Alpona
Caron (1939)

Alpona is a wonder of perfumery. If there was some way to know how a painting would smell like, then I imagine this would be the scent wafting from Paul Gaugin's "Manao tupapau". Surrounded by an otherwoldly aura, created by a seemingly contradictive atmosphere of both innocence and debauchery.

It starts out really strong and spicy and slowly gets powdery and creamy, merging into your own body scent with perfection. The sparkling bergamot & grapefruit greets you on first sniff. Then the thyme, lavender and other herbal treats arrive. Astounding gorgeous carnation, rose and Jasmine play their floral symphony. Some discrete woody and mossy notes nicely come up at the end. Sophisticated in a quiet way.

A most unusual combination of oak moss chypre and citrus candied sweetness. You wouldn't think at first that this could be successfully pulled off, but Caron manages to do so.

Homme de Gres and R&G's Le Jade come to mind as other successful combos of these two qualities of citrus and chypre, the first using lemon and bergamot and the second using lime.

I believe Le Jade pre-dates Alpona, so may have influenced this scent, but the Caron delivers beautifully, irregardless.

Although marketed for women, this is a perfectly fine unisex scent.

Recommended.

I couldn't get past those men's shower gel associations... what really impresses me here is that it is marketed to women, now that they are all supposed to smell like sweet candy.

A beautiful chypre and lighter than I thought it would be. I get a lot of vetiver on my skin with citrussy notes plus orange blossom . It's bright and unisex. Starts off a little bitter and dry and then turns sweeter. Still the vetiver is pretty strong here. I hear this is now discontinued.

Up front, Caron is the only house I will buy blind. Alpona is one such purchase. I'll admit that when I first sniffed it my faith wavered, as this has a STRONG smokey opening.I forgot that Carons always burst forth with a stink. After the 40 minute compulsory wait, I knew I had another hit.This scent never loses its edge, which is why I"m so enamored with it. I would call it a 'raspy woody chypre garnished with a kiss of citrus'. There's just nothing like it (but vintage Cabochard might be close.) Longevity and sillage better than average. Certainly could be worn by either sex. I'm not sure of the year of my decant, but this is one I will certainly replace when gone. A Big thumbs up!

Definitely bursts on to the scene with a full bodied orage oakmoss note.I seemed to bypass the middle notes and quite early in the drydownthe musk with its spicyness emerged.This is indeed androgynous in a edgy way.I use it anytime.