Note Pyramid
Olympéa
Rabanne Olympéa Eau de Parfum 50ml sits between the small bottle and the large one, and it is the version most people should buy, since this is a scent worn in small doses and kept for years.
Two sprays is genuinely enough. The fragrance is built around salted vanilla, a sweet and saline pairing that carries further than its softness suggests, and over applying it is the commonest mistake made with it. At 50ml, used properly, it will outlast several winters, and the bottle is small enough to take away for a weekend without a second thought. The shape of the thing is simple and effective. Green mandarin opens bright and faintly bitter, ginger flower gives a cool spiced lift, and jasmine warms the top with a white floral richness. Then the salted vanilla takes over and stays for the duration, with cashmeran adding a dry musky warmth beneath it and ambergris supplying a mineral, salty depth that keeps the sweetness from settling into syrup.
It is long lasting, moderate in projection after the opening, and reads as polished rather than loud, which is a large part of why it has been imitated so often by houses selling at a fraction of the price. Evenings, dinners, dates and cold weather are its territory, though it handles a warm night better than most sweet fragrances do. It is a women's scent, from 2015, by Anne Flipo, Dominique Ropion and Loc Dong.
Calandre, released in 1969, was the first fragrance to appear under this name, a year after Puig had set up the perfume division. The Spanish group bought the house in 1987, and the modern catalogue leans on 1 Million, Invictus, Lady Million and Olympéa.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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