Patou was discovered unresponsive in his home the night of March 8, 1936 and died less than an hour later. He had been found to have suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage nearly 24 hours earlier. He died 4 months after his 48th birthday. His sister Madeleine and her husband Raymond Barbas continued the House of Patou. Collection Heritage Chaldée smells very aldehydic; like sparkling floral powder on my skin. The aldehydes do dissipate as this fragrance settles and the drydown features richer oriental accords such as opoponax, tonka bean and vanilla. The saddest part of Collection Héritage Chaldée? The base. Though its heart notes are OK and true to smell, and conjure the spirit of 1984 Chaldée, gone is my beloved tropical beach/suntan oil experience that's so sensational in 1984 Chaldée. Perhaps those dense musk and floral amber notes are forbidden by IFRA now...or no longer available? Or was that particular accord deemed "unstylish" for today's consumer? We'll never know.

The sillage is incredibly powerful. One could easily mistake this fragrance for being a big powerhouse from the 70's and 80's. I love the ever changing composition which goes from sweet and charming to bitter and bold in an instant. This one certainly confuses me! On my skin it smelled overwhelmingly like cigarette smoke. I thought "That can't be right" and after 20 minutes or so, I sprayed on a few more sprays. More cigarette smoke! I waited 10-15 minutes and went to see what my son and his girlfriend thought. His girlfriend said adamantly "casino!" (meaning cigarette smells mixed with perfume). Since the 1984 version of Chaldée is becoming hard to find and prohibitively expensive, I was anxious to see if new Collection Héritage Chaldée would save me from a Chaldée-less future. Jean Patou Collection Héritage Chaldée

Chaldée rescues me from the doldrums and gets me dreaming about the coast: warm weather, the ocean, sunbathing in the tropics. Chaldée is one of my favorite perfumes.

The opening is real sharp and medicinal, even a bit unpleasant, if I am honest. It reminds me a lot of Penhaligon's now sadly discontinued "Ostara" in its opening. But there is something oddly pleasant in this medicinal opening, as I am being reminded of a countryside pharmacy; the old worldly kind, when everything was wrapped in brown paper and everyone knew you by your first name. I suppose many of these "classics" started to get simplified and cheapened down in ingredients from the 2000s on, so there tends to be a similarity, because they must be using the same molecules. Note: This is another one where the card doesnt do justice. Something divine such as this, i believe just doesnt like being on a paper strip. Start small (few tiny squirts) if you're testing the waters then jump in if you or others sense the magic. I would NOT say its for warm (ish)-hot weather (tho its possible) but for anytime, anywhere else you desire, For the 2013 version of Chaldee M. Fontaine retained the core trio from the original of orange blossom, narcissus, and vanilla. What is different is the narcissus has a much more pronounced presence. Narcissus is one of my favorite floral notes in all of perfumery and its enhanced prominence adds an intensity to the heart of the 2013 version which doesn’t exist in either of the vintage versions. M. Fontaine also adds a pinch of lilac which makes the new version feel fresher. The base is opopanax and vanilla as in the original but the musky aspect never hits the depths it does in the original. Here is where M. Fontaine makes a truly ingenious decision. Instead of trying to plumb the same depths that the original Chaldee did he lets the 2013 version add some musky aspects and then before going deeper he asks the 2013 version to hold that lesser intensity through to the end.Anyway, the perfume - this is the 4th I have tried from Jean Patou, the others being Sublime, current edp (which is sublime!)Joy, current edp (not for me)and 1000 current edp (love it, its sitting pretty near the top of my wish list)and Chaldee definitely has the "patou-nade"(?!), that base that goes under all the scents from this house I have smelled, making it smell rich, expensive, classy.