Valentino by Valentino (1977)

The original Valentino perfume is one of very few fragrances (if not the only one) I seem to prefer as an EDT over the extrait de parfum concentration. Maybe that's because my very first bottle of it (bought around 1991) was, indeed, an EDT. I wore it over several summers but never repurchased until last year when I found old bottles of both the eau de toilette and the parfum on eBay and on a dusty shelf at an antique store.

This green floral is probably not the most balanced in the genre, as something about it (my money is on it lily-of-the-valley heart, a note that's ridiculously easy to mess up) can get loud and screechy. I don't mind the hint of a peachy melon (or melony peach?), as it seems to function as a sweetening and softening backdrop for the flower bouquet, but one must admit this is no Le Parfum de Therese.

A drop of the parfum under a couple of EDT spritzes is nice, but more than that is the stuff that gives floral perfumes a bad reputation as being too suffocating. Other than this little issue, the original* Valentino is a pretty, super feminine perfume. My favorite part is the green and hyacinth combination that is all about spring and wearing pretty dresses with a cute purse and adorable sandals (all by Valentino, of course).

Valentino is easy to wear on a late summer day, when you've had enough of the crazy weather, already exhausted your summer perfume collection and want something a bit different. Some would argue Valentino smells dated. It has a hint of an animalic base (though not enough to raise the eyebrows of your nearest and dearests) and enough oakmoss in the base to choke an IFRA bureaucrat. I don't care, though. Sometimes a perfume that smells like a perfume is a very good thing.

Notes: citrus, peach, basil, green notes, jasmine, muguet, rose, carnation, cyclamen, hyacinth, oakmoss, musk, cedar, civet.

Valentino by Valentino is available online fairly easily, but it seems to have been discontinued at some point, since there's a new(ish) and very different perfume under the same name.

*Valentino was released in 1977 and again in 1986. I can't find any info on what, if anything, was changed in the formula. Since both bottles in my current collection seem to smell identical to the way I remember it from 1991 I'm assuming all I know is of the later version.