Jean Paul Gaultier Classique edt

Dear readers! My reviews are based on my own opinion, perception and experience of the product mentioned in this blog post. Your idea on the same product can be different, and it is fine, of course it is!

This one of my several must-have perfumes. I have been having it steadily since year 2000. I adore it. I can't say enough about this perfume. For me this scent is the epitome of cleanness and purity. This is a sweet powdery  and floral gorgeousness!

Classique was launched in 1993, developed by Jacques Cavallier for Firmenich.

The pyramid of Classique is rather complex and consists of orange blossom, mandarin orange, star anise, pear, bergamot and rose as top notes. The middle notes are as follows: tuberose, iris, ginger, plum, orchid, ylang-ylang. Base notes are amber, musk, vanilla, sandalwood and cinnamon.

One of the bottles I have comes with removable corset. Great detail, especially if you are displaying your perfumes. I don't. This is the fragrance that make me feel like a million dollars as soon as I wear it. It makes me feel like I.CAN.DO.ANYTHING. It is an essence of a woman in a bottle ( Gosh, I sound creepy like Jean-Baptiste Grenouille).

Let's start over. Catwoman. Wonder Woman. Ok, a girl next door with a trail of drop-dead-gorgeous perfume. Empowering, yes, it is a right word for it. It is like a red lipstick in a liquid form. An armor and a sword, and you are invincible! Can a perfume do it? What do you think? :) In terms of  longievity- it is long-lasting. It might give you a headache, though. It cocoons you right after the first spray, and then the components just jump on you one after another. Seriously! So, as usual, test it before buying it!

Sexy. It is undoubtedly sexy and captivating. Whatever you are wearing ( or nothing at all!) this is a perfume for you. The sillage is heavy, be sure you will be noticed! People will be enchanted by you. Sometimes when I wear it I hear something like "You smell nice!" I like this more than" I love your perfume!" Almost like if people get confused and mistake my Classique for my own natural scent.

Now to the ingredients and the pyramid. I personally can't tell apart all the ingredients listed above. But then, who does? Does it happen that one can smell all that is listed in the pyramid? Hmm.... I smell orange flowers blended with sweet vanilla right away after the application. Once it dries down I smell amber and tuberose blended with vanilla and oranges! Bitter oranges, gosh, I love them!! They stay with me all the day, along with beautiful tuberose and sweet vanilla. The bitterness of oranges does not make this perfume sweet and tacky, you don't risk to be overwhelmed with  vanilla, it is on leash! The scent I feel on myself the whole day has much less ingredients in it after all. I definitely smell bitter oranges, vanilla, amber, the powdery trail of my perfume, supposedly because of the musk. Then I feel tuberose and sandalwood. Just a teeny bit of sandalwood. No cinnamon, plum, orchid or star anise. Honest! Sometimes I can catch just a trace of ylang-ylang. Surprisingly enough it comes out in warm to hot weather. When I wear it in colder weather- ylang-ylang shows up never :)

The sillage is heavy, be prepared that you might be traced by it! I usually apply 4 sprays, lasts me the whole day. I would recommend a 1 to 2 sprays if you are just starting to get to know Classique.

In case you are wondering- the little tiny round thingy next to my two bottles is a Solid Perfume. I have to admit that it is rather useless. There is 0.9 gr of product in it,  it is firmly pressed  light beige scented powder. To my mind, the scent is way too weak to be a sound substitute for classic perfume. It is not even suitable for those people that are cautious with their perfumes and tend to apply the tiniest bit of it. Why keeping it? I use it after my shower or bath when I don't feel like applying a perfume or body spray, no other reason. It is also useless when you like to layer your perfume- it just does not do anything.

I feel like I have to mention the seasonal Limited Editions that come out in April-May, anyway before summer period starts. I believe they are called Classique L'Eau d' Ete, and then just the year it was launched.

I have sampled almost all of them, and I even had one, see the picture below, please. Mine was the Limited Edition of year 2009.

I personally dislike them. They all smell the same to me, contain 0 alcohol, which makes them super volatile- you have to refresh it nearly every hour!

But, to each his own, of course. I would stay away from those. In my defense, I should say that this was a gift. So I had to use it! Luckily it was gone in 1 month.As it has no alcohol in it,  it is safe to use it while sunbathing, which makes sense for summer fragrances, I suppose.  In case you like the Classique but find it strong, these ones can be a great alternative. But it is like eating cocoa powder when craving for Nutella. And I will stay away from these summer horrors, I will! So, correction- in case you want to use Classique but are afraid of its overpowering scent- go with a lighter application, spray it  in the air and step inside the perfume cloud. Limited Editions have little in common with Classique.

These are my final thoughts on Classique for you, guys:

In terms of price, it is in the middle, like most high-end perfumes. Not as pricey as some of the niche fragrances, but THE WOMAN :) is not cheap: 50 ml of product can cost up to 75 €. Same volume of edp costs  a bit more. Price/quality relation- I give it a 5 on a multiple rating scale from 1 to 5 ( where 1 equals poor, 2 is fair, 3 is average, 4 is good, 5 is excellent). Totally worth it!

In terms of age, Classique can be worn by women of all ages.

The perfume has a good staying power, no need to refresh it during the day!
I see it best paired with a floral dress, late spring, evening, high heels and a night out with girlfriends! Or why not as a great companion of a power suit. Typical working day in the office, hectic schedule... It it just I would recommend to use a lighter hand with it if you are not familiar with it. You can always add more!

Testing, testing and testing is the key. I would not recommend buying it without a prior test on the skin; ask for the sample from the sales assistant if possible. You might want to wear it for a day or two before committing.

P.S. I am advocating for NOT dividing scents into groups like evening or day-time fragrances, winter-time or spring time appropriate ones, etc. I can easily wear a heavier fragrance in the morning and go for a lightest in my collection for an evening out. Moreover, it is common for me to wear fragrances that are marketed for men. After all, it is completely up to you to decide when and where you wish to wear a particular perfume! Having fun and enjoying the scent you wear is ALL that matters.