Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.
Today is Friday, September 22, and I have SCORED! Last Christmas, our oldest daughter (27) fell in love with the scent of Jo Malone’s Ginger Biscuit from a mini I had, but I didn’t have a bottle to give her and it had been a limited edition. I looked online and the prices were astronomic. I looked for similar scents but none seemed quite right. Then last weekend — tada! Someone in a Facebook fragrance lovers’ group posted that it was being reissued for this year’s holidays and it was available on Saks.com! But by the time I saw this post, it had vanished from the website and other comments said it was sold out.
However, there is a Saks not far from here, so on Monday, I went there and asked if they might have it. The lovely sales associate showed me the tester they had (!) and looked in her computer system, then said it was slated for a “soft launch” for the holidays in October but would most likely show up at the start of November. She said she would hold a bottle for me when it arrived, so I left my name and phone number. Well, just two days later I got a phone call from her, saying that a couple of bottles had just come in and she had one for me! I told her I’d like to come get it on Friday, which she said was fine. So I went this morning and picked it up! There was a brief moment of panic when the bottle was not where she had left it, then a colleague said he had moved it and she found it. Hurray! It is now safely wrapped and ready for gift-giving, either for our daughter’s November birthday or this Christmas. I can’t wait to surprise her with it! FYI, Nordstrom says it also expects to get it for the holidays, if that’s easier for any of you to reach than Saks.
This past Monday, I posted another “CounterPoint” collaboration by me and Portia Turbo; we discussed Caron’s Infini, a late 20th century classic. If you haven’t read the post yet, please do, and share your thoughts in the comments! We’ve mapped out the rest of our posts for 2023, and we’ve got some great ideas, so stay tuned.
Tomorrow is the official first day of fall. Our hot weather has finally broken and we are having cool mornings with comfortably warm, sunny days. The best is yet to come — around here, October weather is usually even better (the first half of September can still be very humid and hot). My husband has just recovered from COVID and is off tomorrow on another work trip, back to Las Vegas this time. Since I couldn’t go with him to London, he kindly brought me back a bottle of Hermès’ latest “Jardin” fragrance, Un Jardin à Cythère. It is really lovely, and I’m so happy to add it to my collection!
I haven’t been buying much fragrance for myself lately, since I have so many bottles and my collection will outlast me long before I use them up. I do still have a monthly decant subscription, which I enjoy since it adds variety and access to some very expensive fragrances I wouldn’t otherwise try (the cost for a decant doesn’t vary). What’s on your mind, fragrance-wise or other?
The intended recipient of Ginger Biscuit, in earlier days.
Happy Monday! Today, in our monthly “CounterPoint” collaboration, Portia of Australian Perfume Junkies and I consider Caron’s classic Infini.
The Infini many of us know is the 1970 formulation, which reused the name of an earlier Caron (Ernest Daltroff) fragrance from 1912. It was conceived of at the height of the race between the US and the Soviet Union to explore space and land a man on the moon. The goal was for Caron’s new fragrance to encapsulate a new modern era and an “infinite” future. The bottles for both the perfume and the parfum de toilette embody that sense of sleek, technical modernity, with the mathematical, angular perfume bottle and the smooth, silver-topped spray bottle of parfum de toilette.
“Caron’s futuristic project was apparently fifteen years in the making, as the perfumers searched for the most indefectible equilibrium of sharp green florals, woods, aldehydes, and musky animalics. The result – unseamed, flawless – is in my view one of the finest scents ever made.”
Notes are listed as: top notes – aldehydes, narcissus, muguet, jasmine; heart notes – iris, rose, tuberose, lilac; base notes – vetiver, sandalwood, musk, tonka bean, amber.
1. How did you first encounter Caron Infini, and what was your first impression?
Old Herbaceous: I first encountered Infini in the last few years, when I was already deep into my perfume rabbit-hole. I had been looking up fragrances with notes of narcissus, one of my favorite flowers and fragrance notes, and Infini kept appearing in various posts and lists as a classic to try if you like narcissus. So eventually, I found a vintage bottle of parfum de toilette (the version launched in 1970) for a reasonable price, and it was mine! It did not disappoint. I love the strong green aura that is present from the very start, with a noticeable narcissus accord lifted airborne by a hefty dose of aldehydes and enhanced by notes of jasmine and lily-of-the-valley. The last two floral notes are truly supporting players; they bring more green freshness and add to the slightly narcotic effect of the narcissus, but that’s the extent of their contribution (given that vintage fragrances do tend to lose some of their top notes, my impression may be affected by the age of my bottle).
