Sikkim by Lancôme

Oriental floral? Sikkim is a textbook green-floral chypre. Moss, galbanum, vetiver, aldehydes—it’s no trouble at all to grasp its scent. The green, metallic acidity of the moss, the raw herbal tone of the galbanum, the dampness of the vetiver, and the sharp, effervescent aldehydes at first, which later seem to revive when they mingle with the spiced tinkling of the carnation and narcissus, both very soft but unmistakable. I won’t forget the fresh leather reminiscent of Cabochard; here it’s executed just right, not to dominate but to lend a regal air to the other notes. The iris and flowers, already in their death throes, unify the whole genre like a blue mist. Sikkim opens strong—a machete blow of herbaceous vapors, similar to tearing a bunch of dried herbs with your hands and rubbing their juice into your lungs, then it calms down, settling into that range of seventies herbal, crunchy fragrances, almost masculine, for working women who no longer were seduced by anything evoking glamour or princess romance. Finally, it makes a beautiful transition, keeping green and winter-leather nuances, moving toward a talc of cool, velvety flowers and herbs, with almost no sweetness in a precious green-blue range. It wasn’t as sharp or dark as the herbal chypres like Eau de Soir or Scherrer, nor did it reach the narcotic, crisp, soapy flowers of Madame Rochas, nor did it have the adolescent, playful grace of a Caleche. Could it be a distant cousin of Aromatics Elixir, just greener and sportier? Could it even have that masterful combination of leather/vetiver/patchouli with hints of the wet jar from the original Cabochard in the Parfum version? It might recall these, but setting distances aside, Sikkim was a much more resolute, functional perfume, less historical and closer to Dioressence. Essential for lovers of completely unsweetened perfumes and essential for understanding perfume history in the seventies. One of the best from Lancome, a house that until the nineties knew how to adapt to trends without losing a shred of prestige along the way.

Unique opportunity: a vintage from the 70s in perfect condition, something that doesn’t usually happen to me, but there’s always someone with treasures. SIKKIM, a small state in northern India at the foot of the Himalayas. An unknown fragrance for me, with ingredients that IFRA has already banned. SIKKIM BY LANCÔME: welcome to the world of classic aldehydic floral chypres; that’s something. This is how Joya, Chanel 5, Youth Dew, Miss Dior, Arpège, Cinnabar, Aliage… must have smelled in the dawn of time! Just pronouncing their names makes me fall flat on my face and ask for forgiveness! The beauty of an authentic seventies chypre: its potent, exultant greenery, its passionate and carnal flowers, its deep and intense resins, its leathery mosses, and its mossy leathers. The opening aldehydes are the ones I remember smelling when ladies came out of Sunday mass: brilliant aldehydes like fireworks. Aldehydes that made me feel respect and admiration, looking up from my short stature, knowing them to be unreachable. Aldehydes of rich ladies and sumptuous mansions. The green of the galbanum, like freshly cut grass, which can even evoke a turpentine pine, joined with the citrus bergamot, the spicy green of caraway, and the push of the aldehydes, achieves a brilliant summer accord, but of a luxurious summer in Tuscany, in a Renaissance villa accessible through a long road flanked by cypresses. And the floral heart. The dry floral of the gardenia, along with the carnality of sensual, not-too-sweet flowers, arising from a dark rose, a carnation, and a softly indolic jasmine, confer on SIKKIM that aura of green-floral majesty, of perfume belonging to the Ladies of the Forest. Its drydown is beautiful, deep, foresty, and earthy, with an oak moss that anchors its notes, dragging them into their fungal dampness, enveloping them in an intense leather and concentrated patchouli embrace that narcotizes the senses and faints the heart. SIKKIM BY LANCÔME: splendor in the grass and glory in the flowers.