Ma Griffe Eau de Parfum (Vintage) Carven for women

Ma Griffe is a miracle. A combination of notes in a scent like no other. An elegant "dryness" surrounded by a soft garden rose that I have never sensed in any other fragrance. I loved this so much back in the day. A scent so befitting as a signature scent like no other. Hence, the name of it in perfect harmony with the scent.

Perfume for witches and warlocks who are apothecaries making brews.

My first vintage perfume. I did not really care for this the first time I wore it. The asoefiteda is LOUD and the lemon felt dish soap-y.

I'm wearing it a second time and the opening smells a bit less harsh and the citrus feels a little more well-rounded.

I still can't say I love it, but I'll keep trying with Ma Griffe. The fact that I like it more on the second wearing has me hopeful. I'm also thinking it does better in warm weather.

The version I have is pictured here, from the 2000s, and out of what I sampled, this seems to be the one I am most inclined to envelop myself with. To weed out those who will not enjoy a classic such as Ma Griffe, I will leave these adjectives: sharp, sour, bitter, soapy, imposing, devil's dung.

Now that I got out of the way, for those who are still reading on, you may ask, "devil's dung? should I be reading on?" Devil's dung is a nickname for the notorious asafoetida, which has been featured in traces to extend and lift galbanum in sharp-yellow-green chypres (see also Vent Vert, Ivoire de Balmain). It comes from the rhizome of the plants of the ferula family with a penetrating, pungent smell (hence the moniker). When used in cooking, it smooths into a savory, delicious, leek-like flavor and is often used in South Asian cooking. In Ma Griffe, even in the version I have in my possession, it is most noticeable, animating the vegetal verdance of its opening and harnessing the florals.

Ma Griffe's sharp, feisty verve is also courtesy of styrallyl acetate, chosen by master perfumer Jean Carles to be the scaffolding for the foliage and flowers, particularly gardenia. Aldehydes further elevate it all, making for a fresh, if not necessarily soft experience. In the version in my possession, the top notes are intact, along with the overall integrity of this classic. It is eminently wearable in all of its assertiveness, and when it settles into a warmer, merciful styrax-leather with cinnamon and mossy green woodiness. It's a fragrance steeped with history, with a lovely tribute of it in Lizzie Ostrom's Perfume: A Century of Scents and Barbara Herman's Scent & Subversion, along with many great anecdotes and memories of it to be read online.

Ma Griffe is a powerful, sour floral with a spicy base that is surrounded by green notes. Gardenia, lily of the valley, and rose are the floral characteristics. That is a very pleasant'soapy green,' in my opinion. It begins crisp, flowery, and loud, and it gradually evolves and changes softly from one level to the next. It stays fiery till the finish, then transforms into something extremely tasty and flavorful. The dry down is distinctive, with a dramatic exit for a scent with a strong personality and powerful attitude. This is a severe perfume that emphasises the power of chypres. Oh my goodness, Ma Griffe!!!!.

So complex. The asafetida can be off-putting. Soon, though, Ma Griffe becomes a green citrus wonder. The gardenia and jasmine add sweet jungle flower lushness while the lemon and sage sparkle throughout. In my opinion, a very under-rated fragrance. Thankfully, still pretty easy to find online.

I obtained a mini in a coffret of "Perfumes de Paris" via eBay. Given its age (early 1970s?) I don't get the top notes at all (no asafoetida, alas; my spice cupboard is scented with it and I love the smell). I'm not even certain that I'm getting the middle notes. What is left on my skin is pleasant but very faint. I have to really stick my nose on my wrist to smell it at all.

The venerable Ma Griffe was launched in 1946, just after the conclusion of World War ll. From the Carven website: “Mrs. Carven created in 1946 a fresh, dashing, very flowery fragrance while remaining classic with a touch of haute couture. Its name imposed itself quite naturally. It would bear the name of Madame Carven's signature dress of simple green and white striped cotton: Ma Griffe. A legendary fragrance inspired by Madame Carven's favorite flowers: Gardenia, Jasmine, and Rose.” The name means both “my signature” and “my claw.” (I was here- and I will be remembered.)

Ma Griffe was created with the optimism of the future in mind. It heralded the coming era of post-War prosperity. Ma Griffe was marketed to a youthful demographic, to the young woman who could now put the challenges of the past behind her. It was time at last for her to celebrate her youth.

I was a bit surprised to learn this, as Ma Griffe had never struck me as a “youthful” scent. When I think of a fragrance aimed at a younger demographic, something sweet and gourmand usually comes to mind. (Although anyone of course, of any age, can wear whatever fragrance they wish to.) This “surprise” is, of course, influenced by my coming of age in an era in which gourmands were beginning their ascent. Were I in my teens in 1947, my perception of what a “youthful” fragrance might be would be different, no doubt.

To the modern nose, Ma Griffe can be a bit of a challenge to get to know. Ma Griffe's scent structure seems to echo the era of its origins. First the dark clouds of the War, of loss, of austerity (asafoetida, oakmoss.) Then, the clouds part, and the way into the magical garden of the Future shines invitingly before you (fresh greens, white florals, inviting lemon.)

Ma Griffe is certainly not a gourmand, though it does exhibit a sublime sweetness in its middle phase. It is classified as a chypre floral, and is a complex (in a good way) fragrance. It begins with an earthy, herbal blast that seems to say “Go ahead- just try to like me." This off-putting phase does not last. Do not let the opening deter you from experiencing this amazing scent. After the darkness passes, Ma Griffe's brighter aspects unfold. It transforms into a lovely, green, sweet, lemon/sage/white floral something, sparkly and fresh. (Some people smell cinnamon. I have never detected a cinnamon note in Ma Griffe, although during the multi-nuanced dry-down, there is a powdery aspect that does have a touch of mysterious spiciness.) I love every stage of Ma Griffe after the asafoetida has exited, but especially its longest manifestation, which is the green sparkly citrus-ness. It’s very uplifting.

Ma Griffe calls up a memory of a little lemon tree we had in our back yard. It was scrawny, and always looked a bit moribund. But it never failed to produce the best lemons, and, even more delightfully, in Spring it boasted a deluge of the most heavenly lemon meringue pie scented flowers. I remember standing in awe of this funny little tree, all alone in its container, spellbound by the impossibly lush aroma of the new white blossoms that had sprung from its spindly, dark twigs.

Ma Griffe’s long lasting dry-down is like a walk in a garden in Spring, after a morning rain. Green things are glistening with new growth. Unfurling blossoms beckon you. The air is fresh and bright with herbs. Rose, jasmine, and gardenia glow gently within the chorus of green and citrus. There is a touch of powdery orris root, and all is anchored by the earthiness of the resins and a whiff of oakmoss and vetiver. Ma Griffe smells like the earth under your feet, like the clean brisk wind from a garden hidden among the City buildings. It smells sophisticated- it smells like the future. Traditional ingredients have been combined here in a new way. Every time I apply Ma Griffe, I somehow discover a new facet of it. You will feel absolutely unique, and timeless, when you wear this fragrance.

I never would have thought I would end up loving Ma Griffe so. It was my mother's signature "going out" fragrance. Sometimes when I spray it, I can hear her high heels on the hardwood floors, and see her touching up her Fire and Ice lipstick. A spritz of Ma Griffe, and she was ready to go Out. As a kid, I didn't care for Ma Griffe. It was too weird. My mother's every day fragrance was Woodhue by Faberge, and I loved when she wore that, as it was soft and sweet. I used to sneak a bit of Woodhue on my wrists when she wasn't around, but never touched the Ma Griffe. Woodhue is almost impossible to find these days, but some years ago, in honor of my mother, I purchased a small bottle of vintage Ma Griffe (I have not tried the new formula, but I would like to.) I sprayed it. Then- I put it in the refrigerator. I think I just wasn't ready for it.

After years of gourmands- which I still love, and wear- I thought I would give Ma Griffe another try. And, to my surprise, I fell head over heels for this strange, modern/vintage, complicated scent. When I get a whiff of it throughout the day, I am filled with a sense of optimism. It’s easy to see why this fragrance was formulated to be the scent of a new era of hope and progress, of belief in a future of what was now possible after the dark clouds of the Depression and World War ll had finally dispersed. I will never be without this singular and mesmerizing perfume. It’s wonderful in hot, sticky weather, and makes you feel like you’ve just put on a freshly laundered, crisp white blouse.

Ma Griffe is a true classic. It makes me feel sophisticated, yet playful. Give it a try, and experience for yourself the intriguing echoes of the glamour of a bygone age in a scent that seems ageless.

The very top notes are horribly scratchy, but they quickly mellow into something softer--a powdery, dry, warm, mossy, lemony, iris-y floral with a sort of well-blended harshness still somewhere in there. It smells like an expensive powder puff in the guest bathroom of a wealthy, conservative, yet intriguingly cultured house in the 1960s or '70s. We are CIVILIZED here! ... Watch out! I happen to be testing Ma Griffe on one arm and Fracas on the other, and the combination is making me laugh. Fracas is like a chipper, elegant young 1920s flapper brightly talking over her stuffy great-aunt at a cocktail party. But the older lady quietly holds her own through force of dignity -- refined, imposing, deliberate. And at bottom they probably do love each other. (I, personally, am not simpatico with these people and really don't belong at this party, but still, they're delightfully entertaining!)

This is a fragrance I’ve been wearing since high school. In my mind, none of the other formulations surpass the vintage eau de toilette that comes in the green and white box. The bottle was sort of fluted diagonally. I am now in my 60’s and STILL wearing this!….among others.
The house of Carven has some other GREAT fragrances too, namely Robe d’un Soir and Chasse Gardee…all wonderful!!!

