Sikkim (La Collection Fragrances) Lancome for women

An extremely unique fragrance with a very earthy, vegetal smell. Read further.

I'm not quite sure what to classify Sikkim as, but if anything I'd say a green floral chypre. No one does galbanum better than Lancome, as I see it, because Sikkim opens with the same fantastic fresh galbanum note that O de Lancome has. It's not an ugly powdery galbanum like something from Estee Lauder. Complementing that galbanum note is a warm, ambery rose, which is not overly powdery on my skin at all. Finally, unmistakably, there's a dark green oakmoss note supporting the entire fragrance. The oakmoss becomes a star player during the drydown and middle notes. It also helps to support the longevity - most fragrances last 5 to 6 hours on my skin, if I'm lucky. Other people can smell them afterward, but the sillage goes down to zero for me. Not Sikkim. Sikkim's drydown unfolded over 12 hours, and what a drydown it is. If the opening blast of galbanum and rose is too much for you, I plead that you be patient, as the drydown is absolutely worth waiting for. Nevertheless, Sikkim, like the time period it was released, is an earthy flower child that lives in the wild. She is a child of nature, and I can't get enough of her. Sikkim absolutely works as a unisex, and is my favorite out of the Lancome "La Collection" reissues. If you get the chance, try it, because it really is awesome.

Sikkim reminds me of the expression, “to fly off the handle.” Sikkim’s escalation is so quick that it doesn’t even seem like progression, just the flip from something calm to something disturbed. The first sniff sends you reeling. Sikkim is fast, rough and, I don’t know---I guess abundant. It’s just everything at once. It’s a heavy, raspy green chypre, but, although light on amber sweetness, it’s also a big spicy oriental with an almost medicinal vibe. It’s a great, fun ride, and in the end it’s an animalic green chypre with a dusting of spiced sweetness. Built from so many drydown materials, this scent has remarkable endurance, but (blessedly) that quality lovely of many stark chypres---it becomes a skin/body scent in the drydown.

This is one of those perfumes that I’m thankful that I tried at home, with no one else in the house. The reissued EdP opens amazingly strong with loads of bitter galbanum coupled with aldehydes and intense florals that remind me mostly of hyacinth and lily-of-the-valley, neither of which is listed in the notes. There’s also a light clove-like spiciness that may be from the carnation accord.

I like the bittersweet opening volley, powerful though it is. As the scent dries down, it stays sharp and perfumey in an old-fashioned way, floral in an abstract sense without exhibiting any specifically identifiable floral notes. With the galbanum and green notes gone, this seems like just another way-too-strong floral, the kind that could flush out the occupants from a whole room full of cubicles, fanning the air and asking, “Who’s wearing too much perfume?”. It improves as it dries down and the floral notes recede to reveal an almost oriental base, which sticks around all day, at least 12 hours.

Sikkim at first seemed much too floral for my taste, but later I realized that I wanted to wear it again, in a smaller dose, because I had really liked the sharp bitterness of it. Sikkim might be just the thing for someone who’s into strong florals and likes them non-sweet and assertive. Just treat it with extreme caution so as not to OD on it.

even if sikkim lovers will hate me i have to tell about this traumatic adventure i had with this.
i smelled once on the bottle of an original Sikkim from the early 1970s (from the collection of an elderly french lady) and i took a few dabs out of it to my wrists.
it was the strongest, oily, awful nauseatic heady spicy earthy soapy scent i ever smellt... all notes here were completaly over-overdone, my eyes began becoming wet and i could hardly stop sneezing.
i couldn t detect any leather accord in this. only strong aldehydes, sharp heady florals, spiciest spices and lot of 'wet' rotten moss, roots and earth-aroma.
brrrrrrr i could not imagine that women of this decade wanted to smell like this. had to get rid of it after 10 minutes because my stomach rebelled against this monster.
...and had a really hard time to get it off completaly even by washing with soap.
i didn t touch any perfume for some weeks(!!!!) afterwards, guess it has indeed traumatised me for a while!

they should have reformulated this for shure. i wondering if it could smell better in the modern version.... though.

Another beautiful creation from the Lancome La Collection Fragrances, SIKKIM offers the best of leather and chypre perfumes rolled into one. I am quite unclear as to why anyone would classify this as an oriental floral, to be honest, but I do find the composition extremely appealing.

The leather is light and complements the floral, green, and woody elements. A touch of aldehydes offers that special zing. I find narcissus and jasmine to be the dominant florals, though I do think of this more as a lightly leatherized chypre than a floral perfume. In comparison with CUIR, of course, SIKKIM does seem rather floral and much less leathery. But I prefer this use of leather, as one among many important notes rather than the focus, as in CUIR.

This is the fourth perfume of the coffret to please me, and three of the four are marvelous variations on the chypre. Somehow these perfumes seem both vintage and new at the same time, and they have actually succeeded in transforming my view of Lancome as a perfume house. For anyone who truly and deeply loves chypre perfumes, this collection is a must!

I never smelled the old Sikkim but I do love this new one from La Collection. It has similar notes to Clinique Aromatics but is a little sweeter and more flowery. Just as classy and wearable. It lasts well but is not intrusive. It is also a bit like Ungaro Diva but with lighter basenotes so not as dark and sexy as Diva. Innocent and pretty.

Today I've recieved the original version of Sikkim (won on ebay). Thumbs up for the old one!!! The new version is too synthetic.

Sikkim was my signature scent in the seventies and early eighties. I have missed it so much and have never found a suitable replacement. Have had a bottle of the new scent and although have had a few compliments about it, it does not, in my opinion match the magical properties of the original, which was green yet oriental and spicy

Sikkim was my signature scent in the seventies and early eighties. I have missed it so much and have never found a suitable replacement. Have had a bottle of the new scent and although have had a few compliments about it, it does not, in my opinion match the magical properties of the original, which was green yet oriental and spicy

The original sikkim is/was a floral chypre in my opinion, a beautiful, feminine ,incredible scent with an outstanding longlasting power

Im lookin for Lancome Peut Etre can anyone tell me where to purchase it please. I just smelled it on a woman while in the airport but didnt have time to get all the info

It was my favorite and beautiful parfum in 1985.

The original perfume was incredible! the scent of a godess! I discovered it on my mum, I must say the new one is rather different.

The difference between old and new is probably due to reformulation.

The IFRA, the International Fragrance Association, established restrictions in Europe on the use of a number of significant fragrance materials, especially oakmoss, which is used in so many chypre, fougere, and oriental scents. Vetiver has also fallen under these regulations.

These regs have led to the reformulations of hundreds of old classic perfumes and men's colognes, sadly nearly always to their detriment.

You can read review after review here and on other fragrance boards commenting on how the current version suffers in comparison to the older one.

Both oakmoss and vetiver were in the original formula of Sikkim, which i bought myself, in the 90s. Both have probably been replaced in the past 5 years by inadequate synthetics.

I compared the old version to this re-release and the old one won. I might be comparing EdP and EdT, that would explain why the new one was so bland.
I however like the bottles.

I fell in love with Sikkim in the early 70's when living in Miami. I still believe that it is the only perfume for me. Just found out it may still be available. I am the luckiest girl in the world!

I discovered this scent in 1974 aboard an Italian cruise ship from NY. I bought a bottle and went mad; had to go on yet another cruise in order to get another bottle! Only saw it in the stores shortly after that. It was so lovely, so positively me ... does it still exist???