Animale
Animale Parfums (1987)

Really nice Rose Chypre and for the price a small miracle, I don't know from when the card sample I tried dates but if it's anything recent color me impressed.

I didn't wear this one when it was first released, so I can't speak to how the current version may be different from the original one. (I'm assuming that it must have been reformulated over time for reasons of cost or ingredient restrictions, because it's heavy on mossy and woody notes.)

That said, whatever changes may have been made, they've done a great job of keeping it true to the spirit of 1987! I can't smell Animale outside of the heavy context I bring to it as someone who would have been wearing other chypres like J'ai Ose, Diva, Mary McFadden, and Jean Marc Sinan at the time of its launch. So it gives me a powerful nostalgic feeling just in being a chypre from the 80s. Yes, each of those is/was unique, yet the degree of difference between them now strikes me as being about as big as the one between Flowerbomb and La Vie Est Belle today.

The current Diva doesn't smell the same to me as it used to - the components smell cheaper and the rose isn't as glorious as it was. Animale is not that far removed from today's Diva. The emphasis is different, though - Diva is so much about the animalic honeyed rose, while Animale seems like it's going to be complicated when you first spray it, but is basically an animalic chypre accord in the end.

Conventional wisdom is usually to wear a powerhouse chypre like this only in cooler weather. But I find that they can be bitter and off-putting if they don't get a chance to open up and bloom on warm skin. The thing I love about chypres is actually what they do with your chemistry if they suit you. My issue with so many modern American (in particular) fem scents is that they have no intersection with how women actually smell, and seem to be an exercise in masking. I don't need to take on any societal shame, thanks. Plus, if I want to smell like something you plug into a wall, I'll put one of those things in my pocket and radiate "clean linen" or whatever all day. So I actually wear Animale in hot weather - I decant it so I can dab just a little bit - because "Animale" is more the truth of the situation than "Fantasy" when it's 115 out, and I'll own it.

Especially amazing frag when you consider that it's available for around $9.99 at discounters if you hit them on the right day.

Animale is an exotic scent, specially for those who wants to seduce.

I smelled this fragrance today from a colleague at office, she used it for several years and the first time I met her, I confused her fragrance with Paloma Picasso.As I smelled this some hours later from its first application, didn't know how their top notes are. At least at morning, when my colleague crosses the hall in front of me, the trail she leaves at middle notes are based on strong roses and earthy notes of ylang-ylang, and some spicy note like coriander (like a less flowered version of Paloma Picasso). At the end of the day sometimes I leave the office with her on her car, and the base notes of this fragrance felt more musky, with some notes of earthy moss or oakmoss. There's a strange vein of animal notes, maybe civet, castoreum, ambergris or leather.Still remember those advertisements from the 90's about Animale, and this fragrance felt a bit retro. It's very long lasting, for women with personality (at least my colleague uses it as her personal signature). A bit strong for summer, more suitable for winter or evening use, like saturday nights at pubs. Young and mature at the same time, I think can be used for women in the range 30-45 years old.

Animale just suits me, and I am complimented everytime I wear it (probably more so than with any other scent). This is a multi-faceted, interesting, arresting scent that is absolutely sexy and very hard to ignore. The oakmoss base anchors this chypre and gives it a powerful elegance that lifts it out of the typical heady oriental category and helps it stand on its own eccentric feet.Animale is redolent: while sillage is good but not monstrous, Animale sort of "pulses." It works beautifully with body chemistry and creates more of an aura, an enveloping cocoon of scent, rather than a wake. The florals in Animale are heady, musky flowers like ylang ylang, rose, and jasmine. The animalic notes (civet & musk) keep these rich florals reigned in, and the oakmoss adds a multi-facetedness and depth that is irresistible to me. Animale will never leave my wardrobe. I think it's under-rated and, while slightly retro, a relevant and eccentric scent. You can not be ignored while wearing Animale. It is a scent that, if it works for your chemistry, will ellicit memories from those around you: each and every time I've worn it, people have told me that I remind them of something, and out pops a memory from their childhood. Animale almost works as a conversation piece for me, but I love it in its own right for its eccentric, sexy, sensual, and provocative nature.It's a perfect Saturday night scent, to wear with a short dress and strappy sandals, to a nightclub, to a party, to a dark and moody bar, or to seduce someone. I also wear it sometimes (in a more moderate application) to sex up a rainy weekend afternoon. It's versatile, but never a wallflower.A big thumbs up.

A rich chypre, it has a sensual little animalic note throughout that is indicative of the name. Animale was created by Animale Parfums in 1987 - a blend of bergamot, coriander, jasmine, pineapple, currant, orange flower, rose, violet, ylang-ylang and other exotic flowers. A long lasting woody base of sandalwood, vetiver, oakmoss, patchouli and musk.
When I first started sampling fragrances I liked this one immediately and bought a bottle right away. After wearing it every day for a week, I got a little tired of it, as it wasn't very complex (it was all about the 'animale' note and stayed on target), and the oriental-type vanillic note (a la 'Obsession') on the start-up was too prevalent for my nose. And finally, it started feeling dated, as it had that big '80's oriental air about it, even being a chypre, to go with the big shoulder pads, big belts and big hair. But it is still a sensual evening brew, and the "animale" note in it is fairly sultry, so, while I didn't replace the bottle when it was empty, I don't have negative memories of it. I like sensual scents a little less vanillic and on the drier side. Someday, there may be an '80's fragrance revival, and if you like vanilla with your animalics, keep this one in mind!