Emprise
Avon (1976)

Emprise makes me shiver as I apply it: cold, metallic, ultra-green, with spring florals reclining on frosty, frothy, bulging moss. I like this kind of shiver, but it is surely an acquired taste. Despite a sizable dose of carnation to gussy up its interior, the lily of the valley keeps it from being too spicy or warm. It almost smells like the 70s idea of futurism, much like the design of its bottle. "The future is now" it says, as it holds you in its grip.

It feels like Charlie opted to suit up and litigate with a steely disposition rather than skip through the meadow in a caftan and write poetry. This is an impressive one from the Avon canon.

Emprise was one of a series of "Ultra-Colognes" from Avon: fragrances that really sat somewhere between eau de toilette and eau de parfum in power, but since the word "perfume" conjured up images of daintiness, and eau de toilette was likely deemed too much a mouthful for the Avon rank and file, they used this term to describe it's strength instead. Right out the gate you can tell this was inspired by by green floral chypres like Fidji (1966), Calandre (1969), and Alliage (1972), siting somewhere between them and the leathery starker and even greener chypres of this nature such as Chanel No 19 (1971) or the later Silences (1978). There's a floral bounce similar to Charlie (1973), which is what many who owned both back in the day compared this to most, but Emprise is not on the same level of sweetness as Charlie, pulling more unisex like most of what's mentioned above thanks to it's bitter green top mixed with a dry woodsy moss base. I'd still say Emprise is more of a challenge than stuff like No 19 to guys looking for transgender fragrance ideas, since No 19 is much better-suited to guys thanks to it's dominant leather grass and rose accord, but men who can stand a larger-than-usual lily of the valley and jasmine dose should do just fine in time. Women, on the other hand, might find this a little more jarring than men because of the dryness and heavy moss plonk making it literally a world apart from modern airy florals, but I have a feeling the perfumistas reading this are already well-versed enough in this era to know what they're in for before the first spray.

Emprise opens with a metallic bergamot, lemon, and galbanum, as is almost expected from this genre. The opening is nicely faded into the middle, especially since deep vintage is the only vintage on this juice, so it quickly slips into the floral middle of jasmine, rose orris, muguet, and carnation, with the orris and carnation being the big connection to Charlie that made all the drugstore-shopping teen girls of the day connecting this to that competing Revlon scent, but I feel this is far more mature, and more 3-piece suit than blue jeans and blouse. Sandalwood, amber, and oakmoss finish this up, and once they land, the florals dance on top of them for the rest of the wear, with men less confident in their footing with feminine perfume probably relieved at this point to be back in usual chypre territory. The lovely jasmine/rose/muguet/carnation singing quartet never quite fades from view, making Emprise more "floral" than most of these other older green chypres, which is Avon's legacy at work, since they are known primarily for two things outside of their price point and wavering originality: their propensity for deep amber notes and their origins as a maker of quaint floral perfumes. Why wouldn't Avon bolster the flower count in their take of the dry green feminine chypre style that was marching through the 70's? It really feels like they were trying to compromise between the fans of their older "proper lady" perfumes, and the edgier, tomboyish young Women of the 70's with this stuff, but not all compromises are bad. The metallic edge never really goes away, which can be irritating, and longevity on this is a monster, so it's a sharp-smelling commitment from the first spray until you get to shower it off.

To wear Emprise is a tricky endeavor for anyone in the 21st century, as it skates on the thin ice of being a flower-heavy perfume but without the usual aldehydes, supplanting them instead with lots of green chypre notes, but otherwise sharing similar woods and moss bases. It's sometimes too feminine for a man, but too masculine for a modern woman, but not deliberately unisex enough to maintain that narrow balance betwixt. Instead, Emprise plays out like a battle of the sexes on skin, a tug of war back and forth between bright florals and dry base notes. Performance on Avon "Ultra-Colognes" is utterly amazing, and you're going to be very loud with just a few sprays, so please be careful. Despite the Avon moniker and likely cheap price tag (even decades later in vintage), this is a really quality perfume, with noticeable moss and sandalwood in the base, full of depth. The box claims "Into a world not easily impressed, comes Emprise", and I'll leave it up to you weather this old gal can actually still impress as it suggests it can, but I'm pretty well-stunned. Guys who love playing with old chypres can totally afford to jump on this, but this is not nearly as approachable to a man as something like the gateway drug of Chanel no 19, so advanced dabblers only. As far as ladies are concerned, if you love the dry 70's style and aren't afraid of a little grass stain on your jeans, give this a shot.

On me, the metallic note stuck around. And stuck around. And stuck around. Ugh.

This has an Cold and Metallic Opening
consist of Lemon & Bergamot dries to an
spicy subtlety of carnation earthy orris
jasmine blooms with it's androgynous scent
that are bit masculine and feminine and
the delicate Lily of the valley.
the drydown is the usual mossy mix in with
Sandalwood and the sweetness of amber.

70's chic in a bottle i love the design
with it's 70's Futuristic Look and i also look the color very sexy like your in a Disco with orange lights around you

But Sadly this scent falls short to wow
me.

I'm not normally compelled to comment, but a small sample came as part of a job lot. I only put it on out of curiosity before intending to throw it away. The first impression is a bit sharp and carnation catty, but it is settling down into something surprisingly pleasant. The solid base seems to be holding onto this rather mixed floral and keeping it very gentle and musky. Much to my rather judgemental surprise, I would even consider wearing this on a warm spring day. A gentle and extremely pleasant perfume after the initial opening, fading very fast into the soft amberish base, leaving one smelling freshly bathed and warm. I shall not be putting it in the bin after all.