Hiya Olfactoria’s Travelers,

Portia from Australian Perfume Junkies and Perfume Posse back on the OTs.

A while ago I found a small bottle of vintage Infini parfum on one of the Facebook pages For Sale lists and though there was only about 2ml left I grabbed it. Thick, orange and viscous it arrived and I thought I’d share with you my first wear.

Infini was created by Gerard Lefortis for Caron in 1970.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Jasmine, aldehydes, narcissus, lily of the valley
Heart: Iris, tuberose, lilac, rose
Base: Vetiver, musk, tonka, amber, sandalwood

Infini was reformulated from Ernest Daltroff’s original in 1970 and we are dealing with a parfum of that era.

Firstly, I love that the featured notes contain no citruses, and the narcissus in Infini is very like the Narcissus fragrance that CB I Hate Perfumes brought out last year.

Infini is so different to modern perfumery in that the opening, particularly in this aged state, is not friendly or warm but ferocious. It has that remarkable inky metallic edge that tells you the aldehydes are still in full force, maybe even turning, but if you hold on tight for about 5 minutes everything starts to smooth out and become rounded. That furniture polish squeak goes and a balmy bouquet is revealed.

The heart is a quieter purr of flowers, resins and animalics. Things I can smell not mentioned include civet, honey and wee but I’m pretty sure they can be attributed to the narcissus, tuberose and musk but really they read much more feral to my nose. Not feral in a bad way but beautiful, deep, intense, majestic and funnily enough soft and furry.

Here is fragrance to really lift you into a completely different mindset. Though I’m sitting here in Sydney on a cool Spring morning writing to you I could be a golden years of Hollywood movie star playing a Queen, or a strong woman brought low, a glittering ingenue or my favourite of them all Helen Lawson, played by Susan Haywood, singing I’ll Plant My Own Tree in Valley Of the Dolls.

Infini parfum takes forever to go through its stages and five hours later the bouquet has mainly gone, still a shiver of narcissus, and I am left with the warmest, most opaque amber and musk with what could very well be the real deal sandalwood. Obviously the blending is so superb that I’m not getting notes per se but impressions of notes hiding within a beautiful soft amber haze. This is about as close to perfection in vintage fragrance as I can imagine.

Further reading: Yesterday’s Perfume and The Non-Blonde
Beauty Encounter has $120/15ml parfum
Surrender To Chance starts at $4/ml

What about you? Do you have a favourite vintage fragrance?
Portia xx