Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Patchouli 1969 Perfume Review
Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Patchouli 1969 Eau de Parfum has a bouquet of earthy, damp patchouli with aromatic, spiced, green cardamom and citrus that just… dissipated in the first hour and left almost no trace behind. I re-tested and came up empty again after an hour.
I decided to still share my experience because it’s true to how it played out on my skin, but I note that it seems quite unusual against others who have tried it and also my own experience with the Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier brand, where I have tried a few scents and did not have issues with longevity (Ambre Precieux is one of my personal favorites, too).
Patchouli 1969 Notes
It is described as having a “hippie chic spirit” but with “newness of ideas, colours, and exuberance.” These are the notes:
- top notes: cardamom, patchouli, petit grain bigarade
- heart notes: patchouli, jasmine, rose, elemi
- base notes: sandalwood, muscs, vanilla
What does Patchouli 1969 Smell Like?
It opened with camphorous patchouli, and then aromatic, lightly spiced, green, and crisp with cardamom with and underpinnings of bitter citrus. The patchouli was earthy, damp, and spiced with the cardamom and petit grain accentuating its place outdoors, in the garden, and made it feel like freshly-tilled soil just before dawn as morning dew sat upon lush leaves.
As it sat on my skin for a half hour, the patchouli was slightly softer, spiced and woody with less of a damp aspect. It still seemed slightly citrusy (almost lemon-like to my nose) and green around the edges, and it had a touch of muskiness. On my skin, it became a veil of scent after only an hour, which made it difficult to ascertain the remainder of its development. I tried applying more and re-testing and had no additional successful. At most, I detected a vague sense of florals with earthy patchouli and lingering cardamom.
I recommend checking out Kafkaesque’s review of the same scent, who had a much better and thorough experience of this scent (and was originally the reason I was excited to try it myself!). I have tried a few scents fromt his house previously and haven’t had longevity issues with it (Ambre Precieux, Ambre Mythique, Santal Noble).
Longevity
It lasted for a half hour until it was a skin-scent and after an hour, it was difficult to detect on my skin. This had unusually short longevity on me, and I had my husband check to see what he could smell on my arm, too, and he was puzzled as he didn’t detect anything himself.
Personal Notes
These are more subjective feelings based on what I like (or don’t like) in a perfume as well as considering the fragrance against other perfumes I own and love.
Since it did not wear right on my skin, it was obviously not a scent that worked out for me at all!
Testing Methodology
For testing, I used 1/3 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area . I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise.
I purchased my sample in January 2022; fragrances are known to be reformulated over their lifetime , so be mindful of when a review was made, e.g. a review from 2010 may not reflect what the same-named perfume smells like in 2022.
Availability
Cacao2 is available for $120/100ml. If possible, I highly recommend trying a fragrance before purchasing a full bottle because fragrance can wear differently just because of skin chemistry. Skin chemistry can effect not just the longevity of a fragrance but also what notes are prominent or hidden.
Patchouli 1969 Samples
We recommend the following retailers for purchasing decanted samples (typically 0.7ml to 2ml in size). This is a fuller list, so individual availability may depend on inventory.
WOW!!! That is not good if it just nearly disappears in an hour!
I have never smelt this one as MPG have no outlets in the UK/Ireland now. But I do like patchouli in perfume.
I do have some older ones, Secrete Datura being one, and they wear for hours.
This review is almost exactly what happens to me with almost every fragrance I try. The ones that aren’t gobbled up within the first hour are often twisted in to something horrifying and gross. I’m not even talking about a scent-blind nose, the scent just *vanishes* (I check this against other noses) it’s so weird. Jo Malone gets a whole five minutes. Replica’s By the Fireplace get about half an hour (it lasts longer in my bedroom air than on my skin) to an hour. Weirdly Tom Ford’s Tobacco Vanille wears like iron until showering and never mutates so it’s still my favorite high-end fragrance for quality (on my skin). The best way to combat this for me is to apply perfume either directly to the nape of my neck/hairline/behind the ears, or to my wrists first and then follow up with the back of the neck/hair/ears track. That way my hair has the responsibility of holding scent and it does a really good job. Also anyone who gets a hug can smell me, but it doesn’t project loudly to anyone more than a foot away. If I get dressed quickly after spraying perfume then the neck of my shirts and scarves gets a little too and that helps with longevity.
Anyway, super weird that it happened to you! This also sounds really interesting and I would totally sample it. More for the curiosity of wear than anything else.
Whenever it happens, it’s sooo disappointing!! I’m sorry this happens to you so frequently 🙁