perfumes are held in high esteem. These are older formulations of existing perfumes which contain currently proscribed ingredients. It also refers to discontinued perfumes of a particular style usually from the first half of the 20th century. In the last year I have received a couple of interesting questions from readers asking me to describe a vintage-type perfume. Because of the difficulty of finding them I tried to come up with a good answer. Except it eluded me.

What kept running through my head was these are what are frequently called “old lady perfumes”. That kind of description is lacking in many ways. What makes them interesting is these are the opposite of today’s lighter offerings. These are the fragrances which left a trail behind the wearer, for better or worse. That power is part of the appeal as well as the reason some turn their nose up at them. I kept wondering if there was a good example that might come from the Discount Diamonds section. After a year of thinking about it, Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum might be the affordable vintage experience.

Mon Parfum was released in 1984 by Sra. Picasso. She had a career designing jewelry before giving perfumery a try. Her goal was to create a perfume which hearkened back to the earlier part of the century. Working with perfumer Frank Bocris they would create a multi-layered floral over an animalic base which snarled.

It begins with a citrusy green top accord. Lemon is surrounded by coriander and angelica giving the contrast. The floral heart is headed up by a duet of jasmine and hyacinth, but it is so much more. M. Bocris adds in the freshness of muguet, the lushness of rose, the fleshiness of ylang-ylang, the powderiness of mimosa and the opulence of orris. This is what those early florals were all about a recognizable leader with a parade of others adding nuance and depth. The fun of this is if you concentrate you will notice all the flowers I mentioned. They don’t just become flower soup they are a filigreed bouquet.

As much as I enjoy the floral heart what makes this amazing is the animalic base. In my original bottle M. Bocris used all of them. There are times I wondered if it wouldn’t sprout hair on my shelf. That isn’t the version you can purchase today. Those animalics have been significantly changed or banned. Whomever oversaw the current reformulation did a great job. While this might not roar as loud it still shows its fangs in as fully an animalic base as can be achieved today. That turns this into a sultry sexy perfume.

Mon Parfum has 16-18 hour longevity and gigantic sillage. Trust me a drop or two will do.

I recommended to my correspondents to go pick up a bottle online. Once they did, we had a really nice conversation using Mon Parfum as a starting point on vintage perfume. If you want to see if vintage-type fragrances are for you here is the most cost-effective way I can think of to start.

Disclosure: This review is based on an original bottle and a new bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Prada Amber pour Homme- In the Beginning

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I’ll make a little admission. I sometimes go back and read the first reviews I did on Basenotes. I don’t think they are bad. They also show some of the things you can still see almost fifteen years later. As I began writing reviews the fashion designers all seemed to be discovering fragrance as part of their brand. I like to remind myself where they started too. For this month’s Discount Diamonds I go back to the beginning for Prada with Prada Amber pour Homme.

In 2006 Miuccia Prada wanted to get into perfume. She would start by releasing pairs of perfumes for each gender. The first effort was around amber at least that was what the label said. When it came to Amber pour Homme the dirty little secret was there was no amber. Perfumer Daniela Andrier began her long tenure as perfumer for Prada by throwing a curveball. This should have been called Myrrh pour Homme. Myrrh is one of those malleable resins which can seemingly be hammered into any shape. One which always surprises me is how it can be made to smell soapy. This is where Mme Andrier starts.

Daniela Andrier

Right from the open the myrrh is there. When I say soapy it reminds me of scented dryer sheets. There is also cotton-like cloth under it. In the early going labdanum slides it in a sweeter direction. Geranium and vetiver pull it back with their greenness. It goes back to being slightly sweeter as orange blossom and sandalwood assert their presence.

Amber pour Homme has 14-16 hour longevitry and average sillage.

Because it has been around so long, I found it regularly in my rack store bins. It is also on most of the discount sites and stores. It is always within the price range to qualify for this column.

These first perfumes by Mme Andrier would begin to form what would recognizably become the Prada fragrance aesthetic. I have always thought of her as a classical designer of perfume. Revisiting the earliest effort at Prada reinforces that thinking.

Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Elizabeth & James Nirvana French Grey- WandaScent

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One of the great collections of inexpensive fragrance is the one created by the twin celebrities Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Starting in 2014 they released pairs of perfumes under the label of Elizabeth & James. Back then when I wrote about it, I mentioned the name came from the ladies’ younger, less famous, siblings. Revisiting that statement in 2021 the distaff side of the name is no longer the less anything to her sisters. Elizabeth Olsen has been a brilliant actor in the streaming series WandaVision. The twins turned out to have their own version of precocious vision as they moved into fashion and fragrance.

When it came to these perfumes the idea was to design simple easy-to-wear constructs. That isn’t an uncommon target for many modestly priced brands. What always seemed to set this collection apart was the choice of three tightly integrated keynotes. Each of the six releases are designed with this in mind. Elizabeth & James Nirvana French Grey was part of the lest set of two in 2017. Perfumers Nicole Mancini and Linda Song use lavender, neroli, and musk as the trio to build this with.

What all the perfumes do in this collection is to sandwich one multi-faceted ingredient between two others. Using the variability to move back and forth between the two it forms a more dynamic fragrance than you might expect from just three ingredients.

Lavender plays the part of the ingredient with facets. In French Grey it is sandwiched between neroli and musk. The herbal nature of the lavender resonates with the green floral scent of neroli. Early on you get a slightly green floral accord. As the lavender shifts towards the musk it shows off its powdery side. It creates a lightly powdered skin accord. Over the hours it stays on my skin the lavender seemingly pivots back and forth between the neroli and musk until it finally fades.

Nirvana French Grey has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.

All six Elizabeth & James fragrances qualify as Discount Diamonds they are that good. Nirvana French Grey is just the best choice for these early spring days. If you are enjoying Elizabeth’s acting, you should see the vision her twin sisters bring to perfume.

Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Boss Number One- A Perfume Blazer

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When I got my first job in 1984, I wanted to upgrade my wardrobe. One piece of clothing I always wanted was a great fitting blazer. I wanted that male version of a little black dress which I could wear on any occasion. When I went shopping, I found a Hugo Boss version which was just what I was looking for. That blazer traveled everywhere with me for years until the lining began to fall apart.  It was as much a part of my wardrobe as my current Hawaiian shirt and fedora are now.

This was also the early moments of the expansion of my perfume collection. I was in Macy’s one day in the mid 1980’s waiting for something. I was killing time at the men’s fragrance counter. The sales associate brought over a new one called Boss Number One. When I sniffed it, I realized this was in line with the scents I was trending towards in those days. I felt it had to be the cologne which would go with my blazer. Back in 1986-ish I just like the way it smelled. I now know a little more about why I liked it so much.

Pierre Wargnye

One of those reasons is it was perfumer Pierre Wargnye’s second perfume after the amazing success of Drakkar Noir. I was never one of those who gravitated towards that even though I recognized its quality. There were too many people wearing it I wanted something different. Boss Number One was a more nuanced style of fougere over his first one. He would add in a lot of grace notes through a central axis of herbs, honey, and tobacco.

The top accord seems to be the perfume version of one of those spice blends. I can pick out rosemary, cardamom, sage, and nutmeg most prominently. There are others on the edges, but it is those which form a green opening. A thread of rose winds its way though which is followed by the sweetness of honey. There is a lot of honey here and it is in the amount where on some people it will smell urine-like. On me it is all slightly animalic sweetness. The tobacco waiting to join it makes a satisfying duet. In my old bottle, a real chypre accord of patchouli, oakmoss, and vetiver form the foundation. For this review I got a small current tester, and it is here where the chypre has been mostly replaced with a cedar, patchouli, and vetiver accord which is an acceptable substitute.

Boss Number One has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.

Almost as much as my Hugo Boss blazer my bottle of Boss Number One was in my travel bag. That’s because it was as versatile as my jacket.

