Royal Bain de Caron by Caron

Noelia

I own it!I bought it blind..and i wasn't wrong!very warm oriental scent.i can't say that it's powdery on me,but i get a lot of amber and vanilla..very nice!i love the champagne bottle!

doctormod

And so I took a bath in it. Literally. I admit my French is imperfect--the dazzlingly sophisticated French professor at my small undergraduate school went on a sabbatical leave and never returned so I took Italian instead--but "bain," royal or otherwise, suggests bathing, to my mind, even though something might have been lost in my translation.

(Historical note: The nouveau-riche Texan for whom this was created expressed a desire to take UN BAIN DANS LE CHAMPAGNE, and Caron did its best to oblige, though there's no champagne to be found here.)

This bottle had been sitting around the house untouched for over two years, dating from the time of the grand romance with the Caronista whose head was filled with Modernist fantasies. I wasn't too sure what to do with it then--the splash bottle itself said "pour me in the bathtub" whenever I looked at it--and after the romance ended bitterly, I couldn't be bothered with it.

And then it resurfaced. My thought upon sniffing the bottle was that there must be some sort of "Caronade" (a la the time-honoured Guerlainade) as it possessed an unmistakable Caron vibe (so to speak). I just wasn't sure whether I thought it was truly a wonderful Caron, however...

So while the steaming water poured into the tub, I added a generous dose of RBdC. (As I've said elsewhere, it's an interesting way to find how a fragrance smells when it isn't on one's own body.) First impression: HORRID, absolutely horrid. A wild melange of diverse notes that didn't seem to work together. But I just left the room and let the water run, and when I returned it had settled into a pleasant if unusual amber floral that I found quite soothing once I was soaking in it.

After the bath, I splashed some on my still-naked self: OMG! HORRID IN THE EXTREME! I actually thought I was going to have an asthma attack as the vapours seeped into my respiratory passages. I had visions of 1950s B-movies about killer smells resulting from a lab explosion. This went on for ten to fifteen minutes, but I stubbornly held on, reckoning it would soon dissipate, like the opening blast from an old-fashioned floral aldehyde. (In fact, that's exactly what I thought it was--not a floral oriental.) The storm passed--not quickly enough for my liking--and what remained was an interesting if somewhat perplexing vintage-type floral. Not the best I've ever smelled, but hardly the worst--let's just say there's something prototypically (if not stereotypically) "vintage" about it, as might be expected from a product of the 1930s.

In the final analysis, it's a pleasant enough amber-based floral with a rose top note that in my mind recalls an old sepia print photo, like that of my German grandparents that was once on the bureau in my parents' bedroom. The polite oriental notes combined with the amber are, in some transitory moments, achingly nostalgic. The incense note, though, seems "off"; it disturbs the overall harmony and, as far as I can tell, accounts for the opening stench. (And I do mean STENCH.)

A worthwhile fragrance for those who like vintage scents--if one can survive the initial shock.

marielon

I have a sample from mid summer 2009, and just purchased a vintage bottle. The new sample, on my left hand, has incredible staying power, a delicious, powdery, sensual, almond-y lilac note. The vintage formula, on my right hand, smelled identical, at first, but after an hour hour, the powdery lilac has muted. And, the formula on my right hand makes me sneeze, whereas the modern one, on my left hand, does not make me sneeze. There you have it. Both are beautiful. The modern formulation has more depth and staying power. An hour on into the drydown, it has a nice hot chocolate kind of quality. I was about to say no chocolate on my right hand, but yes, it is there-- a slight chocolate on the vintage version drydown. Maybe nuttier and richer on the modern formula, with a touch of the tabac blonde vanilla pipe tobacco. I think both versions are absolutely wonderful. The old one seems more floral. I actually prefer the new version.

Omnia_Insomnia

I'm the lucky owner of the old formulated perfume. It's a warm powdery close-to-skin scent, very nostalgic and romantic yet sophisticated and full of life.

Juliette has a gun

This used to be one of the most beautiful perfumes on the planet, but has been reformulated - and is a shadow of what it used to be. Nevertheless, it still has a charming, powdery touch to it, and the topnotes still speak of champagne and sparkle in the rain...
So much better than Flower by Kenzo which copied its structure, and still a very extravagant choice.