Chevrefeuille by Yves Rocher

Maybe it’s my favorite fragrance or one of them. It was what my mother wore when she was very young the scent I grew up with: that fresh feminine beautiful unique original and yet sexy honeysuckle aroma—incredible. Now I use it sparingly because there are hardly any left and it’s massively discontinued but every time I open the gorgeous original bottle the first one the splash version without a spray nozzle with its round cap and quality silk-screening I get an indescribable feeling. The bottle’s texture is soft velvety or even rubbery something I’ve never seen or touched on any perfume before; an elegant and beautiful design. I also really enjoy the simpler spray or splash bottle with a straightforward and less fussy design which retains the Chevrefeuille DNA well and lasts a bit longer though it has shifted slightly toward something greener than the previous version yet it’s easily mistaken for the original. I’ve read somewhere that it had a poor bottle huh? Let’s not confuse simplicity with poverty; there’s a huge chasm between them; they aren’t comparable terms. I own many different formats and bottles and they managed to preserve the essence through the reformulations except for the last and penultimate ones: HELP! Despite editing and re-releasing this wonder for years they managed to keep it practically the same (the first one is definitely the best) until a few years ago they reformulated it again even changing the packaging twice to finish ruining it. God help me to the world of non-minimalist designers for a second; I’m a designer who loves minimalism but also respects what was already working perfectly as it was.

I smelled Chèvrefeuille and Églantine by Yves Rocher in Brittany in the summer of 1978 and I also tried L’air du Temps by Nina Ricci. I bought Chèvrefeuille by mail order for years since Yves Rocher was a pioneer in home sales until they opened franchises in Spain. It’s a young tender and delicious floral scent. Although the packaging was simple and not sophisticated at all I hold a nostalgic memory of that scent of youth and simplicity. I haven’t found it again; the modern version of Chèvrefeuille has nothing to do with that cologne from my first dates.