Ténéré
Rabanne (1988)

A strong fragrance that doesn't make a positive statement. Animalic and just a cloying concoction. Just to think, this came out in the summer of 88. Summer.... Really?

The ultimate animalic, masculine floral, Ténéré was surely ahead of its time and would be all the talk of the fragcomm if a niche line such as Papillon or Bogue were to release it today.

This one makes me blush. Honeyed rose (an opening that is similar to Boss No. 1), dirty jasmine, and spicy carnation, it's almost, but not quite overwhelming (don't overspray, especially if you choose to venture out into the unforgiving world, and do not wear on a hot summer day). Though not listed, there is a civet undercurrent that exalts these showy florals, bringing it nearly into Bal a Versailles "well I never!" territory, but the hum of herbs and spices keep it PG-rated. The dry down is the great journey's end; musk, leather, vetiver, and patchouli, a well-lived in bed, the equivalent of a cigarette after some wreckless abandon kind of sex.

This is ACE.

Green, milky sappy, flowery, pissy civetey honeyed. Quirky, on a bed of 80's macho fougere bathroom base.
The flowers make for a great approximation of what a wonderful 80's plastic floral arrangement should smell.
Weird is good, I like it.

Much like ChrisinBrooklyn's review, I too owned a sample of this back in the late 80, and for the life of me just couldn't appreciate it. We had an exchange student from Mexico living with us at the time and I gladly gifted him the sample. He loved it so much he went over to the Broadway (Remember the Broadway?) and purchased a full sized bottle. Back then it was probably under $30. Perhaps he knew something I didn't, because I recently found 2 vintage bottles of this (spray and splash) and I'm totally diggin it!! Fresh, lively, masculine, playful and very original compared to anything else on the market. One could argue that it's somewhat similar to the original (vintage) Boss for men (85), but Tenere is better for casual wear. Amazing to me that 30 years after I first smelled it, I can finally appreciate this refreshing scent and I truly enjoy wearing this!

when i had my 1st collection years ago I bought this when it was on the shelves and it became a staple in my collection...now , years later , when I started my latest collection Tenere was one of the 1st fragrances from the old days that I tracked down and bought...to me , the opening blast of flowery citrus just blows me away...being a lover of animalics I love the animal effect that the honey brings...the scent is fresh, yet nice and thick...semi - powerhouse...after taking you for a spin through various , mostly flower , changes it settles down into a very tasty wood...will probably always have some of this on hand...an all time favorite for me...double thumbs up...

A weak, but respectful, thumbs up for Ténéré.

During the 2000's, I was in such a flurry of collecting all kinds of men's colognes, contemporary or not, where just the slightest of interest at local mall kiosks in an uncommon / unusual / rare bottle was enough for me to get it. Ténéré was one of these, which I was drawn to because
of its rarity from a fairly popular mark. How it smelled was only of marginal importance (now THAT's a true collector's mindset, isn't it!!). I ended up getting other rarities from Jacomo, Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, Fred Hayman, Giorgio Beverly Hills, Lancetti, Trussardi, Byblos, Max Deville, etc. etc. just because.

Anyhow, I gave this one a real test-drive to see how it actually would work out. Ténéré must have been an interesting phenomena in its time (1988), which I was too young to remember seeing among the giants that stole the spotlight, like Polo, Fahrenheit, Perry Ellis for Men, Kouros, et. al. (even Paco Rabanne's own pour Homme).

Ténéré is a fresh aromatic chypre near-powerhouse, closely related to the other loud and proud scents of that era but toned down several notches. It has the requisite citrus blast in the intro along with some lavender, cassia, and rosemary entered in. Then in typical powerhouse fashion, a handful of spices and flowers make their way onto the stage, though not in an altogether cloying way here (it's in this stage that a lot of the 70's / 80's / 90's beast colognes tend to turn me off today). The foundation is a pleasant leathery-musk-amber, a drydown that I appreciate.

Ténéré by Paco Rabanne is nice, and I can see myself wearing it around the house or on quick errands outside the house. It is a bit more floral than I can overlook at times, though there are plenty of "manly man" fragrance notes swimming in the potion to keep me intersted.

If you happen to come across Ténéré, it's not pretentious and cheap-feeling like some outings were back then. It has a solidly masculine aura to it, but in a time-machine sort of way.