It opened quite zesty, citric with a white floral scent followed by a bitter labdanum. After you have the moss and resins mixed with a powdery note on the base. It's a very nice fragrance, elegant and I appreciate the dryness but it felt too correct and predictable to me.

The vintage is a woody chypre; very powerful and rich; soapy, dry

Ugh! God! This is brutal. The opening smells so foul it's horrendous. Smells like perfume that has gone rancid. Absolutely disgusting! It actually made me gag. I had to control myself from washing it off. I've tried a lot of perfumes that had bad openings, but this tops them all! I have never smelled asafoetida before and someone here said it is the Limburger note of perfume. Oh, I agree with that 100%. Took a good 20 minutes for it to go away and dries down to a very soft, powdery green floral that is really beautiful, but that opening really puts a damper on the whole experience for me. Just too hard to deal with. This is a big NO for me.

My very first perfume, my mum bought it for me from the duty free on the plane to Calella in 1970!!

To jk560813 -
I also love Ma Griffe - it surely stands out - and is a special style that I never encountered in any other perfume - and I have tried a loot.
But there are plenty of cheap, vintage bottles on Ebay.
And it seems to hold its smell very good as I have bottles from the 70ies that still smells wonderful. For me I would go for an older bottle - preferable 90 ies or older - as the reformulations is not as good.
Good Luck !

Strong aldehydes for the first few minutes, then the citrus/moss/floral notes make their appearance. I find the citrus much more apparent on fabric than skin. I also get much more cinnamon than most reviewers here; very noticeable for the first half hour. The overall effect is classy, well put-together, but reserved. I don't think this would ever be the wrong perfume to wear, but I wish it had more longevity.

Please, please tell me the closest fragrance I can get to vintage Ma Griffe.
I’m devastated that I only have a few drops left of my all time favourite fragrance.

A bit of an aside note: My great grandmother had been a diminutive Ozark Hillbilly lady who'd been raised collecting all the wild herbs of the forest and knew their folk medicinal usages. Including things like marijuana, locoweed, ginseng and asafoetida.

The traditional hillbilly pronunciation was: ass-FEDDITY. It was surely not prized for its fragrance, but rather was used as an ingredient in an aromatic medicinal poultice to be applied to one's chest if they had influenza or diphtheria or what-not. Memaw never indicated that they ever ate it or drank an infusion of it; it was for topical use only. Sometimes country folk would even sew up a little cloth pomander filled with asafoetida, which people carried on their person by a little string: an "assfeddity bag". The smell was said to ward off diseases of all kinds.

You'll love this: Memaw, as a tiny elderly wraith of 90, had a favorite perfume: Avon OCCUR! I remember she had bottles of it her bedroom. It was only later that I learned OCCUR! was considered a luridly animalic sexpot/bombshell fragrance. Oh well... she WAS sun-sign Scorpio...

Reminds me of my grand mother who kept a small sample bottle in her bedroom. Very agressive big green cruel dramatic understated oakmoss vetiver chypre. A contradictory masterpiece. Inimitable and truly unique. I own the (safe, mute) Carven le Parfum and like it very much, but she is a bit of a demure, generic smiley girl compared to this gorgeous grown up and uber chique slap in the face.

It's interesting to me, how long the comment threads are for these older, classic vintage scents---so, of course, I have a long story about Ma Griffe, too.
When I was a theater student in the early 1970's at the Pittburgh Playhouse, I was cast in an Equity mainstage production of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"--I played a Scottish schoolgirl and had 2 lines in the play. The young woman who played the supporting female lead, Sandy, part of Miss Brodie's gang of favorites, "The Brodie Set" and the one who betrays Jean twice during the play, had a large splash bottle of Ma Griffe EDT that she would splash on during rehearsals. The fragrance smelled like the essence of French to me--meaning what a stylish,elegant, effortlessly fashionable and cosmopolitan French woman would smell like. I was fascinated by it and confused about whether the actress used that scent as herself or as the character of Sandy. It did not strike me as a scent that 16 yr old Sandy would wear, mature and wise and cruel beyond her years as she was---but rather as the perfect scent for Jean Brodie herself--flamboyant, charismatic, self-dramatizing and aggressively, toxic-ally, narcissistic--the kind of scent that announces itself as it enters the room and lingers in the air when the woman who wears it, leaves, like a persistent memory of her. I always thought "Ma Griff" translated into "My Signature" in English, but, as others have pointed out, it could also translate into "My Claw"-- which also makes it the perfect scent for Miss Jean Brodie, whose signature line about herself is : "Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life." I never asked the actress about her perfume choice and how she chose to use it, but I went out and bought a bottle for myself and I still have some of that 1970's EDT --and it always makes me think of that play and the character of Jean--not Sandy. Maybe Sandy would have worn it in imitation of Jean---and then threw it away after she turned on her? I guess I'll never know!

I managed to score a vintage splash bottle (EDT with golden stripes on the label, I guess even older than the one pictured here).
It's beautiful: opens with a blast of aldehydes, a powerful green note, and a powdery note , balaced by a noticeable lemon note that will keep it wearable for men also. Shortly after, the white florals (with jasmine leading) move forward. After that it starts morphing into a sweet note (benzoin?) that an animalic facet (asafoetida?) keeps from being cloying. An earthy (styrax?) subtle note is also noticeable in the background.
In spite of the advanced age of my bottle, the juice is surprisingly still vibrant and fresh, and the florals still very expressive. That said, performance is below average. (According to the votes here, most of the users seem to face this issue, independently of age - that for sure doesn't help).
The opening is unisex (possibly leaning slightly feminine), while the drydown is totally unisex. A fragrance from other times, that has not lost its youth.

Vintage bottles sometimes pop up on ebay, often for a steal. What are waiting to get one?
Spring/Fall days, women 25+, men 30/35+.

I scored a mini sample splash of this, obviously vintage, but how old I can't say. Maybe seventies or sixties. I have read all the reviews with great interest and must say it's a really interesting fragrance, so little like the "sweeties" of the present day. And I welcome that. It really isn't like anything I've ever smelled before. I get a lot of earthiness It makes me feel a bit reflective and melancholy, but that's not a bad thing - there are days to give in to those feelings. A bit of a time machine. I feel like I've smelled this before but can't say where. Not from anyone in my family.

I'll wear it. Those in sniffing distance may not like it. But I feel there are certain days that I'll wear it regardless.

No candy, no sweet flowers, no fruit. Outstanding.

Second review of Ma Griffe. It's a classic French chypre, elegant and refined and yet affordable. But something horrible lurks at the heart of MG, something that turns what should be pleasant into a thing of disgust. That something is asafoetida, an ingredient more commonly used in cooking to lend the taste of garlic without using actual garlic.
I've come to understand that unusual ingredients can make or break a perfum. A touch of bitterness can ground a sweet perfume, a little herbal astringency can round out flat notes. But asafoetida overwhelms, even in cooking very small amounts are used.
Vintage MG is suffused with the stuff. Granted, most people don't mind it, but it turns me off big time. I tried to like MG, but no matter how I applied it, that garlic stench caught me right in the throat. Appropriately, MG translates to "the claw". My big bottle went off to a home where it would get the love it deserved. Because MG is a great perfume with good longevity, and I kind of hated that I couldn't stand it. Fast forward a year, when a micro mini of MG parfum arrives. The sharp notes recede in the pure parfum, giving room to the woody and green notes to bloom. Asafoetida is still there but it's a whisper, not a blast of foul breath. In the higher concentration Ma Griffe becomes wearable for me, and probably even more beautiful to those who love it. MG will never be a personal favorite, chypres usually don't mesh well with me. But I've come to an understanding with Ma Griffe, and that's probably as good as it's going to get.

Ma Griffe is a fragrance that not every one will get. It's always been a bit more affordable than other houses and that difference may have led to its demise in 70's and 80's. My mother always "got it" though I couldn't see the attraction as a teenager. Now, several decades later I have a new appreciation for this scent. I find it fresh yet rounded, confident yet relaxed. It is a complex chypre yet approachable due to the citrus notes.

I received a decant of this vintage scent from one of my fave swap mates (thx, D!), and I was sort of surprised and then blown away by how lovely this is, especially since it is so very green and bitter for the first half hour or so! This is all about the middle and dry down for me. While the bitter greenness is detectable throughout, it takes a backseat after the opening. It provides both an anchor and a contrast to the balsamic, floral sweetness. I just love it, but if I only based it on the top notes and initial impression, it could have easy been a dislike! The moral of the story is to wait and resist the urge to scrub off a scent just because of your first impression. You never know what delights you might miss out on, especially when it comes to vintage and niche. Now off to Ebay to find a bottle!

PS - wondering how Chanel No. 19 Poudre compares to this, if there are any similarities. I guess I need a decant to see for myself!

PSS - That didn't take long! Bid on an unopened bottle of extrait dating back to the '70s and won. How this will compare to the EDP remains to be seen, but nevertheless, I'm happy to have her in the "family"!

EDIT 4/1/2019 I received my bottle of vintage extrait today. Though sealed, there was some evaporation and the top notes are less prominent. What is left is a beautiful, smooth floral balsamic that is rich and sophisticated. I smell the gardenia and ylang, both tempered by benzoin and sandal, and though there is no giant aldehydic and green explosion at the start as is the case with the EDP, the greenness is still present in the background, preventing this from being just another floral chypre. Sillage is close to the skin, as is often the case with dab on extracts. Longevity TBD, but it's old school, so I am anticipating it to be average at the very least. I am really happy to have this one in my collection!

