Coty ~ Sand & Sable
A good while back, I was strongly urged to try Coty’s Sand & Sable by Flora and March in the comments about inexpensive fragrances at Target. March decided to make sure I got a bottle, because she is a fairy godmother of perfumes that make me irrationally happy. Sand & Sable is just as delightful as both she and Flora promised.
Sand & Sable is not a fully functional fragrance. By that I mean it smells like someone chopped off the ends of an imaginary perfume bandwidth on it. There’s not a top per se, nor is there a real steady and strong base. It’s mostly heart notes, but the heart is big and full, simple as it is. Wildly bright gardenia, waxy tuberose, and distict sensations of tanning lotion are the notes I smell. The effect is creamy and rich, despite the lack of development that you ordinarily get from more expensive fragrances. Once you take into account that it’s going to be a big block of scent, Sand & Sable is as enjoyable and as fun as many of the big house and niche/boutique releases.
Coty first released the fragrance in 1983, but it smells older to me. Retro kitschy, actually - but in a good way. When I spray it, I imagine chic young things wearing some of the early bikinis in the 1950s, happy and without a care in the world as long as they’re lounging on the beach.
I’m not sure it’s exactly a good fit for me, but I do love to sniff it in the air. So for now (and please don’t be offended, March!) I am using it as a home fragrance. My living room smells awesome, and I get to enjoy the scent without having to worry I’m not wearing it well.
I finally did spot a bottle of it locally a couple weeks ago, hidden way to the back corner behind big displays for Celine Dion and J-Lo fragrances at a Fred Meyer store for ten bucks.
Image from a March 18th, 1950 issue of Paris Match. The article in question was titled “Corinne Calvet, 1er prix du ‘french appeal’,” and pictured above is the accompanying full page photo of Corinne Calvet, whom the article labled “la Rita Hayworth francaise.”
July 20th, 2006 at 3:56 am
What a perfect description! Yes, once you get over the fact that it’s not going to do anything sophisticated, you can just kick back and enjoy it. I have sniffed Azuree and Bobbi Brown Beach, and I like this much, much better. Yes, there is something retro about it — sitting on the beach in 1955? Smell of transistor radio in the sun? Not sure. My only additional comment is that I do one spritz in the AIR and walk through it; it is very, very easy to overapply and fairly hard to get rid of, at least on me. Not in the least offended that you’d use it as a room spray! I’m going to try it later and see if I can get that Beach House Vibe going in the family room.
July 20th, 2006 at 5:27 am
I had a friend who wore this in high school (back in the 80s). I had a lot of nice oerfumes of my own–Obsession, Ysatis…80s standards–but I always wanted to borrow S&S because guys always loved it. I may have to check it out again and see what I am missing…it can go right next to my Exclamation and Pink Musk! ;)
July 20th, 2006 at 7:02 am
I picked up a bottle of this at CVS… I was actually trying to find Fire & Ice, but couldn’t remember the name. Sand & Sable reminds me of fracas… but a tamer fracas. I love big-hearted florals, so I liked this… but to be fair, I haven’t worn it yet.
July 21st, 2006 at 6:33 am
Room spray is perfect for this! I love the smell of it, but it was too linear to wear on me. You are a genius.
July 21st, 2006 at 5:24 pm
Sand & Sable was one of my drugstore favorites. It’s a bit heavy on the tuberose/spicy gardenia for me now but I think it’s one of the best in its genre. I agree with Minette that it’s a lot like Fracas, a big, bold white floral. I’d say it’s sultry and beachy, atleast based on my own scent associations. Nice review as always, K.
July 21st, 2006 at 11:45 pm
Oh, how nice that you could find some of this! I agree, it’s a bit blunt, but still a lot of fun. And I use things like that as room spray too - better than wasting the Gardenia Passion that way!
July 22nd, 2006 at 5:19 am
gardenia!!! Must buy, in my one day stopover in the U.S. Do they sell it in Canada? Hee.
July 24th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
March, you know, I usually avoid the walking into it approach, but maybe that’s where I went wrong. Will try it for this one! “Smell of transistor radio in the sun?” Heh, I like this description. Thanks so much for sharing S&S with me.
greeneyes, I am certain I didn’t know anyone who wore this back in high school, though I went to high school in the nineties, so perhaps that’s the thing. All my friends either wore oils from Escential Oils or else they lavished Victoria’s Secret freesia body spray on with virtual abandon. Sand & Sable seems so much more chic to me… you should definitely revist it sometime, if nothing else than to just take a walk down memory lane.
Minette, I haven’t smelled Fire & Ice in YEARS. I can’t even recall what it was like at the moment. You’re really dead-on about S&S being reminscent of Fracas, very apt.
Patty, I don’t mind the linear so much personally, it’s just way too big for me somehow. Room spray is not a bad way to go with it, since it’s not even as expensive as many of them, and it sure is a ton more potent than most.
Sali, oh I should have known you’d have liked it! It is so beachy, indeed. Sultry is always nice to have conviniently located in a bottle, too :)
Flora, yes, March made sure I had it, since I had the worst time finding it locally. It only recently appeared on the shelves at my Fred Meyer, so I was glad to have it just a little earlier for the summer. Anyhow, a BIG THANK YOU to you and to March for insisting I had to try it!
kuri, oh… I don’t know? Maybe? It’s one of those drugstore scents where the availability seems to vary wildly depending on where you live. I think you’ll like it, but don’t pay an arm and a leg for it!
October 27th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
Wow! I thought I was on the only person on this earth that used the fragrance. I used it in High School a very long time ago. I just bought it again the first time in over 20 years. And I have to say I’m trying to like it. But it’s too bold. It’s like good air freshener. But it’s not good as cologne. If you have any recomendations of something that is like but is a lot more mature in it’s smell please let me know. Thanks, Maureen