Thursday 29 January 2015

L'Air du Temps - Nina Ricci



When it was announced that Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps was our Perfume of the Week, the whole office in unison sighed, "awwww....".  For all of us it was evocative of time gone by, reminding us of our mums, of an aunt, of a time or a person.  

First launched in 1948, after World War Two, the totally beautiful bottle in its classic and most recognised form, is topped by doves - the symbol of peace. 

Heavy, heady and floral, the smell kicks off strong and stays that way.  It has a powdery edge and a deep woody side.  Elaine described it as "every inch the 'Lady' of perfumes" and we all felt it conjured up a very proper, rather lovely, elegant older lady wearing, perhaps, a fox-fur stole and long silk gloves. We were hard pushed to recognise individual smells in there but felt we could pick out rose and jasmine.

An absolute classic, we all agreed this perfume has stood the test of time but were not entirely sure any of us would choose to wear it as we all felt that it was aimed at an older market - and some of us are not so young ourselves!  Did we like it? Truthfully, it didn't get a unanimous thumbs up though we all adore the bottle.  The overall feeling was of it being a slightly overwhelming, heavily vintage smell. One to adorn a dressing table but possibly not be worn!  However, we did all feel a huge fondness for it - a bottled version of a hug from a much loved elderly relative.  

And that's got to be a good thing!

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