When my grandmother died in the 90s, I got her Ma Griff collection. My grandma was a perfect lady, who wore silk, high heels, pearls and Ma Grif every day. (She hiked a volcano with us in high heels and pearls) On her, it was slightly powdery and had a depth of many fragrant nuances of oakmoss, gardenia, jasmine and green spices. Her life was like a novel of exotic adventures and great loves and loss; this fragrance teased and taunted of that life and the raucously independent and intelligent woman within. This fragrance is a walk in the most fragrant and beautiful woods on a wet spring day and a sensual and high spirited woman with the gleam of newfound love in her eyes at the same time. It is complex and sophisticated, and womanly and deeply sensual. This is a fragrance for a confident woman with history to tell. The aldehydes in the open are a little too much, but the fragrance settles to a beautiful complexity.

I really love these reviews!
A few years ago this type of scent would have intimidated me, maybe Id only try it on strip.
I've been liking chypres and even mossy scents lately. Not all perfumes have to be flowery sweet or subtle.
Somehow this reminds me of the sphynxes in " The Never-ending Story" when they blast lightning at you if you don't have confidence. Growing up in the 80s I just missed the chypres that were popular in the 70s so never experienced them.
Reading that " ma griffe" means my claw, well it all makes sense.
Not for those days you're feeling timid. A kind of feral beauty that takes no prisoners. I like it a lot. I'm not a super confident femme killer but Id like to be for a few hours.

Vintages of Weil Antilope & Ma Griffe are really similar - both have that green woodiness that I find very attractive. Antilope has oakmoss and I think they're both suited to a mature woman - I could be wrong but I don't think many young things would go for the vintage versions of either. It's a love for me.

This is a review of a used eau de cologne splash bottle from the 40s or 50s that I have found in a local antique shop. When first opening the bottle I could only smell alcohol, then bitter alcohol (the asafoetida I guess?), and some undefined sharp notes. After this horrific initial opening that smelled worse than most of my strongest detergents, Ma Griffe started to slowly, very slowly calm down and settled into a sharp, clean green scent that in the end even turned a little powdery.

I dare say that Ma Griffe is the absolute opposite of todays mainstream fragrances, not a hint of sweetness, no pink ribbons, no sugary gourmand notes, no coziness, not soft at all. It is simply a sharp, green lazerbeam that cuts through some cool floral notes, add a little moss here, some grass notes there, and a pinch of bitterness as well, all these together form a unique, unusual, but strangely harmonious composition I really fancy. In a time when most females around me smell like vanilla pods, Ma Griffe has to be worn with utmost confidence -- and confident you will be after surviving the first few alcohol-infested minutes.

Bought a partial vintage, hoping to relive what I remember of the scent from 40+ years ago. The juice has turned syrupy dark (which is to be expected). Happily, the lily of the valley and some “green” are still — quietly — there. However, the aldehydes have completely dissipated, and it’s a too-powdery shadow of what it once was. Despite splashing it generously on myself, it doesn’t stay around long. Ah well.

I hesitate to make this my first review, but Ma Griffe was a deep disappointment when I bought it almost 20 years ago. Blind buys are always risky, but this scent came with rave results, so I bought a big bottle. Tragedy! There's something horrible in the scent, and I can't identify it ... but I can't take it, either.
It's a well-crafted scent, it's a classic, but my bottle will go on the swap board soon.
Sorry, Ma Griffe, I wanted to love you, but I can't. You're just too nasty.

I love this fragrance! On me it's a soft subtle green scent that has a light floral and powder dry down. It's been on my want list for a while but it was a bit expensive to blind buy. I saw it up for bid on ebay and bid low thinking I'll never get it as I bid before on it in the past and stopped bidding when the price got to high. Went to sleep got up and lo and behold I won it! I can't believe I got this fragrance for such a steal!

3/10

A protean personality that either shows some great zeal for metamorphosis or it simply cannot act in any other way since constant changhing is part of its very nature. And when it does not venture into about-facing then it just becomes facilely two-faced. Just like the ancient Roman god Janus and befuddling you in toto; for you cannot decide which face stares at the past and which peers into the future.

Thus, it's launch couldn't be anything else than antithesis itself by being so silently loud. A nice day back in 1946, Parisiennes and Parisians saw hundreds, thousands even, of small boxes descending with tiny white and green striped parachutes from the sky. Each box contained a sample of Ma Griffe. I suppose you can easily imagine how the French capital would smell for days after this fanciful "invasion". I also suppose that this certain campaign, taking place more than 70 years ago, spoiled promotion tactics for good by making every faddish "innovative" contemporary campaign look dull as dishwater.

However it's not just in olfactory terms that Ma Griffe fancies to bewilder us. It also lies in its very name. Griffe in French means claw or talon but it also means signature. Thus its name coud be interpreted in three possible ways.

a) I'm feral hence I expose my claws.
b) I'm commanding hence I put my signature on you.
c) I'm feral and commanding hence I claw my signature on you.

The diminutive Marie-Louise Grog-Carven (née Carmen de Tommaso) however, did not bother to clarify which of the three was that she meant, although she had more than 70 years to do it between 1945, when she founded her house, and 2015 when she departed at the age of 105!

Ma Griffe's multi-faceted and perhaps mercurial character could be the reason behind the numerous different bottles (and maybe different compositions) in which it has appeared trough the years. Nevertheless, its earthy and somewhat animalic character was always there. Just like a bar of expensive soap lying forgotten next to an outdoor washbasin in the garden of a summer country house and exposed to nature's elements and to the constantly changing between subtle and brisk whiffs of weedy soil, till its revived by the next spring rain.

Some nights I think I can hear it clawing its box, trying to get out. Who knows, maybe it craves to leave its signature on me before I venture into some dream, where I shall land with a white and green striped parachute in Bois de Boulogne so as to conquer the City of Light...

Lemon soapy aldehydes.

Very soapy (not clean bubbly) with allot of Lily of the valley, clean vetiver, oakmoss, iris, ylang, clary sage, sandalwood, orange blossom, musk, and gardenia.

This is Lily of the valley based fragrance with allot of soap stuffed in. Fair.

Ma Griffe hasn't taken me a single second to get to know it and it's already a firm 'love' with a capital 'L'

It opens up in a way that strongly reminds me of Miss Dior and I'm not sure why. As I have the parfum de toilette (I've been informed that it is 70s-80s, I don't really care but its nice to know its a vintage) and this just sits perfectly on the skin and changes and morphs accordingly over the hours. I've been wearing this for around 3 hours and it's not faded at all, just evolved.

It's green, it's sparkling, it's a bit labdanum & ylang ylang heavy... and it's mine, finally.
It's the type of chypre that the women in your family probably all wore at some point (or men, why discriminate) and now you get to pick up (as the only child, I wear enough for two or three offspring)

No one could define this perfume better than Madame Carven herself: "an outdoor fragrance without the heavy overtones".

This wonder behaves so well in the summer of the Brazilian southeast that was a plague around here in the 60's and 70's.

My aunt had a can of Ma Griffe dusting powder in her boudoire when I was a little child and I used to spread that powder all over the room to get involved in the scent.

There's something about Alice going down the rabbit hole in this one.

A very firm dislike. I have been exploring vintage green chypres, and have learnt if the note pyramid looks like everything AND the kitchen sink I wont like it. I find this extreamly dated smelling.

I want green, but this just is not green to me. Its floral, bitter, oakmoss and soap and a bunch of other muddled notes. Oh and foul, that too.

So far Vent Vert is a Chypre i like, but I think its time of me to give up on vintage and look to modern green, even if they dont last at least it smells good, no offence MaGriffe fan girls!
⛤

Ma Griffe is one of the all time greats. Totally unique and sharp. Not a sweet note to be found. Just to the point, sophisticated, and daring. One of a kind-- could not be mistaken for ANYTHING else. A proud treasure.

I am wearing a very vintage Ma Griffe parfum today. I also have a vintage edt and some powder and I use them together. Strong aldehydes give way to a greener powdery fragrance which to me is so comforting and lifting on grey cold days. This perfume is for a person who likes chypres I think. Not for those who only like flowery and fruity fragrances. I feel it brings green and heady outdoors into my being.

Ma Griffe is a very dry green chypre with no sweet notes. It's very sophisticated and unusual. I would say this is best for someone with an adventurous sense of smell.

There are a few other fragrances loved by many that I cannot abide but Ma Griffe sucked the air right out of the room and left a trail of bitterness so extreme that I swear my teeth hurt.

I do enjoy many unusual fragrances, those thought to be "quite different" (Secretions Magnifique was a tame floral on me),but Ma Griffe proved simply unbearable.

I love aldehydes and I very much like bitter fragrances and all the ingredients that produce the bitter effect, but as if oak moss, styrax and vetiver weren't bitter enough, Ma Griffe's recipe includes ASAFOETIDA, the most bitter of the bitter, the stinkiest of the stinky - yes, the limburger cheese of the fragrance universe. Asafoetida is the very first thing I smell when I apply Ma Griffe and just like a sniff of limburger cheese will hijack your nose so you can't smell ANYTHING ELSE for quite some time, Ma Griffe paralyses my sniffer.

I imagine the perfumer was having an argument with Madame Carven over payment or creative control, perhaps under contract to produce something/anything by a particular date because Ma Griffe smells to me like revenge. Revenge perfume... yup. Truly this is the worst thing I've ever smelled.

Ma Griffe is most definitely a floral aldehydic chypre, without question. It has the citrus, labdanum and oakmoss requirement of a classic chypre with a musky dry character. In addition to the chypre elements, it has aldehydes and other features as well. And it's gorgeous and far too overlooked it seems. But it is a classic floral aldehydic chypre. Luca Turin calls it a chypre. Books on perfumery list it as a chypre. It is considered to be one of the great green floral chypres. All noses work differently and fragrance is subjective but it has the required notes and character of this specific type of chypre.

