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snifer – :
To me it’s unisex and one of the best caron perfumes ever!
Everything is wonderful about it – the way it’s blended, the performance, sillage, dry down, pyramid balance
romer12345 – :
Some reviewers say they want to cry upon smelling L’Heure Bleue. I want to cry now that Caron En Avion Extrait is on my arm. Why doesn’t the world smell like this anymore? From a distance the wearer smells sweetly of powder and neroli. Come in closer. Maybe you’ll be the one she asks to hold her jacket. If she is Amelia Earhart, it’s leather and smells of places you will only ever see in your dreams. If she is more socialite than adventurer, it’s fur and smells of the warmth she doesn’t show most of the world. Underneath the sweetness is a resinous blend that for me can verge on something almost medicinal. Not quite. My guess is that the astringency of carnation keeps the resins from becoming too sweet. I wish I could tell you I smell the florals on their own, but this is such a well-blended beauty I can’t pick them apart. En Avion’s top notes are still blooming a solid 30 minutes after spaying.
With a sigh I’ll say goodnight and dream of a time when travel was treated as a first-class experience by everyone involved, and adventurous firsts were attempted for the good of humankind rather than for fifteen minutes of fame.
undiskAdmisee – :
Cloves opoponax amber and neroli blend.
It’s quite rosy, spicy, and vintage. It has cloves, opoponax, amber, neroli, orange blossom, & sandalwood. Quite powerful and very strong within the vintage classic frame.
I remember this was dedicated to “Amelia Mary Earhart” the first woman pilot, bold and strong.
“En Avion” reminds me allot of “Shem – el- Nessim” by Grossmith if it’s not already identical to that. and this is NEVER compared to “Tabac Blond”! i mean are the ones who voted for similarity are that smell deaf!!
Edit (5th Feb 2018) It reminds me of the powdery effect of “Shem – el- Nessim” by Grossmith and the strength and texture of “Phul – Nana” by Grossmith.
primahore – :
This is amazing. I have extrait and EDP. These are about the carnation, lilac and opoponax with some neroli/orange blossom. This is sharp and crisp. Aldehyde fizz. The extrait is deeper, richer, smoother and warmer while the EDP is sharper, brighter and crisper. Both are lovely examples of why Caron is my favorite vintage house.
xkt249Unlogrere – :
En Avion is a rich opulent enigma.
A spicy carnation and rose opening with powdery florals with the undercurrent of the Mousse de Saxe base and mossy undertone. Its far far from a Chypre and less green than lets say Dana’s spicy Emir. Its a unique creation that has nuances of orange, neroli, jasmine, violet and lilac into a powdery leather much in the vein of Tabac Blond with the muskiness of Nuit de Noel echoes with the moss and sandalwood.
This is a very dense perfume with nuances, swirling twists and turns, and infact upon first spray there is a dark bitter greenness to it all. (In fact, you may have a what the hell is this/what have I done moment, but be brave, let that ride as its pretty short)The opponax is dominant to keep things on the powdery, slightly sweet feminine edge. The spices keep a dry hot feeling in the beginning like you are on the tarmack in the summer waiting to get on the airplane. The heart of florals open and the spiciness recedes and smooths out like its cruising at 10,000 ft. Its a beautiful rich retro floral and ladylike. There is a mentholated moment that appears like in Djedi. (Again you have a moment of..uh why is this moment here with the florals? Hey its 1932. Things are in here that are probably long extinct.)
The leather surfaces and it is unlike any other leather.. a kind of gentle sweet leather. (Its gorgeous) There is a duality to this as a masculine opening then it turns smooth and feminine. This is Yin/Yang the whole experience. The reviewer that states theres an ugliness/beauty about it is dead on.
Its a one of a kind experience, extremely luxe, dense, smooth in its transitions and definitely for vintage/caron enthusiasts. If you can handle Shereazade by Jean Desprez, or Opium you could handle and appreciate this kind of adventure. Otherwise, at the prices for vintage, I would advise samples rather than diving into a blind bottle. Sillage great, and longevity over 24 hrs like most vintage Carons that seem to “wear off” than evaporate. This is 1932, the richness and optimism of airflight to an exotic location in a bottle.
