Christian Schloe
If you can’t make your mind up
We’ll never get started
And I don’t wanna wind up
Being parted, broken-hearted
So if you really love me, say yes,
But if you don’t dear, confess
And please don’t tell me
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” by Joe Davis/Osvaldo Farres
Lancome Peut-Etre ad, 1937
Launched in the looming shadow of WWII, Peut-Etre was intended to evoke a woman in a summer garden, wondering what awaits her. The ads for the perfume, however, suggested something less literal and perhaps a bit darker; a waiting passion, the right or the wrong man, “ardour” … perhaps.
Lancome founder Armand Petitjean image courtesy of Lancome
Attributed to Lancome founder Armand Petitjean, the original 1937 Peut-Etre featured the company’s signature rose, along with lily, lilac, and linden blossom on an amber base.
Master Perfumer Nathalie Lorson of Firmenich
Discontinued for many years before being brought back for a spell in 2008, it was revamped by Firmenich master perfumer Nathalie Lorson. Peut Etre has returned and is rebottled with a gold label shaped like the gate at the garden of the Vallières estate, where Petitjean lived. It joins the brand’s Maison Collection series, which features some of the house’s discontinued classics reimagined for modern tastes.
Christian Schloe
Today, Maison Lancôme Peut Etre, rather than projecting youthful anticipation, is the scent of someone who doesn’t commit until she’s good and ready, who holds her cards close to her chest and whose eyes give away only as much as she lets them. Rather than giving us a girlish floriental, Lorson has gone for something rather more enigmatic, a musky rose scent that clings to the skin, with subtle gleams of warm resin. She nods to the original by keeping the ambery base and adds touches of face powder that hint at vintage without becoming explicit. But Lorson dispenses with the original’s heady bouquet of flowers in favour of emphasizing the damask rose at Peut-Etre’s heart and the silky musks that cloak it. The summer garden has not entirely disappeared, but it is shaded. A fizzy quality sparks the top, which made me think there might be hedione in here. Accompanied by a potent citron note, Maison Lancome Peut Etre’s opening gives the effect of fresh greenery, accentuated by some stemmy, girlish jasmine.
Christian Schloe
These notes twirl quietly into the background after a few minutes, awaiting the rose. Sleepy at first, like a closed bud, the rose awakens slowly. As she does, a subtle undercurrent of sweet spice, a suggestion of nutmeg and cardamom, adds a ribbon of sensuality. As the rose begins to bloom, the sweet aroma of jasmine resurges, then retreats. Soft musks, smelling like warm skin and wool blankets, enfold the rose. When its scent is fully realized, this rose smells of slept-in beds strewn with petals, comforting but luxuriant. Benzoin adds a chewy sweetness in the dry-down that makes me think of rose-flavoured marshmallows.
Maison Lancome Peut-Etre 2020 via Lancome
In the years since 1937, Peut Etre has changed her address. No longer in the garden, though it can be glimpsed from the half-shuttered windows of the rose-filled boudoir where she now resides. Does she wait for someone there? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.
Notes: Damask rose, benzoin, jasmine, white musk.
Disclaimer: Bottle of Lancome Peut-Etre given generously to me by Lancome. My opinions are my own.
Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
photo by Lauryn
Thanks to the generosity of Lancome, we have a 100 ml bottle of 2020 Maison Lancome Peut Etre for one registered reader in the U.S. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about Maison Lancome Peut Etre based on Lauryn’s review and your favorite Lancome fragrance-recent or vintage. Draw closes 9/21/2020.
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