1980’s

Bringing back the 80’s! Xia Xiang + JCC No2

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Post by Robert Herrmann

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Hey Frag Friends, Robert H. here, writing from my small island home in the Pacific Northwest…

Today it’s All about the 80’s!

Got these little honeys in a mixed auction lot awhile back and they’ve been sitting on my desk since then. So today when I decided to clean my desk (again) I decided to give them a try!

um……WOW! Just WOW! Shall we talk about absolutely classic late 80’s Chypres? Yes, let’s!

80s Fragrances

Xia Xiang by Charles Of The Ritz for Revlon (1987) (L)
JCC No2 by Maurice Roucel for Castelbajac (1987) (R)

JCC No2 by Maurice Roucel for Castelbajac 1987

JCC No. 2 Castelbajac FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, lemon, bergamot, fruity notes, galbanum, gardenia
Heart: Carnation, rose, jasmine, lily of the valley, iris, ylang-ylang, sandalwood
Base: Amber, castoreum, labdanum, leather, moss, patchouli, olibanum

One spritz from this bottle and my head was REELING from castoreum, oakmoss and galbanum overload! I had to sit down, the skank was so overwhelming. And gorgeous.

That skank only stays for about 10 minutes then fades into the background and stays there, throwing out tendrils of raunchy beaver scent to mix with the heart and drydown. Phew.

Then leather, labdanum, patch and flowers appear, beautifully blended, and absolutely “old school”!

Rose, ylang, carnation, iris…. it’s all there in typical 80’s fashion, when the hair was BIG, the shoulder pads were BIGGER, and the perfume was potent!

Xia Xiang by Revlon 1987

Xia Xiang Revlon FragranticaFragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Amalfi lemon, tangerine
Heart: Jasmine, African orange flower, gardenia, ylang-ylang, rose, lily-of-the-valley
Base: Sandalwood, patchouli, oak moss, tonka bean, vanille, peach, plum, chamomile

Xia Xiang (pronounced “see-AH see-AHNG”) by Revlon was launched in 1987.

No less potent, but a bit “softer”. No blast of animalic, but LOTS of oakmoss, and again every flower you can think of with some fruit accords thrown in because why not, right? Powder, sandalwood, patch, tonka, vanilla, it’s all there.

Made by Charles Of The Ritz, my first thought was that this would be a big-hot-floral-mess, but no. It all comes together to produce a perfect harmony of flowers and notes that proves the point that less is NOT always more!

Bring back the 80’s!!!
Actually, no. Don’t. Just the pre-IFRA perfume!

Do you have a favorite 80’s scent that you’ve rediscovered?

Giorgio Beverly Hills 1981 Review

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Hey Hey! Ho ho Ho Y’All,
What the…? I hear you ask. Why? Well, they have introduced an Eau de Giorgio 2012, I haven’t smelt it but just the thought of my teen years spent smelling the original has brought back big smiles, happy memories and a little melancholy. When my fave SA from a closing down sale offered me a half full ex tester bottle for $5 I jumped at the chance, just for the joy of jay walking down Memory Lane.


Photo Stolen paradiseemporium

Putting Giorgio Beverly hills on made me tear up with memories. The scent is burned into my olfactory memory centre like looking at the sun during an eclipse can burn your retina. Giorgio Beverly Hills was one of the fragrances that all Mum’s would wear in the 1980’s, so hugging Mum, family & friends and being engulfed by this enormous, wonderful and terrifying powerhouse fragrance was just how life was. It was the women who made all the decisions in our lives, we would watch them making a million split second choices, they ran their houses, domestic help, businesses, families and social lives in a way that just doesn’t seem to exist any more. Yet they still seemed to have time to relax, laugh and live. And everyone pretended they lived in Dynasty.

Photo Stolen blankstareblink.

OMG! How can this have been an every day scent? It is almost toxic in its utter hugeness. Everything happens at once! Flowers, fruit, wood, moss… BOOM! No wonder Giorgio Beverly Hills was banned from many restaurants, cinemas and work places. Ha! I am adrift on a sea of gorgeousness, there is nothing else, even sound can’t enter the walls of my Giorgio prison. BOOM! Close my eyes and I am alone in the world, just this enormous scent and I.

Fragrantica gives the notes and history as

Top notes: Orange blossom, peach, apricot,  bergamot
Middle notes:  Ylang-ylang, tuberose, gardenia, jasmine, rose, orchid
Base notes: Sandalwood, patchouli, vanilla, amber, cedar, oakmoss, musk

The Giorgio Beverly Hills fragrance was launched in 1981 by Fred Hayman and then-wife Gale Hayman with a fanfare normally reserved for a major perfume house launch, and never before seen for an independent boutique brand. Love it or hate it, the fragrance captured the public’s imagination in the 1980s, and was perfectly suited to the era’s glamorous and over-the-top fashions.

In 1987, the Giorgio Beverly Hills fragrance was sold to Avon for an astounding $165 million, and the boutique subsequently changed its name to Fred Hayman Beverly Hills.

This has been a terrific journey, I hope you have enjoyed the ride. Are there any scents that take you back in a heartbeat? That you smell and all of a sudden you’re in a memory time machine? Please share, I love to read other peoples stories.

Also, check out the PerfumePosse (<<JUMP) today. I have a guest spot and a special deal for you over there.
See you tomorrow,

Portia xx