To put this in perspective for some readers, it acts more of a vintage Patou with the well blended complexity vs the vintage simpler, Guerlain. At the time Caron ruled supreme in France over the coquettish Guerlain house. The opulence in the formula is a testament to this, with more notes than vintage Shalimar. Caron released En Avion in 1932. Guerlain released Vol de Nuit in 1933. Caron has a compass/gear type silver disk ontop of the bottles where VdN has the round gold propeller on the front of the bottle. I find En Avion the more feminine of the two.
1.7 vintage extrait reviewed.
CERS – :
I bought En Avion a month ago after reading glorious reviews on Fragrantica! As a great lover of Vol de Nuit, I was hoping for a similar connection…
En Avion is complex, heady and dense. I adore carnation, which is currently out of fashion (though in my adored Florabotanica), and part of my eagerness to try En Avion was the knowledge that it is detectable in this perfume.
So, I get… a gorgeous, sophisticated and clever woman… furs, pearls and doesn’t suffer fools… unafraid to be who she is, she may freeze out those with less confidence, who are intimidated by her assurance…
Longevity is incredible. I could still smell En Avion close to my skin 24 hours later. Great for me BUT not so good for my husband, who is distinctly ‘meh’ about this one. He has a great nose and is sensitive to smell. Interestingly, he is similarly lukewarm about Vol de Nuit, even though I love it. I suspect the slight dustiness that is so often present with carnation is off-putting to him.
A grand perfume of another age. Worth the experience and if you’re lucky enough to have a partner who adores it, could be a favourite!
kameshkoff – :
I have really been on a Caron kick since the beginning of the year, when I opened a bottle of French Cancan EDP that I had blind bought for an absurdly low price, and fell deeply in love. Since then I have been doing my best to try out their other classic fragrances, and I have not been disappointed.
En Avion is not such an easy perfume to acquire as some, in EDP or Extrait, in fact Caron fragrances in general seem less readily available than Houses of a similar historical standing. I don’t know why this is, as IMO they deserve to be as known and loved as the Guerlain, Patou, Chanel etc perfumes of their peers from the same eras.
Anyway, I finally managed to get hold of some EDP, so here are a few thoughts.
Initially I found this not dissimilar to French Cancan; both have that signature Caron smell, which I am guessing must be the Mousse de Saxe (sp?) Accord, and like other Caron scents this is well blended, smooth, elegant and feels of a very high quality.
The actual notes are difficult for me to distinguish, because it is such a smooth and balanced blend. But the overall feel is very elegant, refined, feminine. There is a warm powdery quality to it, if pushed I would probably say it was (soft, gentle) carnation, sandalwood, orange blossom and musk that stood out to me most. The carnation here is not spiky or especially spicy though, this is far from Bellodgia or other spicier carnations.
The overall feel and character is a clean, feminine and high quality scent that I find enjoyable in all circumstances and settings. It didn’t grab me like French Cancan, but I would be very happy to have this in my collection.
Then just the other day I was able to try a tiny sample of the (current) Extrait. Wow!! The notes were all much stronger and more pronounced, with carnation, oppoponox, amber and neroli all appearing much more prominent. This was a far more bold, vibrant and joyous take on this scent, and I loved it! One of those times when you inhale, take a nose full of the scent, and just break into a grin. I am really looking forward to giving the teensy sample a proper run, and trying the two versions side by side for comparison and then layered for full effect. I will try and do a write up of the comparison and review the extrait properly.
In short, this is a beautiful, rich smooth scent that works for virtually any occasion. Well worth trying either version, I doubt you would be disappointed.
promin – :
Though my sniffing trip has been long and wide already, and though I have great love for perfumes which have been many more hours sharing my skin and days, En Avion is doubtlessly one of the most beautiful and greatest perfumes I’ve ever had the chance and pleasure of wearing.
