Getting back from shipping packages at the post office today, I was back at the lobby checking my own mail, which had a package, a few bills, and as usual - a delivery attempt notice from UPS, which could only mean one thing: I missed the courier guy by just a few minutes, as usual... And than the unheard of happened: I found the package waiting for me patiently right at my doorstep!

This is unprecedented. It never, ever, EVER happens. But that was not where the good surprises ended today. This was a flacon of Patou's 1000 in parfum concentration I ordered off eBay last week. As it turns out, even though it was wrapped with cellophane and the bottle completely sealed, it was a vintage. In any case, it is at least old enough to exist before the IFRA regulations kicked in, with the requirement for a long list of allergens, and most importantly the oakmoss, which is now gradually being eliminated altogether from such Chyprish beauties!

1000 was better than I even remembered it. Releasing the stopper from the sealing film, I noticed it was covered but what looked like crystals (from the film perhaps?). Dipping the jade applicator in the precious jus (some of which evaporated) and applying it onto my skin was a magical moment. Off the jade glass rod, a rose emerged, with thorns and crushed leaves. Moss, amber, spice and a hint of tea-like osmanthus swirling around it like little green fairies.

1000 has the rich vintage air to it of a full-bodied, grown up perfume. It's not as dry and medicinal as I remember it. It certainly has the "old fashioned Chypre" feel to it with a tad of a soapiness (that seems to be the trademark of the 70's - 1000 was released in 1972 and was created by Msr. Jean Kerléo, who now runs the Osmotheque). And the rose really blooms and grows on the skin, a dark rose with its roots deep in patchouli, oakmoss, musk and a hint of ambery labdanum, and an even tinier hint of immortelle absolute. I'm in heaven.