Call me sometimey, but today I prefer RG. Recently I wrote that I preferred Paco Rabanne’s Calandre to RG. She wore Rive Gauche and it fit her perfectly. She had a discerning, unpretentious knack for picking from high and low cultures what suited her best. I’ve always liked it, smelling it a bit late in the game in the early 1990s on a friend who had a perfect balance of chic and practicality. It just happens that the 1970’s version gets me high in a way the current one does not. Fresh, cold (while I never thought of Chanel n☁9 as an ice queen, Rive Gauche is definitely a cold hearted one), powdery, green. The controversial aspects have been eliminated or toned down, but it’s a miracle it’s been kept so ‘vintage’ smelling. While the new is different, and years of restrictions and reformulations have taken its toll, it’s still very much itself. With both versions, I get all day longevity and strong sillage.
The Iris still rocks in a sublime way, the feel is of smoothing body powder on heated skin. The vintage feels more herbal, more full, the oakmoss really shines. Drier, less oakmossy (it still has treemoss), more powdery. The new one relies on vetiver mostly, with tonka bean adding a slight fougère effect. Oakmoss galore, vetiver, all smoothed by amber and musk.
Now the drydown, that’s where you find all the good and heavy stuff. But as a whole, the feel and smell isn’t all that different. Current one dials them down, adds more peach and citrus and feels like a minimalist version. Vintage has them in spades along a ray of light in the form of lemon and LOTV. Stark and cold, silver bathroom fittings. The heart is where the similarities intensify geranium, Iris, a very French floral bouquet of rose and jasmine, that feels like a finely milled bar of white soap. C14 aldehyde? It will still scare those who loathe them even though the impact is muted compared to the original. It’s plain aldehydes with a hint of peach.
The current one has 0 tar, 0 metallic effect. Imagine hairspraying a vial of poppers and sniffing. If you love them, like I do, this is heaven! There’s a beautiful tarry quality that further enhances them. It smells like hairspray in the best possible way, so if you dislike them, stay away. The original opens with soaring metallic aldehydes, the ones that sting your nose and give you an instant high. I already really like the current one, but I simply adore the vintage. Main difference lies in the opening and long drydown. Rive Gauche is still itself, for better or for worse. Actually, the only one that hasn’t completely butchered a perfume. Vintage (1978) vs recent (2013) Rive Gauche.įirst of, I gotta say in my opinion this is the best reformulation L’Oreal has done with an YSL fragrance.
0 kommentar(er)