Oh DIVINE Ma Griffe!!!! It is a jewel of a perfume. Wonderful. Superb! Supreme!!! I die a thousand deaths every time I wear it. I have three glorious bottles of it, which I have inherited from the ancients in my family line, and feel completely blessed!!!
It is so elegant, feminine, strong, oh SO strong...........and beautiful!!!!!

I find Ma Griffe intriguing more than enjoyable. It's an odd genre-crossing exercise, combining green chypre and floral aldehyde elements. It starts off sharp, green and citrusy, then turns spicy thanks to cinnamon, before drying down soapy thanks to the aldehydes and moss. The overall effect is interesting, but ultimately nowhere near as refined as the icy green chypres that would rise to prominence two decades later. Still, like its contemporary Vent Vert, Ma Griffe was an important stepping stone in 20th century perfume history. A must-sniff, if not necessarily a must-buy, for green floral fans.

This perfume is classified as a green mossy floral. It is not a chypre. This page is rife with people incorrectly classifying mossy and woody florals as chypres. Also, the name means "My signature" and signifies "it's mine". The launch of this famous classic perfume included dropping thousands of miniature bottles of the perfume over Paris by tiny green and white parachutes. It is innovative in that it was the first perfume to use a synthetic obtained from gardenia which added a dry sharpness. Stop calling it "old fashioned" or "mature" because it was created especially for young women. I have a sealed bottle from the 80s. Here are the notes: Top:gardenia, citrus, galbanum and aldehydes. Middle: jasmine, lily of the valley, rose, ylang-ylang, iris. Base: styrax, oakmoss, sandalwood, cinnamon, benzoin, labdanum, musk and vetiver.

Back when I was a member of a perfume swap I became interested in at least trying vintage scents and this one had me intriqued as it had been described as green yet spicy and often unisex because of that.

However, this was a failure for me. Folks, I just don't get all these florals mixed with cinnamon and, yikes, vetiver.

It's a melange to be sure but it doesn't mix well and never has for me (since the initial sample of an older bottle of MG I've sniffed and worn samples of several years' worth).

The initial spray is exciting due to the help of the aldehydes, which initially make Ma Griffe fresh. But the dankness left on my skin, unlike patchouli or a better-blended oakmoss, quickly turned flat-out sour and rotten for me.

Sadly, Coriandre did the same thing except it was a bit more palpable and not an instant scrubber.

I highly recommend wearing this before buying a full bottle even if one is a big spicy-green fan.

This is my mother's signature scent, although she wears the modern version. Unfortunately, it is not the best perfume on my skin, which, I have been told, always makes perfumes smell sweet. I think that the greeny bitterness doesn't agree with my chemistry. But I do really enjoy how this scent is so different from the regular sugary concoctions.

Ma Griffe begins with sparkling aldehydes and some sort of note that smells like urine. I have no idea what this is. Maybe asafoetida doesn't agree with my skin? Spices don't usually give me any problems. The scent is very green and sometimes aromatic, with a lot of unusual notes, many of which I have not had the pleasure of smelling before, so I can't really describe them, but this is earthy and green and it is not sweet. Then I get soapy greenness, (which is presumably the combination of citrus and green notes/white florals on my skin), followed by urine, then some sort of earthy dampness, which I think could be the oakmoss, and it keeps yo-yoing back and forth, and throughout this there is also something faintly spicy. Perhaps this is the phantom asafoetida? Who knows.

After about three hours later, I finally get the soft, delicately powdered, woody dry-down, and this is absolutely my favourite part, that pretty and comforting sandalwood with powdery iris. My overall impression is of something light, discreet and never overpowering, as Ma Griffe is such a polite and feminine little scent, with a well-mannered sillage that is always soft and a longevity for about 9-10 hours.

By the way, I always thought that the meaning of Ma Griffe was "my signature" not "my claw" (and according to the advertisements, it is definitely my claw) :)

Ma Griffe is the smell 80s airplane cabins for me. I must have been seated next to someone wearing it and the memory of the scent is seared in my brain. I bought a vintage oz of pure perfume recently and when I opened it my first thought was " United Airlines !"

Don;t take that to mean it's a bad scent. It's not. It's just that smells have idiosyncratic meanings for all of us.

Ma Griffe has been among my very favorite scents for 35 years or so, and was my introduction to chypres. I wear it mostly in the winter.

One of our high school French teachers, an elegant elderly French lady, explained to me that the name meant "my claw" or "my talon" because it hooked the man and drew him to you, lol. (She didn't say that second part, but merely gestured with her fingers.)

Ma Griffe was designed for Carven by Jean Carles in 1946, but it is still in production and it seems to be quite a chameleon. Every reviewer seems to describe something different, or perhaps we are all experiencing different reformulations. To me, Ma Griffe is a warm green chypre, which opens with galbanum and herbs and softens and warms up as it worn with notes of cinnamon and resinous styrax or benzoin. It's an autumnal chypre for me. I get no trace of the fearsome asafoetida in the vintage parfum and vintage PDT that I have. I've always been captivated by the story that Carven released bottles of Ma Griffe attached to mini parachutes over Paris, but it seems Helena Rubinstein may have done this first, as I've read in a recent biography. Rubinstein dropped samples of her 1940 perfume Heaven's Sent tied to balloons from the roof of the Bonwit Teller department store in New York. I wonder if the impressive (and similarly diminutive) Mesdames Carven and Helena Rubinstein ever had the chance to meet. I also wish someone would drop lovely perfume from the sky onto me...

Fragrance Review For Ma Griffe By Carven

Top Notes

Aldehydes Green Notes Gardenia Clary Sage Asafoetida Lemon

Middle Notes

Iris Orange Blossom Orris Jasmine Ylang Ylang Lily of the Valley Rose

Base Notes

Labdanum Sandalwood Cinnamon Musk Benzoin Oak Moss Styrax Vetiver

6AM

As I write this review on my laptop the fragrance is working it's deep magic. I sit in the basement of my townhouse which I converted into a studio (I'm a niche indie fashion designer) and I'm getting pleasant whiffs of this scent which I know will last all day, if not until the afternoon. This is a beautiful floral sandalwood with vintage appeal. Released in 1946 and reformulated numerous times throughout the 60's 70s and 80s, this is a perfume that wears like a real perfume, composed of ingredients and notes which were traditional of most classic perfumes for women, namely of the green-floral kind (i.e. Quelques Fleurs, Vent Vert and Oh! de London). This is entirely on a league of it's own as it does not smell anything like Vent Vert. It makes me think of spring time, and the soft caressing breezes which are already scented with flowers and oak moss. It has a refreshing and soothing effect and for some reason it makes me think of a Baseball Stadium.

The opening is of aldehydes, distinct bright aldehydes but bigger on green notes of green leaves and clary sage with a dash of lemon. It's not very citrusy and it's more herbal and green with sage and something that smells like grass. The opening is rather masculine and like a man's cologne and quite strong at the first instant it's on me. But I know that even if it's this harsh, it will soften soon. The performance of this fragrance begins in the first 20-30 minutes. Once the green scent is gone, the flowers begin to emerge. It's like you were at a distance from flowers that you begin to approach.

I don't know what it is about this fragrance but it has a very outdoorsy and even sporty, athletic vibe. Mmm. Oh it smells like a country club, a golf club, a large lawn. The greenery of the opening is a greenhouse scent and before long the flowers show up. I detected jasmine, gardenia, orange blossom iris and lily of the valley. The white flowers are the more dominant flowery smells. That gardenia is definitely in there, the jasmine and the lily of the valley. It's a green and white flower scent and it almost falls into a Fracas type of mood but it has so much going on that it does not and will not become a dupe. It's also more of a wildflower scent to me even though I know these are cultivated feminine classy flowers of gardenia, jasmine and lily of the valley, not to mention the iris and orange blossom. Oh and the rose. It's definitely a floral by definition. The flowers are the key players.

The dry down is woodsy with a fragrant sandalwood but it's joined by strong benzoin which is like a myrrh, incensed with a warm touch of styrax. It's still big on the green notes and the outdoorsy feel I get from it. The oak moss is also evocative of being out in nature and getting scents of hanging moss from trees. Woods and woods and woods for the duration of the dry down and the finale of the fragrance's life. It's beautiful.

A classic vintage of beauty, artistry and elegance. My type of perfume and I'm so happy to wear it today!

This is a very likable fragrance, but a little too subtle for my personal tastes. As chypres go, I prefer sledgehammers like Gucci No.3: something that slaps you in the face with aldehydes and smothers you with oakmoss. I agree with other reviewers that this is a much more "sensible" scent. I have a vintage mini and I get surprisingly poor longevity and sillage - maybe I need a more voluminous application.
The lovely thing about this fragrance is its cohesiveness: it all blends into one very pretty picture. Overall I get an iris scent with hints of green herbs and oakmoss. Discreet, classic, and sophisticated.
Update: One interesting thing: I believe the translation of "Ma Griffe" as "My Claw" is too literal - I think colloquially it translates to something like "my hook," meaning "my style" or "my signature." I dig that. This is very much the signature of a restrained, refined lady who understands the power of suggestion.

I remember it was distinctly mossy and very powerful and lasted for quite a while even in the minuscules quantities my mother dabbed it. It was one my father's beloved perfumes along with Cabochard and Arpége.A great scent from the 40s.

I have 3 different versions of this from the 60s, 80s and 2000s. I found it originally in a antique shop and just bought it on a whim. It took a while to appreciate it a day care for it. Now? It's love, the kind of love you have for your most sensible friend that you admire so much. She's smart, dresses well and never seems to make all the stupid decisions you do. This is that perfume. It makes me feel sensible when I am being silly or I'm worried over nothing. It makes me feel smart and confident. That's pretty powerful for a rather forgotten perfume. For a character, it really rather reminds me of Hermione Granger. It's that clever.

