I have a great love for vintage Coty fragrances, so I thought I’d look at vintage Paris today. Most vintage lovers know all about Emeraude, a fragrance that was, arguably, the template for Guerlain’s Shalimar, but few people seem to know about its vintage sister, a stellar feminine floral bouquet with notes of lilac, hyacinth, violets, rose, and more.

“Turmoil” by Spinella Art. (Direct website link embedded within.)

Vintage Paris is a beautifully romantic, radiant, lilac-driven floral that, in my opinion, blows lovely modern lilac fragrances like Puredistance‘s Opardu and Roja Dove‘s (now discontinued) Lilac out of the water.

The notes:

Aldehydes, Lilac, Hyacinth, Violet, Heliotrope, Bulgarian Rose, Carnation, Ylang-Ylang, Civet, Musk ketone, Vanilla, Tonka.

My Twitter review thread:

(VINTAGE REVIEW THREAD)

1. Forgotten in the mists of time is a romantic floral beauty; Coty's Paris (1923). It evokes a similar pastel palette as L'Heure Bleue but was arguably Coty's response to Chanel No. 22.

I like the 60s (50s?) PdT/EDP bec the sillage is much greater

1/? pic.twitter.com/m6l7Z0dRZq

— Kafkaesque (@Kafkaesque_Blog) June 30, 2021

I have a super short thread on vintage Emeraude that focuses primarily on how to date, if possible, vintage Coty bottles, as well as why I personally opt for the later Parfum de Toilette concentration instead of the undoubtedly richer but significantly more expensive pure parfum.

SOTN: Vtg Émeraude, 1960s EDT layered over drops of possibly 1930s extrait. I strongly believe the claim that Jacques Guerlain copied François Coty's preceding Émeraude for his Shalimar, as he copied Coty's L'Origan for L'Heure Bleue, only he improved on both & added complexity. pic.twitter.com/b3wdDqAXlK

— Kafkaesque (@Kafkaesque_Blog) September 8, 2019

I don’t discuss the details of Emeraude as a scent very much because it is, essentially, a less complex vintage Shalimar, minus the birch tar leather, smoke, and roses of the latter. Since I’ve covered vintage Shalimar at great length, it feels a little redundant to describe vintage Emeraude in detail. It is a great scent, though, and relatively affordable as compared to current prices for vintage Shalimar (particularly in extrait form).

Vintage Paris is even more affordable than Emeraude since so few people know about it. I’m trying to remember how much I spent on my bottle of the parfum de toilette, but it’s been years so I’m foggy on the actual amount. I think it was somewhere in the $18 to $24 range.

A current eBay search for vintage Paris doesn’t pull up many listings and most are for the significantly more expensive pure parfum or eau de toilette, prices which reflect how much older these bottles are than my 1950s/60s parfum de toilette concentration. My advice, if you’re interested in trying the scent, is to check back on eBay and put in a notification for new listings. You can also check Etsy.

In the meantime, those of you seeking a fantastic floral with lilac amidst a slew of other radiant flowers can get a sample of the pure parfum version of vintage Coty from Surrender to Chance. They say their samples are from a 1950s extrait bottle. Prices start at $4.89 for a 1/4 ml vial. Surrender to Chance ships to most countries overseas and is a very reputable service that I’ve used for years. One word of warning, given the rarity of certain vintage bottles and the finite quantities available, Surrender to Chance tends to run out quickly of their vintage scents.