Chypre perfume.

A beginner's Guide to Chypres

This sample packe will help guide you through the world of chypre fragrances & its sub categories.

The sampler will include 1 ml sample vials of the following perfumes named in the discussion below. Pure parfums will be 1/2 filled sample vial.

The word Chypre is French for Cyprus. It was first used in perfumery by François Coty, who created an influential perfume of that name in 1917. Consisting of a bergamot top note, classic floral heart, and a rich mossy base note. However, perfumes of a similar style have been created throughout the 19th century & have had variations on this theme & Modern chypre perfumes have various citrus top notes, herbaceous, floral and animalic notes, but all tend to have a "warm" and "woody" theme, and contain oak moss and usually amber. Further common notes include patchouli, bergamot, rose and rock rose (Cistus - labdanum)

1) Traditional Chypre ~ Coty chypre the original Chypre fragrance

2) Floral Chypre ~ More floral notes are added & often patchouli is added to the base along with the oakmoss. Miss Dior is a wonderful floral Chypre.

3) Fruity Chypre ~ Heavy with a peach-like fruitiness. Fruity Chypres use dark & heavily sweet & fleshy fruits such as plum, peach & apricot – which highly complement the dark earthy base notes and the sparkling citrus top notes. Guerlain's Mitsouko was the ground breaking fragrance of this category. the first to combine chypre with the Peach acchord.

4) Chypre Leather ~ Characterized by the addition of Dry, smoky, leathery notes often considered dark and masculine. Tobacco, castoreum, cade and birch tar are the notes that lend a smoky, leathery feel to a perfume. Chanel's Cuir de Russie was one of the first to combine leather & Chypre notes.

5) Aldehydic chypre ~ Groundbreaking in its day for combining chypre & aldehydes is Cabochard by Gres

6) Aromatic Chypre ~ Also a modern take on chypres with a fresh feel. Guerlain's sous le Vent would fit this category perfectly

7) Green Chypre ~ Also a modern Chypre sub category. The lightest of the chypres – usually with leafy-green notes or, at times herbaceous and coniferous notes. Chanel No. 19 was one of the first green chypres created.

8) Citrus Chypre - Citrus is added to the heart as well as top notes The most innovative Citrus Chypre is Dior Eau Sauvage Created by top perfumer Edmond Roudnitska, Eau Sauvage (1966) is a citrus chypre fragrance that broke the mould in its use of scientific innovation. Top perfumer Roja Dove says, "It is one of the most important creations of the second half of last century." Eau Sauvage is groundbreaking in its simplicity, From today's perspective, the scent is classic and refined.

9) Rose Chypre - Adding more rose to the heart The most well known & probably the best Rose Chypre ever made is Lancome Magie Noire

10) Dark Chypre -A dark Chypre is one that forgoes the citrus & uses deep dark florals such as dark rose & heavy on the leather. the most well known dark chypre is Robert Piguet's Bandit