Tabu
Dana (1932)

This fragrance deserves so much more than I can express in one review. I also have an issue with yammering on too long, so I'll try to be brief(ish).

This fragrance is top tier vintage to me. Everything is perfect, but unlike Shalimar, Organza, Arpège, or No.5 extrait, this feels more devil-may-care. More...messy. Dirtier. More downtown, and less blended. It's Obsession's older auntie, bohemian, artful. Even soulful. Hell, Tabu even verges toward spiritual.

I smell almost everything listed in the alleged note structure, and I smell it definitively. Everything juts out in it's own way, and it isn't necessarily a smooth fragrance at all...but that is NOT to say that it isn't beautiful - it's gorgeous.

If I had to pick out two leading notes, I'd say the cloves and vanilla are most dominant...but again, it's a wild mix of everything. All of the constituents are deep, and warm.

It's decidedly spicy above all else, and turns into a lovely root beer + incense blend upon my skin. It's exceedingly comforting, but not in an easy or mindless way; it helps me to want to be a stronger woman - more self-possessed, and to quit apologizing for f*cking everything. 🤣🥰

I was fortunate to aquire a splash bottle of vintage EDC. I treasure it, and it's a token elixir to adorn myself in when I feel like I need olfactory therapy. In this way, it has a lot in common with Angel, Obsession and Portrait of a Lady. There are some rare, kickass fragrances in this world (most are throwbacks and not modern), that are polarizing, but to my nose contain a special empowering quality.

On top of this, it's just plain beautiful, and my eyes roll back when I bury my nose in it. Freaking phenomenal.

Tabu by Dana (1932) is a monumental exercise in amber that inspired many fragrances in its wake, from Youth Dew by Estée Lauder (1953) and Opium by Yves Saint Laurent (1977) to Obsession by Calvin Klein (1985) and even Grand Soir by Maison Francis Kurkdjian (2016). The name was selected because back in the 1930's, a fragrance like this would have been seen as very seductive, as sweet spicy things were when women wore them. Less prim and proper than Guerlain Shalimar (1925) and its pretty orris and vanilla, but still every bit as deep, Tabu was like that classic Guerlain with the safety taken off; this was full-tilt into patchouli and civet like Jicky by Guerlain (1889) had been, minus the vestiges of the fougère accord lifted from Fougère Royale by Houbigant (1882) that Jicky relied upon. Tabu helped launch Dana into a global perfume brand, so that should tell you all you need to know about important this stuff became.

Instead of being a fougère heart swaddled in oriental spices, Tabu had those oriental spices wrapped in a deep floral bouquet of jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, carnation, narcissus, and neroli. The opening was a deep orange and lemon oil combination made only as bit bracing by bergamot, while the patchouli and musks were bathed in sandalwood oil and amber like Shalimar, but additionally buffered by smooth benzoin, a heap of amber as expected, oakmoss, tonka, and some vetiver to add a touch of smokiness to all the sweet, preventing it from being cloying. Tabu was one sultry and seductive mistress, and with these bones, one can easily see later perfumes like Opium being extrapolated from it. Funny too how going this far back doesn't seem to age the style at all, as this can still stand tall alongside modern options like MFK makes. Dana calls what I have a "cologne", but it is quite strong.

The only thing that just ever-so-slightly dates Tabu is the lack of any real "sugar" accords, as this was long before ethyl maltol was invented (1969) and regular maltol was used for anything other than sweetening bubble gum (hence the association, even though it was originally derived from roasting malt). Without that overbearing sugary sweetness most modern designer ambers use, one might thing Tabu a bit staid or dry. Personally, I think this is its best quality, because the gorgeously rich indolic florals would be completely macerated and broken down into jelly with any extra sweetness beyond what the vanilla provides. Tabu has fared better than many things made by Dana over the years as it has exchanged ownership, but there is enough surviving vintage stock that you shouldn't need to "settle" anyway. Jean Carles composed this and later Canoe by Dana (1936) setting new standards within genres still upheld today. Thumbs up

Goodness knows what resemblance to the original formula Tabu currently has
but in its present iteration it seems to be just as seductive (read "dirty") as the
perfumer's original response to and interpretation of the brief that he was given.

It's a boudoir perfume in the Grand Manner. Warm and resonant in its upper levels
but positively feral down below and boy oh boy does it leave a long lasting trail.

Love it or hate it it's unignorable.

I love it!

Many of us already know the legend that Jean Carles was directed by Dana to compose a perfume that would be worn by a lady of the night, which ended up adding to its cachet. However, after its mid-century zenith in popularity, it would be eclipsed by the harlot in ingénue clothing that would be Youth Dew just two decades later, and would over the decades end up languishing on the lower shelves of the local drugstore, with a cult following, while the younger and hipper dazzlers, the Opiums, Cinnabars, and Obsessions would reign supreme.

Tabu is a fragrance that has seen and smelled it all, sort of like Dorian Corey in Paris is Burning. All these spices and shady resins, florals that read for filth, and an undercarriage of smut and revolt, Tabu could very well have the mummy of a criminal in a trunk yet to be discovered. Herein lies its appeal, it makes no apologies, it's always been in the shadows of Shalimar as "that other one" and Dana birthed it with a scarlet letter watermarked on its fundament. This is what makes it a fucking rockstar in the annals of perfume history.

I rate this better than any stuff currently being released. For me, this is very similar to Timeless by Avon, but this is much stronger and deeper. Good price tag too. This is definately among one of my favourites of all time.

I had an ah-ha moment when I tried vintage Tabu for the first time. Suddenly Youth Dew, Opium and Coco made perfect sense---they were descendants of Tabu. Perfumer Jean Carles approach seems based on the premise that if the oriental genre is built from forceful materials and ferocious tones, why disguise it with tassels and trim? Why try to tame it?

Tabu backs up its vaguely threatening name with a strapping, seductive fragrance. It's an intimidating perfumes. The combination of aggressive, spiced florals and powdered leather is just one example of the hard/soft conflict seeded throughout Tabu. (Spoiler alert: the hard edge always wins.) Tabu investigates olfactory extremes without dicking around with the comfortable center. Vanillic amber oriental perfumes often dive straight for the soft middle ground and wind up a bit eye-glazey. The trap for the perfumer is emphasizing coziness at the expense of spine and coming up with olfactory comfort food.

Tabu's dense powdery opening is in fact sweet but it's a red herring. As the sweetness of the topnote settles, the acerbic edge of the spiced resin accord comes forward to create a fascinating counterbalance. The powder lasts well into the long-arc heartnotes and the way that it's cantilevered off the bitter base of resins focusses attention more on texture than aroma. The cinnamon-clove spices have a similarly tricky balancing act. They alternate between hot and cold without ever dwindling to lukewarm. Carles seems willing to concede the aesthetic middle ground, finding more value at the ends of the spectrum. Tabu is technically an oriental but had as much in common with the big tobacco and leather perfumes of the 20s and 30s as it did with the recumbent Shalimar. No fear of lack of spine here.

Jacques Guerlain's Shalimar is considered the superlative oriental perfume, and for valid reasons. It has superior form and elaborate, sophisticated style. It also has a larger-than-life Auntie Mame quality. Next to Shalimar's layered, accessorized style, Tabu cames off as starched and corseted. Carles' style was less opulent than Guerlain's but not a bit less complex. Carles differed from Guerlain in that he found that the richness of the oriental was not in the drape but in the tailoring.

(from scenthurdle.com)