A long time ago, somebody in this site, a sweet member that I’m so sorry but can’t recall and to whom I’ll be thankful forever, suggested me to try this in the forum thread: recommend a perfume to the above member. I wonder what in my wardrobe or reviews clued this member’s advice. Whoever it was, my own mother wouldn’t have known better.
It took me a long while to be able to test it, as Caron sadly isn´t easy to find anymore around here. So I had to get a sample, and after that, I’m afraid I was hooked forever.
I admit En Avion is a difficult complicated perfume, probably only a total love for long perfume addicts and true vintage admirers. A masterpiece from another era, from another aesthetics. You need to love carnation, clove, dense old school powdery flowers, deep animalic notes and opoponax to love this one. I sense cumin and leather notes there too, though they aren’t listed. It starts out really strong and spicy and slowly gets powdery and creamy, merging into your own body scent with perfection.
I can feel how this beauty was probably a well known reference for the creators of younger spicy resinous oriental classics such as Youth Dew or Opium. Still En Avion shares IMO an aesthetic with other chic still adventurous treasures of its times like original Habanita, Shalimar, Vol de Nuit, Tabac Blond and Tabu, being all so different to it (and to each other) at the same time. As in all these cases, En Avion’s drydown is your skin but so so so much better; and as in all of them, I feel in En Avion the ambition of living intensely, a lost radicalism and sensitivity, a risk, a dare, a deep passion… all in all, an immense love for life.
The lack of vanilla or benzoin, makes En Avion less sweet and less easy to love for many than the previously mentioned, pushing the limits of acceptable a little forward, being even a little more unique for me. An aesthetic experience giver, a work of art.
P.S. If somebody ever wants to get rid of / swap/ sell their En Avion bottles, please send me a private message. I wouldn’t mind to own it in its various versions.
Rock85 – :
Although it was not love at first sniff, I’ve really fallen for En Avion. To my nose, it’s an edgier Habanita. They share the rose, orange blossom, lilac, jasmine, musk, and amber, but Habanita has more powder. Both are a kind of marriage of Tabac Blond and Nuit de Noel, as lovingthealien points out with less enthusiasm than I have for the results. On first application of En Avion I get the plastic smell that karrykins hates, but on me it mellows into a spicy note that provides the whole structure. I’m so scared of IFRA nixing this one that I’ve invested in 100ml of parfum, the largest stash I’ve ever bought of anything!
Booxboxydap – :
This is a classic scent and at first spray, I think of elderly sophistication, same as French Cancan. The drydown morphs and is spicey and powdery. I like it very much! I find that the two fragrances smell similar but En Avion is stronger. They are both soft at drydown.
sokol120378 – :
Caron En Avion PARFUM
A dark/resinous floral spicy fragrance.
A very good background of leather, a bit powdery in its evolution, very chic.
A scent for celebrations, chic parties and also cold weather.
Very warm and stylish.
This parfum concentration is very very oily.
It has a similar vibe we can detect on some classical scents like Bal à Versailles, and others, but it is unique and pretty.
🙂
rd6dne – :
There is no doubt that the reformation of En Avion has failed miserably – such a pity as this was such a bold and different scent – now more carnation than orange and the sandalwood is completely indiscernible these days – in fact, hardly any base notes are there ad it has affected longevity .
The dry down is now soapy and sour .
It was supposed to be evocative of air travel in the 1920’s , hot runways , the inside of beautifully constructed aeroplanes – all wood and leather.
Its now like the interior of a cheap budget flight to Spain, all plastic and cheap upholstery .
Fortunately , I have a stock of pre reformation En Avion which I hope will last me for the rest of my days – the impostor that calls itself En Avion can stay in its box i the dark in the hope that time will work its magic and “change” the contents …. one can live in hope ?
jeroni – :
Disappeared quickly, alas (extrait, sample, unknown vintage). While it lasted, and old-school sweaty/spicy vibe, with cumin plus the clove-y aspect of carnation dominating. Somehow, the orange blossom persists through that, so, yes, it is a multi-faceted Caron. Drydown also allows a genuine sandalwood to emerge. I just wish it lasted longer than 20 minutes on me. It might on you.