Depending on the version, this scent seems to vary a bit. The oldest from the 50/60s seems to be a lot deeper and mossier but perhaps it's a bit off? It's like a deep, calm mossy forest where the trees are old and they make you calmer remembering how small your worries are in comparison to all the human suffering they have lived through throughout the centuries. Possibly stronger vetiver here.

The 80s or so version seems a bit heavier on the asafoetida or galbanum perhaps. It's greener and less mossy but not as light and floral as the newer version. More lemon than the older version. There is a bit of a tang to it, slightly sharp.

The newer version that's pictured has way more lemon, light floral and hints of powder. It is easier to wear if a little colder. This is the one I'd choose to wear out although I find the others provide comfort at home on mad days.

It's certainly been a wonderful education and introduction into chypres and green notes that has entirely changed my perception of the whole group. Well done Madame Carven.

Beautifull very well crafted floral aldehyde. It is evident that it is constructed by so many notes. I think that I recognize a part of Ma Griffe in other later creations, a compliment for Jean Carles, and very well deserved.

I received this perfume as a sample at Galerie Lafayette the other day. I didn't know it before and I thought it was a men's perfume since they gave it to me.

The description, backstory and reviews actually are relatable to my experience. After the first spray I immediately thought of my grandma. It has this vintage. The first note is too sharp for my taste. It has a nice floral sweet but not too obvious scent dry out. I kind of like it but I wouldn't wear it. And I love women's perfumes.

I loved the smell from the bottle, a lovely soft powder scent, but does not work on my skin. The lemon becomes prominent, lemon/powder never works with my chemistry, kind of like Chantilly

I got this as a sample with some perfume I bought online. On first spray I didn't like it - and it accelerated a headache that I had that day! Had to wash it off!
But I didn't give up on it!
I have tried it since - and find it quite unique and enjoyable!
It reminds me a bit of Nag Champa incense .... it seems quite exotic to me.
Now I just need to find a proper bottle of this for my collection ;)

Vintage: I am kind of ashamed to say I have a vintage bottle, from the 70 s, and it still is marvelous. I agree it is green, with a complex mix not found in many these days. Strong. Serious. And I'm going to do more research to find out when this classic was updated. I can't believe I collect so many scents and hang onto them so long. Embarrassing.

Ma Griffe has been my beloved scent since the mid-60s when a family friend gave it to me. And it has been my signature scent along with Niki de Saint Phalle, Weil Antilope, Courreges Empreinte, and lately, Yvresse. Even the overly asafoetida-ed versions have held charm for me, strange to say.

All these reviews are perfect -- a green sparkling chypre with crisp aldehydes, clary sage, cinnamon and pine at drydown along with the chypric oakmoss and everlasting gardenia... and everything else continually triggering different scent-recepters, like a fine wine slowly savored. Someone called it a perspective-shifter: so true.

But my reason for writing tonight is to address the name/claw confusion. Yes it's true that Ma Griffe means 'My Claw', but that's the literal translation. The actual usage of the term "My Griffe" means "My Signature". That's the true meaning of the perfume's name. Makes sense, doesn't it? Just as Empriente means Imprint, but also means Statement, or Signature.

I am at a loss as to why the advertising shows nails scratching a lover's back. Unless it's some kind of visual 'pun'-- a play-on-words?

Have to agree with jtd about purchasing vintage but to add my own story -- remember when samples weren't readily available by mail? My Ma Griffe purchase was many years ago, based on one of those magazine sample inserts. Turns out I didn't care for the fragrance after all but didn't know why. It just seemed to be missing something. Took forever to finally figure out what: a soupçon of magazine printer's ink.

I met Ma Griffe in 1970 when I found an eau de toilette version on sale at Christmastime at a price I could afford. I had no idea it was really a high-dollar scent (if I'm not mistaken $148/ounce and comedienne Phyllis Diller's favorite scent). I loved it because it was a soft scent with a kick. Back then everyone was wearing Avon. You had to think outside the box if you didn't want to smell like everyone else. Ma Griffe did that for me. People would stop and ask me what I was wearing.

When it became hard to find, I carried a small vial around with me for years to remind myself how much I loved it. My Aunt found some at the closing of a store in NY and sent it to me so I was able to get by a few more years with the good stuff! I recognized the years I purchased most of the different bottles shapes, which helps!

The reformulations changed it into a sharper scent that I wasn't wild about and my husband hated. I've found vintage pre-1970 bottles that gave me an idea what the original scent smelled like and it wasn't sharp. Today, by accident because someone didn't know, I received the newest bottle that the woman had posted as vintage on eb*y. It wasn't vintage (it's the bottle pictured above) but it sure smells similar to the older formulation! I liked it very much! There is no sharp after tones - just sweet, soft and romantic! Still crazy about it after all these years!!

31 août 1909 - 8 juin 2015

Madame Carven vient de nous quitter.
Nous ne vous oublierons jamais Madame.
Vos parfums nous accompagnerons et un peu de vous aussi au travers de vos créations....

Reposez en paix Madame.

Iris

I have a vintage miniature, and the top notes are probably all spoiled. But when you wait just a few minutes, beautiful dryness, along with bitter greens start to emerge. It's surely complex, elegant and undoubtedly timeless. The amount of oakmoss in this vintage formulation is what balances out the overall humid white floral garden atmosphere. So it's a creation of contradiction, the wild untamed nature, versus cold, astringent and dry powdery vibe. It's about a lady, that has everything in her own grasp, for she lives not to please others but she accepts the world as it is, knowing of her power, but remaining humble.

I have never experienced the original 1940s version as I happened upon it in the 1980s, but I loved it then and still do. The fresh green notes are still there over a chypre heart, but the overall impact on me is of warmth rather than freshness.

This was a total blind buy and I am so glad I bought it! I love reading everyones takes on all fragrances when I buy something. So way before I write, I've read almost all your awesome reviews :) This perfume reminds me of the movie Cool Runnings where the guy says " I am a bad ass mother who don't take any crap off of nobody!". I feel like that's what this sweet little perfume tells me and I love her gumption. It is pretty and polite so I can wear it just about anywhere but there is something edgy underneath. I can't put my finger on the note that does that but its there, like, "try me bitc@*!". I've gotta say, this is one of my new faves, love my Ma Griffe!!

I've just been given this by my friend's aunt, a lovely lady who knows I like perfume. I'd never heard of it and tried it on with trepidation, having read some pretty negative reviews here.

Honestly, I'm delighted. The greenness wasn't anywhere near as sharp and astringent as I'd expected. I was surprised by how soft it was, including the sillage. My first impression was of a complex, glamorous floral – gardenia and aldehydes, with a spicy undertone. I can't smell any of the unpleasant things others notice.

Too often I think we wear perfume for others, hoping to be noticed, or to be desired. But this strikes me as a perfume for a self-possessed woman: something you wear just for your own delight. I'm so impressed that Auntie Helen guessed I would like it – I really do!

This was one of my late mothers favourite perfumes. I remember it as a very special favourite of hers and to me it has always been a fond memory of Mum; seing her in a shantung silk dress, ready to go to a party, putting on Ma Griffe to get in a festive mood.
Ma Griffe then was green, very green and with base note of spices. As I remember it.
Today I was foolish enough to try it in my local beutyshop. Big mistake!
The asafoetida was overwhelming. Actually it made the whole experience really unpleasant. Why reformulate a classic perfume to smell like poo?
I am sorry to say so, but this is one of the worst reformulations I have ever come across.
It could have been so nice to use a perfume I remember from my Mum, to remember her by. But this isn't it.
So I will stick with the memory of Mum in her shiny dress, smelling soo good, and in a happy mood. She used to lift me up, telling me to be a nice girl and not tease the sitter. And I would snuggle up to her and breath in the green scent and think about how exciting it must be to be a grownup, going to a party.

I have the new version. I can't honestly say I remember the vintage perfume although I wore it in the early 70's.
Anyway wearing it today it is really fabulous and has lasted all day.
Fresh, feminine and different - what's not to like?
The strong sharpness of the first spray develops into a warm , woody, mossy deliciousness that stands head and shoulders above the modern perfumes of today.
I love it and am leaving a waft of unforgettable loveliness and beauty.

Ma Griffe was one of the first perfumes I ever owned. A gift from a relative at Christmas, I wore it without knowing if I liked it or not, but I always felt extremely sophisticated and grown up!

Many years later I rediscovered the perfume, and have since stocked up with vintage bottles on ebay. I have to say, I haven't as yet been disappointed with any of my bottles, although none of them were probably from the late 1990s.

There are very very few green perfumes, and even fewer green perfumes that are not green-tea based. The citronellic notes and rich floralcy expressed within this greenness are simply unique. Hopefully, I'll never have to be without a good bottle of Ma Griffe either!

I smelled Ma Griffe only recently and I'm sure it was no vintage. After hearing so much about and how precious it is, honestly I was disappointed. It smells harsh in the opening and greenish putrid in the end and strangely never smells bad in a bad way, just not my kind of perfume. I see many remember the vintage version. For me this perfume is something that I thought it didn't exist: the old lady stuff. Anyway this is more related to the type of perfume with strong aldeides and green powerful notes rather than the silly stereotype. It belongs to an era when these perfumes were beloved and worn. It has a very vague feeling of Gres Cabotine, but much harsher. No trace of sweetness. It speaks to me of the daring elegance of the '50s lady, when ladies learned to be unapologetical to the world and felt no need to go around as giant wrapped candies. Interesting but not my kind.

