Scentzilla!

Toujours Moi is a fragrance I had picked up on a recommendation from someone whose taste meshes well with my own. It’s a cheap indulgence. The cologne is spiced with cinnamon layered over orange and wood. I hate the way it opens, though. It’s harsh, acidic, and just wrong. If I give it an hour though, it settles into a nice spiced woodiness that is enjoyable, even if it’s a bit thin. The matching shower gel reflects the drydown more than the opening, fortunately, and imparts a nice layer of fragrance to my skin. (If you use it, though, you’ll probably want to be a little less neurotic about the warning than I am.)

Having enjoyed the current incarnation of Toujours Moi, I was thrilled to pick up a curious little item from the scent’s past:

a choker necklace with a charm that holds a solid perfume.

I am guessing it was made sometime from the mid 60s to the early 70s, which I base upon the packaging, and similar items I have seen from Corday from the era. The charm is decorated with a penned unicorn exactly like in the one in a large tapestry housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I am not really a unicorn person. I can’t even appreciate them in an ironic and/or kitschy way. Nevertheless, I thought the necklace was neat. And the solid perfume inside the charm was unused, untouched.

Opening the charm was like finding treasure. I can’t abide the current verison of the scent as made by Dana anymore. This scent is not harsh or sharp. It’s ALIVE. Notes similar but richer instantly appear. The cinnamon in this vintage solid is freshly ground sweet spice. The orange and wood occur like earthy dreams, rather than being compartively like the potpourri notes happening in the new version. And it has a full heart the Dana produced fragrance lacks, pulsing with notes that seem like patchouli and amber to me.

Dana Toujours Moi, I think, is the zombie of Corday’s scent. It has the shell and appearance of the original’s body, but it lacks a soul. And given the acidity of the zombie Toujours Moi, it may actually eat your flesh like all good B-movie zombies do. I’m afraid knowing what I was missing out on has completely ruined me against the newer bottles of it, which is a pity, since I had liked it well enough before the necklace.