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Post by Portia
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Hey there Vintage Frag Fiends,
There is something really exciting about getting a vintage in the mail. That very first spritz, will it: have propellant, be real, still smell good, work for me? Those days when the top notes are gone off or completely missing can be a bummer. Recently this old chestnut showed up, it’s about 80% full and looks fresh as the day it was made. The nozzle smells great, exactly like a mossy frag from the 1970s should smell like. Come have a first spritz experience with me.
Amazone by Hermès 1974
Amazone by Maurice Maurin
Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Cassia, Geranium, Hyacinth
Heart: Iris, Jasmine, Lily-of-the-valley, Rose
Base: Amber, Oakmoss, Vetiver, Cedarwood
OK, so we have propellant and the opening notes have been totally eclipsed by their greasy cold metal otherness. It takes a couple of minutes for the headache inducing, stomach churning mess to sort itself out. Then this bottle of Amazone has a dry grass, light geranium/spicy fruit rose and furry jasmine/oakmoss scent that softens, plushes out and gets more comfortable and lived in over the next couple of hours. I can easily imagine this appealing to the horsey daughters and youngish wives of a certain social strata as so many reviews allocate its fan base. Being a chypre its slightly floral heart and bone dry dry-down seem a little mature to me, sophisticated and cooly aloof. You can easily imagine the wearer to be wearing Shetland wool and corduroy or denim instead of cashmere, linen and silks. Yet another part of me can see someone, man or woman, in a sharp business suit using Amazone as their tasteful undercurrent of a point of difference.
The far dry down of vetiver, moss and woods is perfectly balanced and shimmers softly over my skin for hours and hours, tomorrow morning I will still have a whisper of wonderful to wake up to.
From Hermès: Symbolic of a free, modern femininity, Amazone takes its inspiration from the mythical horsewomen who, according to legend, ruled over the shores of the Black Sea. A novel composed by Maurice Maurin in 1974 and orchestrated around blackcurrant buds, the fragrance is a green floral harmony in which daffodils, narcissi, galbanum, red fruits and vetiver take turns to shine.
Further reading: Yesterday’s Perfume and Non Blonde
Hermès have the modern variation and it still smells very nice but totally different.
Surrender To Chance has samples of the modern version from $3/ml
Which is your vintage or your Hermès?
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 
Hi Portia,
Thrilling moment, when you receive a vintage bottle and are anxious to try its fragrance. Somehow Amazone strikes me as a scent Betty Draper could have worn. My favorite vintage Hermes would be Caleche.
XXX Esperanza
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Hey there Esperanza,
I am a Caleche lover too. So yummy.
Portia xx
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Mmmn, the color and bottle design, so 1970’s! My number one Hermes (don’t know how to add the grave) has to be Caleche. But at anytime through summer I swoon for Orange Vert and I am fond of the classy yet work a day leather in Kelly Caleche.
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Hi Bernadette Winfield-Gray,
Another Caleche vote.
I may have a secret Caleche cache here just quietly.
Portia xx
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I was always a Caleche girl and felt really cool wearing it (felt like something Catherine Deneuve would wear), but when Amazone came along I was smitten. In those days it was so green it was like pouring liquid dark emeralds over me. And yes, it was quite masculine for a “feminine” perfume then. I loved it.
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Hey Jillie,
WOW! I could definitely imagine Ms Deneuve getting out her Amazone and spritzing with abandon.
I think my top notes have dissipated somewhat because it goes almost straight to furry for me.
Portia xx
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Congrats!
My favourite is Amazone, I recently bought a mini and a 30 ml splash bottle. I love it! 🙂
Fanny
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Woo Hoo! Yummy.
You will smell gorgeous.
Portia xx
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Love that first rush of “Aaahhh….” When a vintage turns out to be in great shape! I love Terre D’Hermes, the original, Orange Vert from the 70’s which was my very first grown-up shower gel (Jean Nate stolen from my mom doesn’t count, right?) and Hiris always tops my iris list. Just a great house, Hermes is, and the scarves ‘aint so shabby either! ?
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Totally with you RobertH,
Hermes are the best.
Portia xx
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Hi Portia!
Oooh, this sounds divine! My goodness, where’d that adjective come from? Next thing you know I’ll be calling people dahling!
I love, love, love vintage: buncha Carons, Diorissimo, Miss Dior, Chamade, Inoui, Metal, Lauren et cetera et cetera et cetera. I’m vintage myself, so the list is very, very long. 🙂
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Calling people darling is perfectly acceptable when you smell fabulous Holly. Go right ahead.
Portia xx
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I LOVE vintage Amazon and I really want to smell it once again. I’m afraid to buy one of the bottles that are/were being sold on Ebay because I don’t want to get disappointed. I remember it to be such a special flower scent with a twist and maybe one day I’ll muster the courage to order a vintage bottle…sigh…
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Hey there Neva,
Sometimes it’s best to live with the happy memories. I get it.
Portia xx
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Just so you know…there is an ‘e’ on the end so it is in fact , Amazone’.
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Thanks Sally-Anne,
I will fix it immediately.
Portia xxx
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Apart from my above comment, my first encounter with Hermes was Caleche. Instant love right there at the Myer Melbourne perfume counter. I was about 23ish,and 24 Fauborg, had just been released, so the SA was pushing me to buy the 24. In my inexperienced tactless way ,I informed the SA that 24 Fauborg was better suited to ‘an older lady ,like you!!!} the sales lady was possibly 40ish, so I possibly hurt her feelings!!!. Anyway, moving on through the decades , it came my time to be ‘old” and I myself celebrated my 40th birthday!!! My four sisters gave me a voucher for Paint n Powder the pricey perfume shop in Melbourne city. I walked in with my voucher, and very proudly walked out with my first ,and very very sadly last to be, bottle of Hermes Amazone.Not realising what a rare gem it would become in the future, I practically bathed in it until the bottle was empty. That same empty bottle sits on my shelf ,with many other empty bottles, and it’s box ,sits happily cocooned with the other empty boxes underneath the shelf in my ‘special room’ As for the fragrance, simply gorgeous….may just be time for a little Amazone search.
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Sally-Anne,
I love that story.
I think we all have memories of unintended rudenesses that haunt us.
I bet you smelled amazing in Amazone.
Portia xxx
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Spot on review! I always felt that gentrified aloofness with an outdoor-sy edge, too – love the Shetland wool & corduroy vs. cashmere & silk juxtaposition ?
My favourite vintage Hermes would have to be Bel Ami (the cocktail shaker version), as it’s my boyfriend’s signature scent. I also have a soft spot for Parfum d’Hermes, and wonder what became of the nose Akiko Kamei…
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Hi there Hanna,
Thank you.
You beau has great taste. What a cool fragrance choice and I love that bottle too.
Parfum d’Hermès is gorgeous too, even now.
As you can see I like the Hermès range
Portia xx
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