Pursuing vintage perfume has its difficulties. Date? Formulation? Provenance? Concentration? At the heart of the matter is a question that can be asked of every perfume, whether vintage or current. It's a variation on the 'does one ever swim in the same river twice' chestnut: does one ever smell the same perfume twice?  Is my new bottle of Mitsouko the same perfume as my last bottle? Is Mitsouko Mitsouko? It's a high-school philosophy survey course sort of dilemma.

The problem with vintage perfume has to do with expectation. What do you expect from your ebay perfume purchase?  If it is a greater authenticity than a contemporary bottle offers you, be prepared to smell the disappointment.

Ma Griffe is my instructor on the topic. I've smelled 3 vintage versions made in the 1970s to 1990s and they all smell largely the same to me. Powdery and buttery, green but vague. Weak, indistinct, uninteresting.

This is the powerhouse green locomotive from 1947?  The legend that paved the way for the commanding green chypres of the mid-late 20th century? Of course it isn't. I'll never really know what the old girl smelled like in her heyday. I wasn't there in 1947, and to smell a bottle of Ma Griffe in 2014 that might have been produced in the 1970s can't compare. If you're chasing the authentic experience, like a junkie chasing that first high, it’ll feel like a hint of a memory. Like a dream at the tip of your mind's tongue.

So what to do?  Consensus is that the current Ma Griffe is rubbish and vintage is unreliable at best. Buying vintage doesn't usually give you the option of sampling or testing a perfume in advance of purchase. It's a stab in the dark.

So Ma Griffe is dead to me. It is the plight of perfumery and the perfume lover that over the course of time even iconic, seminal fragrances will go away. We blame IFRA compliance for reformulation, but forget to consider that the loss of past perfumes is inherent in the form. I enjoy the discussion of perfumery and the language that it prompts us to create. As for Ma Griffe, I'll have to be content with viewing from the sidelines of the debate. I'll never smell the perfume.

Still, it's worth it to have the discussion, don't you think?

This is for the vintage perfume
When I was a girl I read a series of romantic novels about a teenager in the 1950s. The love interest in her life was Paul, and every time she planned to accidentally bump into him she dabbed on some Ma Griffe. Ma Griffe featured quite prominently in all her books, which made me curious: How would a young girl in the 1950s smell on a date? I imagined something flowery and romantic, and when my husband recently gifted me with a small bottle of very vintage Ma Griffe, I was excited to finally learn the truth.

It opens up a bitter, dry aldehydic green, that for some reason is a tad nausating. It stays that way for a long time, and then dries down into a warm, spicy base that is rather pleasant. During no phase is it either romantic or girly - more like something one would imagine a middle aged woman in those days would wear, along with a hat and gloves.

This is why the world of perfume is so wonderful - it lets you get in touch with the life and tastes of people from a different time and place. Launched (from airplanes over Paris) in 1946, a scent that in our fruity/floral time can be considered severe and grown up was the "it" scent for young people back in the fifties - rebellious and ground breaking.

Received a lovely bottle of vintage Ma Griffe in a swap with a kind Fragrantican. This is the good stuff that I remember from years ago! It is bright and sparkling, and as Ditta70 mentioned below, it changes and is rather capricious! The Clary Sage and the Vetiver are so pure and bright in this beauty. It makes me feel so happy to have this fragrance in my wardrobe again. Thank you, N!

This perfume never stops to entertain me...I mean it is freakin' ridiculous! Composed by a then anosmic master Jean Carles, with a cartload of pungent asafoetida in the top, for heaven's sake, alongside with a good old slug of aldehydes, clarysage, the most bitter oakmoss in living memory (mine for sure), then all the florals that in this context appear rather prim and then that base of powdery, warm resins and woods and spices. It is green, dry, bitter, yet warm and powdery at the same time...to me Ma Griffe is just as bitchy as Bandit, but deceptively clad in a feminine two piece suit and a choker of pearls.

I just adore it and cannot really figure it out, ever.

Ma Griffe is timeless and elegant - the one I will pick to wear, when I just don't know what to wear. My mother wore this, so perhaps it is comforting to me from memories. Would never be without this in my collection.

Back in the 1960's or early 70's, my Dad's boss used to give the little bottles of Ma Griffe to his employees wives and daughters for Christmas.
At one point, I had several bottles.
I haven't had it in years but what I remember about it was that it was sort of green, grassy and mixed with something a bit sharper and deeper. I remember liking it and wearing it all the time until I started wearing Aramis Chromatics, which was a unisex men's cologne that I just loved. I also wore Fabrege's Tigress, Flambeau,Woodhue and Babe and sometimes the legendary Shalimar.

Ma griffe reminds me of Chanel 5 and Chanel 19 at the same time.May be because of the aldehydes?
I am not sure if I can wear it. I hate to say it, but "ma griffe" is for a woman in her 45-50's...
Not for the young ladies for sure!

Oh what a fascinating scent ! I have a vintage Ma Griffe and on my skin, it begins as a deep, dark, earthy, rich, slightly bitter, dry powdery wonder. It doesn't shout, but instead envelops the senses like a soft cloud. After about a half hour, the florals bloom, sweet, dense, and gorgeous. The dark green earthiness remains to anchor the florals and I am in Heaven ! Yes, this scent is a very "old School" chypre, and it continually changes from slightly bitter to sweet floral, off and on for hours. It's dry, crisp, fresh as newly turned earth in a sweet flower garden ,cooling, interesting and addictive. I totally LOVE this vintage Ma Griffe !
Silage is moderate to low, wears close to skin, remaining full and rich. Longevity is amazing, and Ma Griffe stays on my skin forever until I wash it off.
I am amazed at how much I adore this perfume ! It's a unique treasure you never forget !

This unconventional beauty is more of an acquired taste. Befittingly, I have a rather complicated attitude towards my bottle. I would like to like it and to have no qualms about wearing it, but the fragrance is simply too peculiar. It's not something I can just pick casually to spray myself with in the morning and go about my business, unperturbed, for the rest of the day. But on days I reach for it, it rewards me with the feeling of naughty accomplishment.

Ma Griffe has a strong presence. I'm not sure it's really that detectable to people around me, but each time I wear it, it obviously makes me very aware of itself. Once on, the fragrance wraps me in its grip and there's just no way I could ignore it. The name and the ad seem really well-suited in this context, except that the way I see it, the claw's victim is always the wearer rather than the shirtless sexy someone:) In fact I highly doubt Ma Griffe has any erotic allure at all, quite the opposite (at least not in this day). It's the combination of oakmoss, gardenia and asafoetida, with asafoetida being a key factor, that gives it off-putting character. That being said, I feel quite special when I'm surrounded by its constricting, offbeat and un-pretty presence.

The part I'm not so keen on, however, is one particular association it calls to my mind. When I smell Ma Griffe I can't help being reminded of a certain scent that greets me the moment I step through the door of my elderly aunt's place. It's a usual blend of old fittings, aged furniture, decades-of-cooking worth kitchen smells absorbed and digested by wallpaper and household objects, the somewhat bitter, yet not unpleasant, smell of my aunt's breath - the collection of aromas that to me smell like humble, hard-working past, sadly touching in its mundanity. Alas, they also remind me of my aunt's kind nature and her occasional, uninhibited, mischievous giggle, suddenly making me see the young girl she must have been long before I was even born.

Ma Griffe doesn't bother to be pretty or shocking to get noticed. It has natural confidence that isn't just an act. It's bold yet quiet, kind of ugly, but fascinating. I would never describe it as fresh, soft or feminine. Lasts all day on me (current EdP).

I am really enjoying this one. I find it to be a VERY green floral with an incomparable depth. I have the new/old formulation. It is very wearable and I would feel comfortable wearing it in a crowd or in close proximity to someone who is fragrance sensitive. I feel it is on the same level as A SCENT BY ISSEY MIYAKE. A light airy fragrance that a lovely sweet woman would wear. I also think it would be great for someone younger...I seriously take issue with the ad campaign...nails screeching on a mans back?! I don't think so. Anyway, that is my two "scents" worth.

Happy Perfuming!

PS this is not the longest lasting perfume...you could maybe get four hours?

A trop vouloir reformuler (moderniser) ce Chef d'Oeuvre de la parfumerie française, ils ont tué ce parfum !
Rien à voir avec l'ancien et original Ma Griffe.
Le nouveau donne une odeur synthétique de l'iris bas de gamme et savonneuse d'un aldéhyde sorti d'un paquet de lessive.
L'ancien laissait la part belle au Chypre qu'il était !
Avec un fond boisé très féminin. C'est ainsi que je le sentais sur la peau de ma maman. Peut-être ai-je idéalisé ce parfum quand j'étais petite fille mais il en demeure pas moins qu'ils ont massacré une icône de la parfumerie !
Je suis très très déçue de la reformulation !!!
Un cadeau de la fête des mamans 2005 pour ma maman et le cadeau est raté !!! Furieuse !
Je n'ai pas l'habitude d'être virulente comme cela mais cela me met en rage quand on tue des parfums iconiques comme Ma Griffe qui a bercé ma jeunesse !

Anyone who pines for the smell of Ma Griffe as it was prior to the sometimes dire reformulations of the last couple of decades should try the new version,in the new bottle and packaging. Carven said they were returning to the original formula and as far as I can tell, they have done just that. Beautiful , and a very welcome return.

Carven Ma Griffe is a remarkable chypre on the dark green bitter side of the genre. There are white floral notes but they take a back seat to an aldehydic green scent with some animalic note that I can't put my finger on (it might be asafoetida, a very unusual note in perfume - to me ground asafoetida smells like fresh ground mustard seed mixed with cooked garlic and a morsel of rotting flesh). The notes are fairly linear for quite some time before they slowly give way to a classic oakmoss and vetiver base. This is what I imagine bad girls and aggressive professional women from the late 40's and the 50's might have worn. The name translates as "My Claw" as you can see from the publicity shot, and it is perfect for this unpretty juice (bold and handsome yes, pretty no). The bottle is classy and I love the way the striped box evokes raking claw marks, but done in green to reflect the perfume notes.

