Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Platine ~ Platino ~ Platinum Vintage Dana Perfume Review



Unlike the polite and lovely platimun blondes of the exclusive Dana perfume magazine ads (shown below), this image of Blonde Venus (Marlene Dietrich by Josef Von Sternberg) fits Platine better, an icy platinum blonde but done in a sparkling, zingy, soft and super luxe almost surrealist manner. Bright citrus and juniper open this scent up like a cocktail. On top of jonquil (daffodil), lemon, cypress and a sweet base of beeswax and honey, kept bright by the excellent lingering citrus/cypress duo. I don't have a list of notes to tell you how close I am to the actual composition, but Daffodil, which is usually called narcissus when used in perfumes, is a very complex flower scent. According to my source it has facets of iris, rose, jasmine, tuberose, ylang ylang, orange blossom, storax and oak moss in it, which is enough to be a perfume all in one flower, and this multifaceted beauty is within Plainte, too.


Platine Perfume ad with sillhouette from Vogue 1946 (photo credit: John Rawlings)
“Platine parfum was the scent of a rich glamour girl who lived on Park Avenue and wore jewelry from Harry Winston ~ a strictly special occasion scent; the soapy floral... which was Platine. Platine parfum was meant to make women think of diamonds set in platinum bands or the glamour of platinum blonde hair” D. Chedwick on Tangled Up in l’Heure Bleue blog, May 2008.


Platine Perfume & Marshall Field's jewelry, Vogue 1945 (photo credit: unknown)


Grace Kelly & Prince Rainer, May 1955 at Cannes Film Festival. (unknown photo, "Paris Match" magazine layout)


Platine by Dana, circa 1940s (my photo)


Bottom of my Platino Bottle- its the lotion but I would love to try this in cologne or perfume! In lotion form, especially when dabbed on, it has not too much lasting power. But it has better weight and oomph when sprayed. (Edit: Although I do not mention it above, I think aldehydes and a lemon or flower of lemon are in Platine also adding to the soapy impression.

Another soapy blonde beauty of the 50s. Marilyn Monroe; photo by Sam Shepard- natch!.


This is another little Dana bottle; I'm not sure of the age, but isn't it cute? This is Herbissimo Cologne Refresher in Juniper. It not only smells delightful but it makes the skin feel absolutely marvelous, invigorated and tinglingly fresh. Highly recommend this one (and I'll bet there were more in the Herb series: Lavender? Melissa? Rosemary?).


Back of Herbissimo Bottle (my photo). Platine shares a little of the zesty aromatic nature of Herbissimo, so I'm including it in here.

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