To my nose, Infini definitely smells like a scent of the 1970s, when there were several successful strong green and herbal fragrances on the market, perhaps echoing the momentum of the environmental movement during that decade, which began with the first Earth Day. It fits right in with major loves of mine from that era, like Chanel’s Cristalle and No. 19, Aromatics Elixir, Silences, etc.
Portia: When I first got crazy about perfume Infini was not in demand and it seemed like there were gallons of it online for next to nothing. Out of interest I bought a small parfum in that outrageously brutalist bottle. It was love at first sniff. While smelling antique it also smells wholly new and modern. Perfumey but also like it’s trying to forge a new path from very well used ingredients. Coming from the same year as CHANEL No 19 it’s interesting to smell two so disparate sisters with quite a few parallels. No 19 being the more stoic and Infini feeling like a fun, flirty sibling.
2. How would you describe the development of Caron Infini?
Portia: Today I’m wearing vintage parfum and Parfum de Toilette. That aldehydic narcissus opening has always smelt more like fresh carnations to me. Not the perfumers trope of carnation but buying a bunch at the florist. Cool, green tinged, powdery and crisp. The heart is very sweet amber floral for me with reminders that narcissus is the major player here. My question is why aren’t oakmoss and some kinds of animalic noted? Or galbanum? The sweet, furry, resinous dry down lingers and i can smell faint traces of it next morning. A soft, powdery waft of gorgeousness long gone.
Old Herbaceous: Whenever I smell fragrance with a strongly aldehydic opening, what comes to mind is Luca Turin’s approving comment about my beloved Chanel No. 22, which has even more of a dose of aldehydes than its predecessor No. 5: “Stand back and watch the whole thing lumber off into the sky after a three-mile takeoff roll.” In the case of Infini, the aldehydes actually evoke the idea of an aerial vehicle taking off, as if it were a gleaming silver cartoon spaceship, a mid-century zeppelin, or a sparkling hot-air balloon. This balloon, though, carries a hefty load of daffodils and greenery. And while no one has listed galbanum as a passenger, my nose suspects it is along for the ride as a stowaway.
Hot air balloon; image by frigamribe88 at redbubble.com.
3. Do you or will you wear Caron Infini regularly? For what occasions or seasons?
Old Herbaceous: I haven’t been wearing it regularly, but now that I’ve dug it out of my collection for this post and our weather has cooled down, I’m going to include it in my fall rotation this year. The green fragrances I love so much are ideal not only for springtime, but also for this transitional season, when the oppressively humid heat gives way to cooler, drier air and the sky regains its vivid blue hue. September may be my favorite month although spring is my favorite season; having spent so many years in education, my own schooling and my later career, September always feels to me like a fresh start, like the hopeful beginning of a new school year. Besides, it is my birth month so for me personally, it is actually the start of a new year. Crisp green fragrance notes suit my mood in September.
As for occasions, I agree with Portia that Infini can dress up or dress down. To me, it has more warmth than No. 19 so it feels less standoffish, although it can still contribute a certain air to a soignée outfit.
Portia: Infini is a staple in my wearing rotations. Being such a pronounced beauty it’s perfect for nights working in drag. It slips seamlessly from summer to winter and always feels comfortable, elegant and just a little over the top. Infini fits afternoon BarBQs, lunch, fully dressed up or down. Though it’s not a shapeshifter itself it never feels out of place.
4. Who should/could wear Caron Infini?
Portia: Wearable by both sexes but I think you need to be a certain person to wear Caron Infini, especially the vintage formulas. While I think it could easily be a fragrance to confer extra confidence the wearer would have to be savvy enough about fragrance to understand that it can be used as such. Most general public in modern times could find it too far from what they know or smell in department stores. That’s my thought, happy to be proven wrong.
Old Herbaceous: Definitely a unisex option, excellent for both men and women. It reminds me a bit of Geoffrey Beene’s Grey Flannel, launched in 1975 as a traditionally masculine fragrance, though I wouldn’t say they smell alike. They do have a number of notes in common; but where Infini, targeted at women, has “perfumey” aldehydes among its top notes, Grey Flannel has citruses; while narcissus is dominant in Infini, it plays a supporting role to the violet accord in Grey Flannel. Just as women may smell wonderful in Grey Flannel, men may smell wonderful in Infini.
Miguel Matos at Fragrantica ha/s written about the latest version of Infini, launched by Caron in 2018, pointing out that it has nothing to do with the Infini of earlier decades. Indeed, it is a floral fruity gourmand. I wish Caron all possible success; but I also wish they wouldn’t reuse a name for a fragrance that differs so egregiously from the classic fragrance linked to that name. Have you tried any version of Infini? What do you think of it?
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 