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xci183Unlogrere – :
OMG! THIS!!!
First, this landed on my radar because I love vintage scents, and this was compared to something I really like. Well, I only really had the option to buy the 100ml Cologne from PerfumeClickUSA on Amazon, and it wasn’t cheap like the prices are in the actual UK.
I have no clue what to expect because this page has no notes/categories besides Floral. But the reviews sound good! So I did it.
Shut the front door– I love this!!!! This smells exactly like Guerlain Vol de Nuit to me! VdN is my favvvve scent except for the fact it has really crappy longevity, potency, sillage, etc.
Sadly, Pagan Cologne also has crappy potency/sillage. Shit. And it does differ from VdN, but it’s very very close! Oh man, if this was potent– I’d have 10 bottles on the way.
I did try this on a HOT stinkin’ humid summer day. And to make matters worse, my shipment was put on my back stairs where it sat in the sun for a few hours. The box/bottle wasn’t hot/cooked or anything, but it def felt warm. So I let this cool down in my dark perfume room, and I hope for better results/longevity later. Also, some perfumes disappear in the heat, and last much longer in colder temps. So I’ve not given up. But the current EDT of Vol de Nuit does actually last longer than this Pagan Cologne.
Now that my bottle has sat in a dark room, it seems to last longer/project more. It’s still similar to VdN but missing the Guerlainaide (powder), therefore making Pagan more masculine. A unisex smell for sure. It’s halfway between Vol de Nuit and Grey Flannel.
Seems to last very well on fabric! The drydown is most similar to VdN so I’m happy!!
misim – :
I feel this is very similar to the current version of Tabu by Dana with perhaps a touch of Orange or citrus.
Can’t find any floral link at all.
Smells musky and spicy too but from what I can remember smells nothing like the original by Picot that my late mother wore in the 60’s.That was a deeper more rounded and smooth fragrance that lasted forever and was like a warm.blanket in the winter months.
You can safely wear the current version in all seasons but it is such a shame that the quality isn’t quite there and that is reflected in the cheap price.
Not a girly perfume .
It would be great if someone could recreate the older formulas of perfumes such as this and I’m sure that people would pay a higher price but my thought is that many of the ingredients are now no longer available or are banned in perfume making.
What a pity!!
wanik2009 – :
Yes, this is exotic, earthy, woody, incredibly deep and dark. This is very far from a floral! It has a ‘dirty’ aroma, an erotic suggestive power. Only two drops has produced such a strong effect. After thirty minutes it mellows somewhat, a musky flower from the oriental group emerges finally giving a little lift and sweetness. This is certainly for adults only.
alexandrvelikiu – :
A Floral -you have got to be kidding! This review is for the perfume not the spray eau toilette.
Imagine you are in a primordial forest – wet dew brings up the aroma of fallen pine needles as you walk to the centre of the forest. Nearing the centre you smell a wood fire, just wafts and as you get nearer they are there – pagan worshipers clad in leather wearing floral (ok more herby) wreaths. In other words a surprisingly grown up smell that starts off citrussy drying down to smoky leathery fougere -utterly unique and delicious .
RomanRostov – :
Omg. Its Xmas Day. My friend from Sydney Australia arrived with 3 little bottles of Pagan perfume for me. Im soo overjoyed and now smell like I did as a teen.
Cant pick out what is in this perfume but going to wear it on a date and see if its magic is the same as when I was a teen. Im just soo happy .. Merry Xmas everyone.
chb707JeomiWogkig – :
Pagan is floral but which one I cannot work out. I like it but I got a strong woods vibe to start with. It seems the current version has been diluted and all the impact has gone. Maybe I should go with the definitely Patchouli/ animalic Habanits. Something important has gone. Still nice to spray on pyjamas and pillow though.
RemiX.css – :
Whew.
This is a stonker of a scent.
You know when you were young and your mum had a perfume on her dressing table which she didn’t really like, but she’d had forever and was one of the classics so she kept it but sadly it had gone off because of its 15+ years of sunlight exposure, and every so often you would smell it and wonder to yourself why on earth she kept it when it smelled like cat pee?
Well…Pagan is like that classic scent. Except not gone off and with no trace of cat pee. The way your mum’s should have been. This is a sultry, smouldering, earthy, floral beauty. There is just enough subtle sweetness and mere whisper of a hint of powder that stops it from making your nose recoil and instead makes you want to breathe it in all. The. Time.
It’s an old lady scent brought bang up to date. Perfect for special occasions and probably better in cold weather or summer evenings. Definitely way too good for work.
Pagan is classy and enticing. It’s not elegant or understated. It is unashamedly mysterious and confident. It’s hot and it knows it.
I only have a tiny bottle of this, which I think is ideal, actually. I don’t need loads because it will never be part of my perfume rotation or worn to work (where I, rather depressingly, spend most of my time) and for the handful of occasions where I would wear this, I only need a small amount.
When I sniffed it in the bottle I thought I would hate it. Now it’s on, i can’t stop sniffing it.
P.S. I don’t get any fizzy-drink effect like some previous posters. It’s too grown up for that. This is all down-to-earth gorgeousness.
Edit: I have just been out briefly and it keeps wafting up at me. It’s so heady and summery.
