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Among the vintage presents I received for my birthday was a sealed full bottle of the Russian perfume Evening (Вечер) produced at Novaya Zarya and created maybe in the 50's. The packaging is in impeccable condition, emerald green and gold with green velvet inside and a glass bottle inspired by scent bottles in the XIXth century (closed by baudruchage and so well sealed that I took me several hours to open it). To my surprise the fragrance is very well preserved and smells like new, as if time produced no damage. It is a very nice and classic floral perfume, very well balanced with taste and care for the delicate notes.
It is built around a sweet Persian lilac note that represents maybe more than half of the formula. The second note is a white light jasmine with an important amount of benzyl acetate and maybe jasmonal A with its fat-pomade accent. It is not the dark, animalic, opulent side of the jasmine (nor the jasmine absolute note) but the fresh flowery side. The third flower, less important is a delicate and soft lily of the valley.
On the skin the 3 flowers suggests also a very pleasant white soap and creamy note, without being soapy, built on a light woody base with sweet notes and an important musky drydown.
The theme is a constant play of lilac-jasmine that complements each other during the evaporation. The sweet drydown is floral and less vanilla, very close to the heliotrope.
The white flower theme becomes more evident with the evaporation (jasmine and even mock orange) while the lilac becomes greener and airy. The drydown is very tenacious and has a linden blossom sweet note.
Evening (Вечер) is built with several bases, the notes are too well balanced. For this reason it is also very easy (for me) to reconstruct its formula. I feel also that no common top notes are present.
A Lilas VII accord (with 7 ingredients), a light Jasmophore note (with 6 ingredients), a small Muguet 16, and after hidroxycitronellal, benzyl acetate, jasmonal A, musk ketone and ambrette, maybe a civet base and some other 3 ingredients. With 12-15 basic elements (not bases) you can "reproduce" the scent and some other notes will enrich it.
The author of Evening was a very sensitive and romantic person but the available ingredients in CCCP were not the same like in the western labs. With several special ingredients Evening might have been a great creation, inspired most probably by the evening odors in a summer garden, with mock orange and night blooming jasmine. A creation less sensual and more delicate, not for the curvaceous "grande dame" but for "l'ingénue débutante" in the 50-60's, dressed in white.
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3 commentaires:
Greetings from Russia :)
Is this your first acquintance with Novaya Zarya? I thought so because if not, you would surely notice that the lilac note you mentioned - it's almost in their every perfume, one of their successes was even called "Lilac of Persia", it was made years and years ago, and since then it seems they put lilac almost everywhere...
I sampled some of them but there are many that are very hard to find.
It is incredible, I remember it so well, my uncle gave it to my mother, probably in the early sixties. I don't remember its smell, but only the beautiful crystall bottle, and lovely box, and the way it was treated by my mother, as a rare luxury, which it was in Russia of those days. Would love to get that.
Smelka- Isabella
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