I see that some others describe this as soft and feminine which is totally at odds with what I smell. To me it smells big, waxy, green, almost bitter. I don't know how to explain this difference in perception, but it is clear that that the Carven folks smell what I smell (the name, the ad images).

For the perfect description of the appeal of scents like Ma Griffe, search for Meaning of Ma Griffe on the web (olfactorama blogspot). A lovely slice-of-life vignette for an amazing perfume.

I haven't yet tried the new version (in the cylindrical bottle) but I think that is the way it should actually smell--more animalic than the green version.

What a beautiful fresh, green chypre!!!

It is full of aldehydes, green notes and the oakmoss and vetiver gives it this dry, earthy, old skool quality.

I can imagine Grace Kelly wearing it and being a spokesperson or ambassador for it.

It has 40ies chic written ALL OVER.

Think of an early sunny summer's day (late spring really) in Monaco, when Grace Kelly drives up the mountains in a stylish cream convertible with white leather goves and a Hermes silk scarf wrapped around her ...the sharp, still cold wind batters through her hair...but she is ever so stylish regardless the "joie de vivre".

I would honestly wear this as well......if only to revive Grace Kelly's holy style ghost!

10/10 for stylish vintage cool!

Is it just me or does this smell very faecal and animalic? Im not so sure now because in the store I sprayed this and I got this strong white floral/civet note. Yes and it was Ma Griffe by Carven but the bottle was a cylindrical shape instead of the shape in the picture above. Did I spray the correct one?

It was so fresh at the time in the late 40s. My mother loved this scent above all others. She said it was the only one that didn't give her a headache. She was not pleased when I started wearing it in my thirties since it was her signature. Jean Carles was the nose behind Ma Griffe, and like the great Beethoven who was deaf when he composed the great string quartets, Jean Carles had lost his sense of smell. He developed Ma Griffe in his head!

When I was 16 or 17 somebody gave me a tiny bottle of Ma Griffe which I loved and treasured. I didn't really know the value, but it stood out among the cheap stuff people tend to give teenagers for their birthdays, and to this day I remembered it, even though I never came across it for decades. I was so excited when I read about it on Fragrantica and could get hold of samples on eBay. I got two 1 ml samples in different packaging which surprisingly smell totally different from each other. The one is exactly the Ma Griffe I loved when I was a teenager, and the other has a cheap, synthetic, sweet smell I can't stand. (fake?)

Ma Griffe is a fragrance I feel I can wear even to work here in fragrance-intolerant Japan, because it is so soft and classy - lots of oakmoss softened by citrus and gardenia. I hate the marketing though - I really can't connect that nasty demon-like claw with this beautiful, feminine and classy fragrance.

thanks- good to know for my future buys not to invest in anything too heavy on the asefoe.....I'll just shorten it to ass!

@ lalondem...it may be the asafoetida doing that!

It's asafoetida!

Can someone tell me what ingredient makes this perfume smell somewhat like cow poop at the start of it? Lol, no really -what is that weird smell? Will it pass and become something beautiful? because it is really hard to wait until that happens..... Anyone can give me the name please? I hear these names (oakmoss, vetiver etc.) but I can't attach a smell to them......

Ma Griffe appears to have fallen off the radar in recent years which shouldn't be so. This is one of those inexpensive gems, a cheaper alternative to YSL's Rive Gauche.

Ma Griffe is a soft, almost intimate fragrance. It doesn't have much projection, but it does last. I quite enjoy its subtlety, especially on a warm Summer's day. It's a clean and somewhat powdery green fragrance.

When I first applied Ma Griffe to my skin I was greeted with a hit of spicy greenness. I am more than likely smelling the clary sage note featured in the opening. The aldehydes are quick to develop too, lending a crisp, somewhat powdery feel.

There's something really likeable about Ma Griffe. You'd find it difficult to dislike it. The oakmoss accord smells fantastic in this composition, blending perfectly with the aldehydes, green notes, vetiver, clary sage, white florals and iris. The end result is a smooth, green chypre that almost anyone can wear.

Due to its super soft sillage, I almost forget that I'm wearing Ma Griffe. I'd really encourage a heavy-handed application for this fragrance if you want it to be noticed. Otherwise, enjoy its subtle nature and wear it for yourself.

I have an older bottle of Ma Griffe and I have been wearing it the last few days on and off. I am just trying to get a feel for it, and I what I know is that the version I have is. Loud and brash, but crisp and clean. It's not soapy just crisp, like perfectly ironed shirts. It has strong sillage and longevity, both of which I find a plus. Beware, this is not a skin scent, people will notice you when you walk in the room. So far, I am really enjoying this.

I was given this fragrance as a gift, it was not something I would choose for myself. It is inoffensive and boring. It smells clean, like soap or talcum powder. I used it on housework days.

This is another of those perfumes that I can not be objective about, my mum wore it so it's imprinted in my lymbic system and that is it.

I always make a connection between ma griffe, Mitsouko and Clinique's Elixir.

Ma Griffe evoques sadness. There is no interplay between the great green opening and the sorrowful oakmoss underneath. It's as if this wonderful greenerie was suspended above a slowly moving boat in the darkness. It is beautiful.

In mitsouko, the same notes, but with a bit of peach, something gourmand, are in it, but the interplay is much stronger. The notes swim up and down and surround you. It's as if you were walking in a wood exquisitely fragranced.

And in Clinique's Elixir, I feel as if I had entered the room were "the fun" was, but no longer is. It's a perfume about the trace of a perfume. As if all those fantastic scents were preserved in something slightely waxy and medicinal. Still utterly wonderful.

Anyway, I ramble.

My point is, wear this beauty day and night, but not if you are feeling sad...

I received a bottle as a gift and am trying to like Ma Griffe, but having a devil of a time with it. I have read all the reviews and don't know how to speak fragrancese like most of the reviewers here, I just know the stuff kind of makes me feel sickish when I spray it on, after I have been wearing it awhile and finally when I can't wait to get into a shower and wash it off I still feel slightly nauseated. LOL I would have to say this juice just isn't for me.

Just received a vintage collection of three little minis of this, what a beautiful scent. I agree, the aldehydes are strong at first, then on me it settles into the beautiful flowers of the middle notes, particularly lily of the valley. This is a lovely, wearable daytime scent for spring/summer, it's fresh and clean and quite lovely. I've also enjoyed reading through all the comments, and agree with most. This one is worth tracking down!

Horrible!!!!!!!

This is the ultimate sophistication - fresh, sharp, but without bitterness, sweet without being too sugary. It's been around since my Mom was young, and it is still here... a reminder of class.
The aldehydes and the muskiness complement each other wonderfully. A real classic that is wearable anywhere, anytime.

I know this perfume has been going a long time, but this is my first purchase, a bargain from EBay, and I absolutely adore it! Really powerful, which I love. I have no time for those disappointing perfume which might be a most gorgeous scent, but disappears in no time.
This is intriguing, sophisticated, flowery but floral with an oomph not flowery twee, sexy, with that interesting tinge of musk and oak moss, but not too overpowering so that it knocks you and everyone else out. Three hours down the line from first spray, it smells as strong, which is see as an enormous plus, and it feels so good to wear. Seems to me that this would be appropriate for day or evening ,and it is going to be my number one choice. I am smitten!

very special, unique and long lasting (old version), but not mine or maybe not yet. Very very dry, soapy and powdery on my skin. Totally unisex at least for my nose.
P. S. And for me it doesn't smell as Rive Gauche by YSL.

I do not find Ma Griffe sexy but very comforting and mellow. I feel good wearing it and I like that.

Modern EDP: This starts off green and very "vintage" smelling, but quickly becomes a subtle skin scent that smells like what can accurately be described as a person's breath after they have eaten parsley. I find it strikingly unisex.

Ma Griffe is a sorrowfully optimistic scent.

It seems to know that despite its pure white floral heart it is destined to lead a cold life.

It makes a fair fist of a bright opening all aledhyde and aromatic, then transforms effortlessly into a clean and becoming bouquet of freeze dried flowers.

Though somehow these notes of gardenia, iris, orange blossom, jasmine, muguet and rose are too brittle. One senses they would break if touched.

It is this fragility, as if the whole fragrance’s slight composition where stretched out to too tight over an oakmoss structure too big and forceful for it, that is the scent’s haunting charm.

If it were not for a slight powdery sweetness that arrives midway through, this perfume would be the very epitome of sparseness.

As it is Ma Griffe is entirely sympathetic and strangely attractive in a solitary way.

It should be noted that loneliness afflicts both men and women equally, this being the appropriate accompaniment for such an unfortunate emotion I see no reason why all should not feel free to use it.

An extended version of this review is available on my website - which you can access from my profile page.

I have a vintage perfum pencil of this gorgeous perfume. Never seen anything like this on ebay. It has 10 ml inside en is full. I really love it, it has very sharp green notes and has a lot of aldehydes in it. I reminds me somehowe of chanel 19 but sharper. It lasts for over 5 hours so I think it's fine.

This is a magical perfume. I have yet to smell a fragrance where the oakmoss is more prominent yet so gentle - almost hidden. It's as if the oakmoss stumbled in a on his siter's sleepover and all the girls want to playfully hit him with their pillow. Every time I think I am zeroing in on the purity of the oakmoss something else grabs my attention.

