Ariane
Avon (1977)

Ariane by Avon (1977) smells most to me like an attempt by Avon to compete directly with L'Air du Temps by Nina Ricci (1948), which may not make sense at first due to the near thirty-year gap between them and different positioning on the market, but hold that thought. Avon had recently unearthed the early 20th century oriental style of higher-end fragrances like Guerlain Shalimar (1925) with their deliberately-throwback Avon Timeless (1974), and they surprisingly did this to great success, so it didn't seem very far-fetched then to scoot another twenty years forward give or take and shoot for a delicate floral style like the Nina Ricci scent. Now it's time to unpause that thought I had you hold a moment ago to look at why L'Air du Temps and not some other perfume from the 1940's like Miss Dior by Christian Dior (1947). The answer to why is a little less clear, unless you were familiar with what sold in drugstores that were the most-direct competitors to Avon outside maybe Mary Kay in those days, and that answer is actually a question itself. What formerly high-end cosmetic brands or designers had tumbled downmarket due to extreme popularity leading to ubiquity and thus loss of glamor? What brands once more exclusive to the hoity-toity had since become purview of the hoi polloi instead? What brands were honestly at this point such huge conglomerates thanks to profits and sales volume that they frankly stopped giving a shit about prestige anyway by the 1970's, yet still had some sense of status due to the familiarity of their name with the buying public? Well, there were a number of those, including Bourjois, Lenthéric, Fabergé, and Charles of the Ritz, the latter of which eventually dragged Lanvin and YSL with it as well until the latter bought it out. Elizabeth Arden and Nina Ricci were right there too, so Avon targeted the latter.

While it would be a cruel gesture to call Ariane a clone of L'Air du Temps, as Timeless was nowhere near a one-for-one copy of Shalimar or even Coty's Emeraude (1921), you can clearly see why Avon would choose to riff off this particular perfume. L'Air du Temps had for years been an aspirational fragrance just like Chanel No. 5 (1921) or Patou Joy (1930), and the expansion of Ricci's empire in the cosmetic world where Chanel or Patou had been reluctant to go at first is part of why L'Air du Temps would ultimately end up sold in bigger mainstream department stores and eventually tumble down to the "high street" and drugstore realm. Yet the perfume was still more expensive than most drugstore things, and perhaps still too expensive for the kind of people flipping through Avon catalogs at the local hair salon, so the idea would be to capture that "L'Air du Expensive" of the scent's delicate airy floral construction. Ariane therefore is just a scent that takes a different path to the same destination, being light, airy, floral, a bit sweet, and elegant. Ariane opens up with aldehydes, peach, bergamot, rosewood, and swaps the neroli and carnation in the L'Air du Temps for coriander and pimento. Immediately, Ariane is spicier and less sweet, although carnation does end up making an appearance in Ariane's heart, alongside a similar white floral profile of the Ricci scent, except with a simpler structure per Avon's usual style and rose being the most prominent material. Around this pale rose goes muguet, orris, that aforementioned carnation, jasmine, and a bit of ylang. The base is a dry powdery sandalwood also seemingly plucked from L'Air du Temps, but built up a little more green and woody with vetiver, and less musk. A soapy orris root taking over for the sandalwood emerges alongside Avon's usual amber, and that rounds things out.

Performance is pretty strong, if you have the old Ultra-Colognes that Avon used to sell in unintentional parody of Lauder's "super colognes"; but if you don't have them and instead end up with a cologne splash or a reissued "cologne spray" eau de toilette, you'll find more of an average experience in the wearing department. Modern noses may find such a prim and dry white floral too effete for use in anything but casual surrounds or personal enjoyment, as soapy clean floral fragrances like this once used to represent effeminate youth and beauty where fruity rose vase water fragrances now stand. When Ariane was released, it smelled luxurious and gorgeous, sold for a song despite its evident quality, and became one of the bigger hits for Avon women's fragrances at the tail end of the 1970's into the early 1980's. This was just before big aldehyde blasts of tuberose and rose civet bombs became the dominant life form among fashionable fragrances for women, who traded pants suits, Farah Fawcett hair, and tomboyish flair for geometric blouses containing neon colors and leg warmers to support massively-teased perms. Women weren't playing hard to get in the 80's, and therefore no longer needed Ariane. Instead, they were dripping with stank from brands like Giorgio Beverly Hills and tackling their prey with impunity using those quarterback shoulder pads in their blouses. In the far dry down, Ariane to my nose becomes a lot like another, slightly older Avon called Charisma (1970), except minus the touch of civet, so users of Avon familiar with that scent but not caring for the musk profile of it may have a reason to pick this one up instead. The house of Nina Ricci would eventually travel back up-market again through restructuring although L'Air du Temps would never leave drugstores, and Ariane has since passed into obscurity as most Avons do, outside those keeping the flame alive like myself. Thumbs up

I'm fairly fond of this one. As noted, it's a soft, powdery floral with good persistence. What I love about it, though, is the peach note, which hangs in for a good while. This is a really good choice for summer wear if you don't want to wear a stereotypical summer flanker. It'll go with jeans or a dress equally well.

On me, eau de grandma's closet.

Ariane is one of my two favorite Avon perfumes, the other one being Emprise. The opening is soft and flowery, developing into a very rewarding spicy floral heart. They drydown is also soft, feminine, and powdery, and is long lasting. How nice that Avon brings this one back from time to time.

So feminine, clean, yes, a bit soapy. Reminiscent of L'Aire du Temp & Privledge. Easy to wear, suitable for ingenues & grand dames.