Cacharel is a fantastic perfume house providing good quality, affordable fragrances, for around £20 GBP a bottle, and rather lovely bottles they are too. I have had a bottle of Lou Lou on the go, off and on, since 1988. I discovered Cacharel Noa a few years back, and even Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez only have good words to say about that one. My sister-in-law loves Cacharel Amor Amor and always smells fabulously fruity and floral in it. In fact, the only one I haven’t tried is Scarlett (now disappeared) and the only one I didn’t like was Eden. Cacharel longevity overall, is usually from morning until after lunch.
I am wearing Cacharel Anais Anais L’Original today and now that it’s settled down, it’s become a smooth and even soothing accord of wholesome white florals, with no small touch of iris. I didn’t used to like Anais Anais at all, which just goes to show how important it is to give a fragrance a rest, and a second chance months, or even years later.
Like its original blurry, ethereal adverts, Cacharel Anais Anais has a timeless pleasant, almost through-chiffon take on lily of the valley, posh soap and white musk, but it’s one of those scents that is so familiar that you almost can’t smell it anymore. It is, or was, as ubiquitous as red phone boxes, red pillar boxes and coins with The Queen’s head on: Icons which are so familiar you don’t notice them until they’re not there anymore.
I was born in 1970 (but look younger, we decided) and Anais Anais was created in 1978. Rumour has it that it has not been reformulated, which is truly refreshing these days. It’s the scent of my primary school teachers, my Mums’ friends, my Mum, several colleagues, my secondary school teachers, train passengers, and people I’ve stood behind in queues.
Where its previous ubiquity may have lost it a few fans, I find that I really miss smelling the classics when out and about. I didn’t fall in love with Anais Anais until I couldn’t smell it anymore. These days it’s easy to smell fragrance on people that evokes caramel and cupcakes, or the hybrid miasma of scent aa you walk past Duty Free. But soapy, clean, slightly nostalgic, simple florals bursting with white buds of carnation, lily, jasmine and orange flower? Not so much.
Anais Anais is the good girl who always did her homework and was right all along but never got the medal. It’s a floral through and through, with no fancy bells or confectionary (If you want a sweeter version, there always Anais Anais Premier Delice). If you were an Anais Anais refusenik in the past, I implore you to revisit this graceful, and long-lasting scent. By the way, pronunciation can go horribly wrong, so say Uh-NAY-iss twice.
Where to buy it.
You can buy Cacharel Anais Anais from many stockists. I think I bought mine from Superdrug a couple of years ago.
Disclosure
I bought and paid for this myself and have no affiliation with Cacharel or Superdrug.
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