WaryHint – :
I am in love with the old Carons. I haven’t tried many unfortunately, since they are hard to come by, but Narcisse Noir is a favourite and so is En Avion. I have an old (perhaps 20 years) version of NN which is marvelous, and a current edition of EA. The current edition smells very good, and I am pleasantly surprised since there has been much bashing of the current Caron editions.
Florals, civet and kerosine – what an amazing combination – love it!
mogol – :
En Avion is a spicy oriental à l’Opium with the leathery undercurrent of Tabu. Certainly ahead of its time, but unfortunately no longer leader of the pack. While I enjoy its spicy and smoky gothic edge, it ends up a bit shallow. It’s unfortunate to compare this to its older sibling Tabac Blond, but this perfume’s character is far less defined. I feel this is more of the exploration of an accord (lilac, orange blossom, and opopanax) that would later see a reprise in Royal Bain de Caron. There is a big surprising sweet floral note here and then the Caron signature becomes evident – the famous Mousse de Saxe base so powerful in Nuit de Noel. This ends up being something like Nuit de Noel and Tabac Blond at the same time. Interesting, but not better than the sum of its parts, unfortunately (and surprisingly).
keks666 – :
This smells like perfume should smell, just a little dab of the extract goes a long way. The opening is a bit jarring, but segues into powdery flowers, mainly carnation. While Montaigne seems like a steady stream, En Avion swirls, with the green edge lifting the heady oriental feel. The carnation lasts for quite a long while and finally settles down softly like vanilla and opoponax. This is a Spring perfume (YSL Paris came to mind a few times) but it maintains all the while a classy elegance.
A great perfume.
incernPubre – :
All things that truly are sublime contain a suggestion of ugliness. There is no painting, no poem, no song that does not somehow break through to the heights of earthly perfection through some unexpected, discordant detail. The green face of a garishly painted woman half cut off by the frame in a Toulouse-Lautrec painting. The bizarre colour of the sun in a Monet landscape: One stands before it, perplexed, and wonders: However did mere paint capture that, the very essence of illumination? Thus, En Avion. Naturally, as the French say, “les avis sont partages.” Personally, I have never been a fan of Caron. When Henri Almeras created “Que Sais-je?” for Jean Patou in 1923, (readers, take note, the Chanel woman was very most certainly not the first to offer perfumes to her couture clients, though she takes credit today for that innovation, along with so very many others, such as the invention of jersey) he explained that in his heart he wished to render the “trouble” of love. Keep in mind, “trouble,” in french, translates as a kind of confusion. This specific thing Is what I find perplexing in most all of Ernest Daltroff’s compositions. Recently, I found a photo of him: He very obviously would have been sitting at “the Good Russian table” in Thomas Mann’s “the Magic Mountain,” and quite possibly, he was: To study his facial features, one is struck by a depth of intelligence and the unmistakeable mark of an overactive mind. To me, this neurosis and intellectual over activity are his hallmarks very clearly rendered in each of his fragrant masterpieces. No bottle baring the name “Caron” will ever be insipid or unremarkable. Even the simpler scents, Bellogia or Pour un Homme, are somehow intricate; as intricate as the human mind. En Avion is the textbook illustration of this artistry in molecular structure inhaled through the nose: It evokes so very many things, yet nothing at all that is obvious. It may smell “leathery,” but never simply of leather. Other reviewers wax on about cloves and carnation; certainly present here, but somehow only suggested. En Avion is, along with Jicky, perhaps one of the most beguiling scents the world has ever known: At once feminine and masculine, stunningly beautiful and repulsively ugly, of highest born royal blood and secretly born in a barn then left forgotten, En Avion seems to reflect in infinite facets all the highs and lows of life itself. Like it, hate it. Love it, loathe it. Guaranteed you will feel something if you dab some of this on, and live with it for the day. You will feel. You will not just smell. All of us, numb to the transcendent beauty of Heaven that secretly enfolds us wherever we go, we need En Avion….truly, though for some they will be steely and of cutting blades and for others they will be of swan’s down and brilliantly coloured plumes, here is a perfume that quite literally will give you wings. Where you go on your flight is for you to decide.