Disclosure: this review is based on my original bottle and a newer one purchased this year.

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Van Cleef & Arpels First- Playing Telephone

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One of the difficulties of writing this column is deciding when a perfume from the past has been reformulated in a way that it is worth pointing out. If I think the original is awesome but it is because of banned materials like oakmoss and nitro musks, it causes a problem. Then when I try the currently available version I must see if it retains enough of the character to write about it as it exists today. One of the things which happens infrequently is the current version surpasses the original as has happened in Van Cleef & Arpels First.

I own an original bottle of First because it is one of perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena’s first. Released in 1976 it is a typical big floral. It is fun to smell something like this and think how M. Ellena will become famous for the antithesis of it. Lots of “to be banned” materials abound. It is exactly what a mid-1970’s floral perfume smelled like.

I was digging in the discount bins a year ago around the Holidays when this nice green chypre hit me from someone spraying it nearby. I went searching to see what it was. I probably picked up everything on the tester shelf but First because I thought I knew what it would smell like. When I finally figured out it was First, I was floored. Mainly because I liked this better.

I’ve spent the last year trying to find out who was responsible for this version. It is a thankless job that no one at the big brands will admit goes on. Tracking down the perfumer was going to take more effort than I was willing to exert.

One of the things I did do was track down some of the iterations that have been released between 1976 and now. What I found was a perfume version of the party game telephone. The way it is played is the first person is given a phrase which they whisper one time only into the ear of the person next to them. This repeats until it gets back to the person who started it. What generally happens is it has been changed in a funny non-intelligible way. Rarely it ends up with a new phrase which is related to the first one.

That is what happened with First. In a 1990-ish bottle the base has begun to be changed as the musks seem to have been changed. In an early Y2K version the floral heart has gone much greener as the overall early moments have dialed back the rose and jasmine power. Then we arrive at what you can buy now.

The current version starts off with some mandarin on top of a green accord of blackcurrant bud, narcissus, and muguet. Hair spray-like aldehydes add some sparkle. The rose and jasmine are still here but they are using one of the more expansive synthetic jasmines. It allows for more space for the narcissus and muguet to expand into. They become the primary counterpoint to the rose. It moves to a modern chypre base where sandalwood, amber, clove, and some synthetic musks form it. It fits ideally with what is here now.

All of this refers to the Eau de Parfum version. The current version has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.

I think this game of “perfume telephone” has ended up in a better fragrance at the end of the chain. It can be found for less than $25/bottle at many discounters. If you remember the old First give the new one a try you might be surprised, too.

Disclosure: This review is based on bottles I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

Discount Diamonds: Stetson- I Wanna Be a Cowboy

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While I have never ridden a horse or worked a ranch I do own a Stetson hat and cowboy boots. When I wear them I am a poser. I’d probably faint from exhaustion if I ever tried to do an honest day’s work on a ranch. That doesn’t mean I can’t imagine myself trying. In the world of fragrance there have been many perfumes which have tried to channel the cowboy way as their inspiration. One of the best comes from the designer of the iconic cowboy hat, Stetson.

Stetson was launched in 1981. This was the time of rugged masculine perfumes. In a few years they would be buried under a wave of fresh and clean aquatics. When Stetson debuted it was right in line with the other types of fragrances of the time. Perfumer Maureen Brooks would fashion a floral spicy woody classic.

The opening is a bright blend of citrus and lavender. The floral is given some depth, but it is the green of lavender caught in the sunniness of the lemon and bergamot. A set of spicy ingredients are combined with patchouli. Sandalwood and vetiver provide the woody component. It ends on a warm foundation of amber, vanilla, and balsam.

Stetson has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.

I hadn’t thought about Stetson for a long time until I was in line at my local drugstore. I smelled the tester and found it to retain the appeal it had back when I first encountered it. It is an ideal fall choice. It also allows me to add one more piece to my “I Wanna Be a Cowboy” ensemble.

Disclosure: this review is based on a bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke