Free Scent and Subversion by Barbara Herman

cigarette. Describing her look as “bedroom eyes” would be the understatement of the year.
    Notes from
1964 Dictionnaire des Parfums de France: Green, woodsy, and fruity notes with jasmine and lily of the valley
Canoe
by Dana (1936)
    Perfumer: Jean Carles
    Ever the provocateur, Jean Carles not only enjoyed making perfumes for loose women; he also loved gender-bending in fragrances. Even seasoned noses might have a hard time telling the difference between masculine Canoe and Carles’s Ambush, for women. Both are
fougères
(Canoe more classically, because of its addition of oakmoss), and both differ only by a few notes: Canoe has patchouli, carnation, and oakmoss, and Ambush does not. And the sweetness is more prominent in Ambush, whereas Canoe upped the aromatic quality.
    Fougère
(for “fern” in French) is a traditionally masculine category of perfume that originated with Fougère Royal (1882). Its base comprises lavender, oakmoss, and coumarin, giving it an herbaceous, mossy, and vanillic-warm character.
    Top notes: Lavender, clary sage, lemon
    Heart notes: Bourbon geranium, carnation, cedarwood, patchouli
    Base notes: Vanilla, tonka, musk, heliotrope, oakmoss
Muguet des Bois
by Coty (1936)
    Perfumer: Henri Robert
    Muguet des Bois (“Lily of the Woods”) smells clean, but unlike some more-abstract clean scents, it’s reminiscent of nature, and therefore impregnated with complexity. From the hint of musty lilac to a bright lemony-rose, there is an artful artlessness to its loveliness.
    Edmond Roudnitska, who created his own version of a lily-of-the-valley fragrance with Diorissimo, greatly admired Coty’s Muguet des Bois, and believed that no one had ever created a better lily note. (Unlike most floral notes, lily of the valley’s scent cannot be extracted into a stable essential oil; only reconstructions exist.)
    Top notes: Leafy green, bergamot, orange, aldehydes
    Heart notes: Lily of the valley, lilac, cyclamen, rose, jasmine
    Base notes: Sandalwood, musk
    An ad for Muguet des Bois by Coty, c. 1948
Blue Carnation
by Roger & Gallet (1937)
    When I first dabbed Blue Carnation on, its sharp and herbal opening salvo was so unfamiliar and harsh (with a prominent anise facet) that by the time its predominant, dense clove-cigarette accord arrived, I was truly baffled and put off. This stuff is strong!
    But I love acquiring tastes, and it didn’t take long for me to cozy up to Blue Carnation. Or, rather, it cozied up to me. Round, velvety, spicy-sweet clove is a comforting note, not one you encounter very often in modern perfumes, and when you do, as in Serge Lutens’s Vitriol d’oeillet (2011), it seems tame in comparison.
    Notes: Carnation, clove, eugenol, iso eugenol, salicylates, vanillin, milky Indian sandalwood
    (Notes from Yann Vasnier.)
    Ancient Chinese secret, huh? This 1937 ad for Bourjois’ perfume Kobako manages to commit multiple offenses against a progressive person’s idea of ethnic sensitivity. A white woman leans in as a presumably Chinese woman whispers secrets of her “allure and desirability” behind a splayed-out fan. One of those secrets is the “Oriental essence” that can be found in Kobako, which means “small box” … in Japanese. Sigh.
Carnet de Bal
by Révillon (1937)
    Perfumer: Maurice Schaller
    Although it’s often categorized as a spicy Oriental perfume, Carnet de Bal (“Dance Card”) is not heavy, dark, or mysterious. It opens with citrus, fruit, and a prominent ylang-ylang note, but its pronounced mossy, woody, and spicy base gives the fragrance its primary character. Although civet and musk rear their naughty heads now and then, Carnet de Bal never veers into dirty-dancing territory. In the drydown, the floral notes peer through the moss and vanilla, creating a gentle yet spicy scent that lingers on the skin.
    Top notes: Citrus oils, chamomile, fruit
    Heart notes: Cyclamen, rose, lily, jasmine, ylang-ylang
    Base notes: Patchouli, civet, amber, musk, moss, vanilla
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