20 Carats
Dana (1933)

orange peel and maraschino cherry, eventually transforming into more a cherry tobacco and carnation, seasoned, spiced, and muddled with myrrh and benzoin. Smooth and boozy, this could at first be easily mistaken for a 21st niche style amber perfume, but some of that mid-20th century glamour puss muskiness and mossiness billows through in a way that would be hard to match today.

The dry down is a superb sweet-smoky, tobacco-tinged cinnamon musk, lusty and heady, reminding me of all the aspects of lit a cigarette that is pleasant, aromatic, without the foul-choke-cough inducing aspects—so many buried memories surface any time the smell of cigarettes comes up, as bittersweet as it is. Warm and enveloping, it's less vampy than its sibling Tabu, showing some restraint while responsibly indulging in some hedonism.

Dana 20 Carats vintage cologne splash.

A beautiful citrus with feminine whiskey cherry tobacco opening. Tobacco these days is so masculine. Here it definitely has a foreign feminine floral edge. This is a fragrance for a DAME!

An opulent release to help soothe the women coming out of the austerity of the great depression and WWII. I can see its cache in the swinging 60s, but 20Carats belongs back in the 40s. Its well put together, structured and quality. Today, if you bottled it differently, it would be an exotic niche.

Top notes: bergamot, cherry, orange, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and aldehydes

Middle notes: heliotrope, carnation, rose, jasmine, lavender, herbs, fern, myrrh, frankincense

Base notes: sandalwood, ambergris, oakmoss, tonka, musk, balsam, tobacco, patchouli, vanilla, benzoin and vetiver

Just to note for collectors/time travelers : There is a lotion that was made in mexico with a white bakelite cap. It is very smooth and mild. The cologne made in the USA is stronger with the silver cap. Both have gold flakes in the formulation. Later editions (1980s) do not have the gold leaf.

It was marketed as a female fourgere. Beautiful for tobacco lovers

I must add the disclaimer that I am getting over a bad flu, and my olfactories cannot be trusted. With this in mind, I am enjoying this smoky, creamy, masterfully-blended antique pure parfum that takes me on the varyious journeys of a women's coming of age throughout the first decades of the 20th Century. It is an intoxicating symphony of spices, florals, animalics, and something that seems to resemble tobacco and whiskey. It finishes smoothly like a good cognac or cigar, deliciously and almost a bit of a woody gourmand...if that makes sense! I look forward to a whiff of each unfolding development, and am finding my nose glued to my wrist. The dry-down is beautiful, soft, and very smooth. The vintage pure parfum wears close to the skin, and sillage is low to average on me. A beauty, a keeper, and one I feel lucky to have obtained.

An intriguing marriage of orange, sweetish cherry-flavoured tobacco and a mildly spicy myrrh make for a very creative and individual opening that is very enjoyable.

The floral drydown, based mainly in a bright carnation with a warm cinnamon lead to a base where a soft resinous patchouli joins a tonka impression, which merges with a minimally smoky vetiver that is given a bit of extra bite by a mossy undertone.

The perfomance is good with moderate sillage, very good projection and seven hours of longevity on my skin.

Like some Danas it sports a metal sediment - of questionable benefit for the quality of this fragrance.

Great in spring, beautifully blended of top-quality ingredients, this is a delight of classic proportions. 3.5/5

WOW! I can't believe how much I like this!

The lineage of 20 Carats to Tabu is clear. They are sisters. 20 Carats is an oriental that is a bit lighter and brighter, but still has that same spicy edge as Tabu. More floral than Tabu, but still spicy. Even with the bottle that I have, there is a bit of citrus on top, but 20 Carats is all spicy powder with cinnamon. It has the same rootbeer note as Tabu but it's not as pronounced. It pick up patch & musk but 20 Carats does not have the same animalistic presence as Tabu.

I got 20 Carats and Tabu from the same estate. Both are 3 oz vintage spray colognes in the rubber bottles with the funky shaped sprays. Tabu is in the black bottle, 20 carats in the cream bottle. I'm guessing that they both date to the 1930s. My 20 carats is "blended in the USA with imported essences." Bottle is numbered 3283. I feel lucky to have found her and her bigger sister, Tabu, which were owned - but never worn - by the same woman.