A summer Shalimar, this eau de Cologne is taking me to the end of the season and into fall. My favourite thing about the vintage versions is that they’re more interesting than the vanilla bomb that Shalimar is known for being. The citruses are amped up to mouth-puckering levels, the smokiness of the vanilla creates a shadow of a leather. But this is still a summer perfume and meant to be spritzed on generously. Even the sprayer refuses to spritz a concentrated dose and diffuses a generous mist that’s best directed at your whole body so as to catch the most of the cloud of scent. I get it now: the comparisons to Le Lion make sense, but the Chanel’s have their own amber accords and the Guerlain’s their own.