tango58 – :
I tested the oil perfume, and it is much better then edt or edp. In my opinion it is less sharp, and you smell only the beautiful notes, not the alcohol part which can be very disturbing.
pompyceh600bedyWelty – :
No, no, no! Can’t wait to scrub this sample from my wrist! I have the reformulated EdT version, so can’t comment on the original, but to me this smells just like the inside of airplane, so perhaps it’s named correctly. Just that this plane is full of leaking fuel, cheap soap and none-too-clean bathrooms! Never again. Maybe my sample has “gone off” in some way, but this is making me feel literally sick and I’ll never try it again.
Alkwar – :
-Parfum Review-
Caron is the Leather Queen!
Spicey ,dark, earthy, very oriental, strong stuff!
En Avion is a beautfiful scent…so warm and complex,
kohak – :
When I wear En Avion I get images of my trip to Kauai, so that is what I’ll draw on.
The opening reminds me of the white ginger shea butter I bought there. It is sweet, fat and oily and seems to rest on a slow moving flow of spicy, dark nectar. (If you’ve plucked the yellow ginger flowers there you’ll know what this reminds me of)
Around the one hour mark the heat cranks up, and this is when you’ll get the popping sensation of carnation. (I really love this note, it’s so energetic to me!)
At three hours it dries out a bit and becomes more woody and resinous. In the end it fades into something smooth, calm and glassy; and the sweetness returns, but at this point it’s more subtle.
This opens optimistic, transitions to acceptance, and finishes with serenity. One of my favorite Carons, I can’t live without this one.
Supraseromseofd – :
This review is for a previously unopened bottle of 1930s Extrait, in a 60ml bottle with less than 10% evaporation. It was sealed within a cardboard box and an inner sarcophagus of balsa wood. Despite its secure storage over the years, this perfume still boasts the signature “vintage” characteristics of dark color and faded top notes.
Although it hasn’t been mentioned by others, I get an incredible hot, green, dry note right up front-likely the combination of carnation’s clove note and the unmentioned galbanum which I suspect is in here. About 15 minutes in, some rose dances at the perimeter, but is quickly overcome by by a pervasive powdery jasmine, aldehydic in nature. This forms a heady floral heart, which was likely rendered more sprightly by the orange blossom when it was intact many years ago.
While I definitely feel the amber and musk (or whatever animal fixative was used), I do not get the birch tar I like so much in older leathers. The base is warm moss with cedar spice, but not animalic. I think the aldehydic carnation and jasmine play a much larger role here than has been attributed to them.
There is a metallic note that I have noticed in many vintage perfumes, particularly Tabac Blond (50s extrait). In the past, I have attributed it to metal stoppers corrupting the perfumes over the years. In this case, however, the stopper was glass, so that doesn’t explain things. Likely it is some mineral from one of the natural substances in this old parfum. This is nothing I have ever detected in a curent fragrance.
….off to nap, will report on the base later tonight!
кавказец93 – :
I had this one in the mid ’80’s, and purchased a new bottle by calling the Caron boutique in New York. In my opinion, it is all there– I do not sense anything missing from the 80’s version, which I purchased at the old I. Magnin Caron boutique– which was lovely and truly missed. This classic fragrance is delicious, refined and truly lifts the mood. Like all Carons, the sillage is subtle and warm. A wonderful gift for a young person about to embark on an adventure . . .
svtkst – :
Yet another Caron scent that has suffered from reformulationitis, but is still beautiful in its present state, if not as grand as it was in its original “skin.” The orange note in my version of the scent has a fleshy, honeyed feel to it — not a juicy orange, but instead an orange that has been slightly tempered by heat, light, and age. The floral and spice drydown is unexpectedly pretty.