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Chypre family

A perfume can belong to the chypre family, but where does this word come from? Who created the first chypre? Did you think it was Coty like me? I have a different way of looking at it. We often hear that it comes from the island of Cyprus, which was at the centre of the perfume trade from the East and was also famous for its oak moss scented gloves.

 

Patchouli leaves

In reality, the origin is not really known.
The lack of very specific formulations of ancient chypre perfumes is explained by the limited number of known recipes for them. The available raw materials varied little until the 19th century and their field of use remains limited.

Hair powder, wigs and sachet powders, which had chypre names, have very similar formulations. They contain musk, civet and amber, separately or together, with oakmoss, iris and souchet.
There were also recipes for chypre oiselet, which remain the only burning chypres known to us. These are a kind of trochisque (cassolette, perfume box) that are thrown into the fire to receive a pleasant smell and to correct the malignancy of the air and which, as they burn, gradually fly away like birds.
Recipe for a chypre birdie according to Lémery: willow charcoal, tragacanth, rose water, labdanum, civet musk, ambergris, styrax, benzoin, rhodes wood and essence, cinnamon, clove and elemi.
Finally, musk, civet and amber are almost always present in the spirits or eaux de chypre. Dejean mentions, in the 18th century, that eau de chypre is distinguished from other waters by musk and amber.

 

 

Transitional chypres

They correspond to the period between the end of the Second Empire and the Great War, which was rich in scientific, technological and industrial progress. It was the arrival of organic synthesis that made available to perfumers new molecules such as vanillin in 1874, coumarin in 1878, ionones (violet notes) around 1884, and nitrated musks in 1888. This period also corresponds to the appearance of new extraction technologies.
Numerous extracts called chypre were created, seeking to distinguish themselves from the old chypres while preserving a vague basic accord.

 

Some chypre names from that period

You can see that Guerlain is very present in the field of chypre perfumes.

  • Eau de Chypre by Guerlain (around 1850)
  • Chypre de Tentation by Roger et Gallet (1893)
  • Cyprisine by Guerlain (1894)
  • Chypre by Lubin (1898)
  • Chypre de Paris by Guerlain (1909)

While perfumes remained elitist and of limited distribution until the Great War, Coty broke tradition in 1917 with his Chypre, the first mass-market perfume with an exceptional impact. François Coty was the first to do marketing without knowing it! He succeeded in making a remarkable publicity for this perfume. And I think that's why he is remembered only for it.
Several dozen perfumes with the chypre name followed until 1950, the beginning of contemporary perfumery.

The classic chypre accord consists of bergamot, jasmine, rose, patchouli, oakmoss, labdanum and possibly animal notes.
Nowadays, we have contemporary chyprés on the market where oakmoss and labdanum have been replaced by patchouli.
Since oak moss is forbidden by the IFRA (allergenic), it is replaced by a natural tree moss at Guerlain, and by evernyl at others.

This term chypre is quite enigmatic for a client. One can speak of undergrowth and woody scents, autumnal scents, imbued with mystery, charisma and magnetism, which can be feminine or masculine.

Classic cyprus

  • Green chypre: Miss Dior by Christian Dior (1947)
  • Fruity chypre: Mitsouko by Guerlain (1919) - First use of the C14 note in perfumery

More modern fruity cyprus

  • Femme de Rochas (1944)
  • Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel (2001) - New cyprus
  • Miss Dior Chérie by Christian Dior (2005) - New cyprus
  • Parure by Guerlain (now discontinued)
  • Chypre fatal in the Elixirs Charnels collection by Guerlain (exclusive)

Floral cyprus

  • Aromatics Elixir by Clinique (1972)
  • Paloma by Paloma Picasso (1984)
  • Eau du soir by Sisley (1990)
  • Idylle by Guerlain
  • Chant d'arômes by Guerlain
  • Rose barbare by Guerlain (exclusive)

Musky cyprus

  • Narciso Rodriguez for her (2006) - New cyprus

Aromatic leathery cyprus

  • Aramis by Aramis (1965)
  • Antaeus by Chanel (1981)
  • Songe d'une nuit d'été by Guerlain 2012 (exclusive)
  • Cabochard by Grès (1959)

Very citrusy

  • Eau Sauvage Extrême by Christian Dior (1984)
  • Eau de Guerlain
  • Monsieur de Chanel

Guerlain has three chypres: Rose Barbare and Chypre Fatal in the Elixirs Charnels range and Songe d'une nuit d'été in the Parisian reissues Philtre d'Amour and Attrape Cœur (now discontinued).

 

Sylvaine Delacourte perfumes

Discover Sylvaine Delacourte's brand with her Orange Blossom, Musk and Vanilla Collections. You can try them thanks to the Discovery Boxes (5 Eaux de Parfum x 2 ml) and rediscover these raw materials as you have never smelled them before.