TL;DR: Classy, mysterious, heady, old-school, sultry. NSFW.
gapon.sergei2011 – :
Hello fellow Pagan lovers, I have read the comments above that you wrote about the original Pagan perfume. I am in my early 60’s , but 44 years ago in New Zealand I met my American husband, and drove him crazy with Pagan 😉 So crazy he married me! I ask myself now, why didn’t I buy 10 bottles then? But you all probably wish you had done also. Oh, I found the new version by Mayfair, but it pales away in comparison. I’m sure you agree. Still, its all there is it seems. I have my wedding anniversary of 44 years coming up next month, and I would love to have a splash of the original recipe to wear that night.
LesDV – :
Blind bought a 13ml EDT from Ebay. Bottle was functional looking to say the least, and I was apprehensive of what the juice would bring!
Well I needn’t have worried.
I applied 2 generous spritzes to each wrist and bam! It was as if I’d been hit in the nose with a powderpuff impregnated with oakmoss and sage! Top notes are greeny-woodish, with a shimmer of something lighter – here’s where the lavender makes an appearance.
The drydown leaves a wonderful dense, sumptuous musk. Reminds me somehow of Brut.
It strikes me as something a man could easily wear, but I love it on myself for now and won’t be sharing it just yet.
Edit: am I alone in thinking this is misclassified? Could almost be a fougere.
ARTEMIY – :
I love a scent of the body talk Pagan much better than my mini perfume.Pure nostalgi from the past age.Green and dry ,love it so…
chiker1989 – :
Hi.. Way back in 1978 here in New Zealand PAGAN was made by JOVAN. We used to buy it as a bottle that had a ball and u just rubbed it on skin.
This perfume lasted soo long you could still smell it for days on pillows and clothes. The aroma was just amazing. Sadly became unavailable in 1990. I wrote to Jovan in UK to try to get them to bring it here again but they just said no but sent a small sample bottle. I still have it. Omg how old is it now. Often have a sniff. Brings back memories of wonderful times when I was a teen.
Now to try and procure some..
Meyoo017Bessinepome – :
(parfum) Hmm. It starts out herbal-citrus – yes, definitely a fizzy orange drink note – but quickly settles into a sweet floral “Tabu”. Pleasant, but I wish it would keep those top notes.
nastasy-sweet – :
OK, here I go with my rather uneducated effort 🙂
I have two versions of Pagan. One is the current Mayfair edition and the other is older, but doesn’t say who it’s by, though it has been made by first Picot, and later Lentheric. However there’s a post code on the bottom of the bottle so I did a little detective work and it turns out to be the address for Lentheric. Isn’t the internet brilliant.
They are surprisingly different, though at first, recognisably the same fragrance. As time goes on though, they seem to diverge.
To my nose, the Mayfair is more oriental in nature. I agree with truffles that there is a fizzy-drink note, rather citrus, quite prominent. Pleasant and a little unexpected. This note persists for some time. I don’t get a lot in the way of floral here.
This is the best I can find in the way of notes for the Mayfair version-
“A distinctive, classic floral perfume underpinned by exotic base notes to create warmth and sensuality.”
The older version is initially more floral and a little, but only very slightly, powdery. This powderiness passes quite soon.
I found some notes for the Lentheric version –
“Lentheric Pagan is a seductive floral fragrance with notes of bergamot lavender geranium iris patchouli oak moss amber and musk.” Nice, eh?
Both of these are edt by the way, but have plenty of oomph.
As so often it seems that the fragrance has lost a fair amount in reformulation. The modern Pagan is enjoyable but has a syntheic quality that bothers me somewhat. By contrast the older version seems so much richer and classier.
On the other hand the older one might be experienced as more “mature” these days and the recent version as more young and fun.
I guess you pays your money and takes your choice, but given that so little money is actually involved, I reckon it’s well worth trying both if you can. I’ll certainly be back to stalking ebay for some more of the vintage juice!
SanjaCupan – :
No reviews??
Can’t have that…
This starts as woodsy but fizzy – fizzy like a drink that I can’t quite place at the moment, not quite lemonade, something extra in flavour to that.
It calms down to a hmmm… slightly musky smell.
Doesn’t smell ‘cheap’. There’s definitely more to this juice than just generic ‘floral’.
Pleasant enough, I’m still getting to know this one and figuring out exactly how I feel about it.
I got the 3ml splash bottle of EDP, based on positive reviews online. Only cost about a fiver and the little bottle (and the name!) are really cute/appealing.
UPDATE 04/03/13:
I decided to apply this before bed last night. I couldn’t stop sniffing my wrist and literally aromachemical-frazzled the inside of my nose. Eek. Dampened baby-wipes had to be resorted to.
However… don’t let that put you off, I like this fume, I’ll just wear it normally and not sniff it to death from now on!
I think I’ve nailed it – this is the smell of the taste of a Kola Kube sweet (with a tinge of Northern Irish ‘brown lemonade’) (can we put links in these reviews? Oh darn, we can’t, just tried – never mind Google tells all), underpinned by musk, and the whole calmed down effect is ‘retro’. I repeat, RETRO, retro-lovers get onto this! It’s a pity the Mayfair Perfumes site does not give more detail on the notes of this. An unusual fume and, with the Kola Kube/lemonade connection, I’m wondering if it could almost have a ‘gourmand’ element to its classification?
I’m sure that more experienced Fragrantica ‘noses’ than myself could come up with other fumes that this one could be compared to..
Pagan is not cheap-smelling, although it is cheap in price (in other words – bargain), I wouldn’t say it’s overtly ‘natural’ smelling but nor is it ‘screaming chemical’ (unless you subject your nose to it in the way that I did for analysis purposes :)).
Finally, This EDP lives up to it’s categorisation – it’s strong and long-lasting.
I really am totally enamoured of the little screw-top bottle – so travel-friendly too.