I get vetiver and some aldehyde mid way in - but there is only enough of the aldehyde to make the oakmoss and vetiver hum - which is about the same time the musk begins to make it's presence know. In the drydown I begin to notice a honey/bees wax scent dancing with a hint of laudanum and of course the oakmoss. I also get some faint bezoin which softens it all just a touch.

I don't know which florals are in this because they are so well hidden it is always changing - sometimes I'm smelling orange blossom then other times I smell iris - a bit of rose - sometimes it's just the impression of a flower. The fragrance I smell an hour or so after spraying is so different and so much softer and beautiful than the first hour.

This fragrance gets warmer as time goes by everything seems to fuse together like melting, dripping wax. This scent is all about the magic of oakmoss. Such a SOFT OAKMOSS hidden in plain sight!!! BTW I sampled the vintage version.

I bought an unused bottle of "Ma Griffe" at a jumble sale when I was about 25 - I love perfume and was always "sniffing" out bargains and old classic scents. I remember thinking it was one of the most unusual scents I had every encountered up to that point - so strong, sensual and womanly - very green and mossy with a musky undertone. I didn't have the nerve to wear it! I was given the newer formulation in the 1990's and this seemed more wearable to me, although never a favourite. Too mature and old fashioned and not in a good way!

I sampled this one today first time, and I can really understand how interesting it could have been at the time of its launch and for decades later, but for the woman of today, I just don't see it as a very suitable proposal.
It is very old fashioned (in an unpleasant way), it starts very deep and animalic and only later it blooms in a lovely floral and elaborated smell (this is the stage I like the most). There is something classic about it but not in a very unique way (at times it smelled like an inferior "miss dior", personally I'd go for the later anytime.
Good thing it is still around though, but so are a number of other old classics which frankly do the same job better.

What was I thinking....
in the '70s.... 1976 to the day Magie Noire was introduced in 1978...

Cleaning my closets and came upon a ' vapocket' Ma Griffe, a thin spray 30ml bottle I used to stick in my school bag. Initially taken from mother's closet, it became my 'transitional' perfume, between the tomboy days of Paco Rabanne and discovering my 'inner famme fatale' with Magie Noire. It might have been 'me' then, but, boy,.... what was I thinking? What an edgy scent!

The bottle I have is from the early 1970's and has been kept in the dark. I think it lost the top notes as I don't smell citrus but I, frankly, don't remember chypre floral notes then, either. In fact, I was vigorously avoiding citrus notes on anything in those years, because inadvertently they reminded me of 4711, the 'original cologne', which we splashed liberally when sick or visiting sick relatives. -- The antimicrobial hand wash of the times, I guess.

Pungent. Very pungent. No sweetness at all.

And how many reincarnations has this perfume undergone? I could not find even one bottle that resembles the bottles I remember, not to mention the one I have. I just saw the price. I can't believe it has become that cheap...

Pungent. Top notes for me are vetiver and adelhydes. I also get serious civet. Dissimilar but somehow very close to men's Vetiver Guerlain, save for the leather/tobacco tones.

This is a fragrance I fell in love with at a very young age. My mom, sister and I bought it in Galeries Lafayette, my first time in Paris. It was going to be for all three of us. I ended up wearing it to school. Since that time I love chypre fragrances for work (school in past), they keep me aware, alert, sharp and fresh, just as the perfume. Another chypre that I loved was Cialenga. Nowdays using Balenciaga, and also looking for another chypre, maybe with more citrus on top.

I'll have to explore this one a bit more and maybe open my mind a bit more, but initial reaction was a recoil. Smells like a cocktail of urine and sweat, at first sniff. After 20 minutes I detected a hint of light floral. My bottle is what appears to be a vintage from 1968. I have no idea what it would smell like if it turned rancid..cause it smells kinda rancid even if it hasn't gone off. Or, maybe I shouldn't smell this 10 minutes after luxuriating in Ambre Narguile. Food for thought.

Update: A giveaway for me. I simply cannot handle this scent at all. I don't even want to keep it for reference. It's probably the only perfume I categorically cannot put near my person. I'd bathe in a tub of Fracas (ouch) before I inhale another whiff of Ma Griffe.

I just bought a box of Paris perfume sample sizes from the late 50's on Ebay. It was in good condition and all the other samples had maintained their middle and base notes, although the top notes are very fleeting now. I was excited to see that there was vintage Ma Griffe so I put it on a piece of paper and kept sniffing it for an hour or two, noting the stages of the drydown. I understand that many folks love this, but it is not my cup of tea.

The chypre and other scents in the mix smells like undies that have been worn all day and then dropped in the grass. It's not pleasant in the least. If you want chypre try a modern one like Estee Lauder's Aliage, that's a good scent. I see why this perfume did not have such a good reputation when it was first introduced. I definitely get the "bad girl" smell that it gives off and I don't like it.

Found me a vintage bottle of the pure perfume.

Find it stunningly beautiful. Gorgeous green chypre. Oakmoss, vetiver, labdanum, lily-of-the-valley and iris.

Read that it´s creator also made the original Miss Dior (of which I´ve got a small extrait de parfume). So intriguing to find that two perfumes with so many notes in common still are so different from each other.

Hmmm, I think my recently purchased mini has lost its top notes. I get a moment of sharpness on application (pdt dabber), then it goes straight to soapy, creamy florals...

Thirty minutes in and I'm beginning to register a sharper note. There's some spice but the overall effect is so smooth I can't pick out any individual notes. That said, I have nothing against "soapy, creamy florals" and I think this is lovely.

I'll try to find a spray, ideally vintage but new if I must, and test it again. But this little mini certainly won't go to waste!

ETA (2Aug12): Yes! I found a vintage spray (boxed pdt). And I certainly got those missing top notes this time! A whoosh of aldehydes, then lemon and asofoetida on the skin. After only a few minutes it settled down to that lovely soapy, creamy floral again but still retained an undercurrent of sharpness. Mmmmmmm.

I had a bottle of this in college in 1970 and remembeer it as being unique and luscious. I don't usually go for green scents, but this was something special. I wish I had some now.

I tried to avoid the top notes as much as possible (I do that by blowing on the area I sprayed and not breathing in with my noes, then leaving the room I sprayed in), so I didn't get nasty aldehydes. Instead, the asafoetida is very strong, and if a niche company marketed this today it would not surprise me. Perhaps it would be called something like Fenugreek Sunrise! I don't get that much of a floral quality here, but there is a powdery, green vetiver, so that is likely the iris. There is a very mild chypre accord, so if you don't like chypres you still might like this one. There is a mild animalic quality here, and it's on the dry side of things (some might consider it a bit "musty"). As time goes on it balances out nicely, and I consider it unisex (the drydown). Longevity is very good and projection ("sillage") drops off and is at least moderate. While MG lacks the dynamism of the greats of the 1980s, it has enough dynamism to make it worth considering among aficionados. This review is for the vintage (mid 90s?) Parfum de Toilette.

UPDATE: I obtained a bottle of vintage 1970s EdT (spray). It is by Jacqueline Cochran. The fenugreek type notes seems totally absent and the note separation isn't as good. It's also not as strong. I think this one would work today in a lot of social situations. However, the aficionado would likely be less interested in it. Since I intend to keep my PdT, I am going to put this one up for swap (50 ml, sprayed a couple times, with cap, nice 70s style bottle in excellent shape).

I had a gamble on an eBay auction. I thought it was an ordinary mini EDT or EDP. Turns out its a vintage "Pure Parfum" - Lucky !! It was also another eBay bargain at £3.50 including PnP. (i love it when i get a bargain!).

The two words that best describe this perfume for me , are "Green Powder" ! Id prefer it if the Green notes were more prominent, and it was less powdery. I still like it though. Reading through this review page ,it seems that the different versions over the years vary a lot in quality and smell. Ive tried a tester vial of the modern EDT and its brighter , fresher and less powdery.

Ive seen a lot of reviews all over the web , that slate this perfume as "old Fashioned".It does remind me of "Old School" style talcum powders that the older generation use heavily. Ma Griffe is so different to the majority of whats on the perfume shelves in 2012 , that i think it may just be too austere ,too bitter and maybe too eccentric for the young consumer . I just don't think they would "get " what Ma griffe is about. In contrast to the mainstream perfume trends , Ma griffe is devoid of ANY sweetness , and is quite bitter and harsh. It screams the coulour GREEN , the packaging n advertising is a perfect fit for the smell. When its settles down , its a green powder bomb.

PS - I read on another site that the edition that was brought out in 2007 is the one that's been slated as "bad quality" in reviews. Apparently Carven listened to its customers and have re-issued it again , in a reformulation that's better quality and closer to the original. :)Below is a quote from carven reps -


..............."Carven has had new owners since July 2008 and the proprietors want to go back to the roots of the historic label. They are planning to release an authentic version of Ma Griffe -- which is in dire need of it as it has been undone by blotchy reformulations lately -- as well as Eau Vive which will be released as an unisex scent."..........

( Wouldn't it be great if more perfume houses took this approach! )

I have a mini bottle I got on eBay. So I don't know which iteration I have, or if perhaps it has spoiled/soured, as I have known another bergamot fragrance to do.

That being said...

It smells like my grandmother's nursing home.
Dreadful.

Sweet, sweet summertime

An old friend from way back! I wore this in the 70s and recently acquired another bottle; I'm so happy to rediscover it once again. This is green lushness in liquid form. The opening is big and brash, very sharp aldehydes and citrus, with a touch of sourness that I can't quite place but I have to guess that it's the asofoetida. (I prepare quite a bit of Indian food, and this spice, in it's raw state, is very pungent!) If it stayed this sharp-edged, I would have to scrub it off immediately; happily, the middle notes come on softly and the fragrance opens into a wholly new creation, rounded, lovely, gently sweet but not cloying. The drydown is a chypre lover's dream, with oakmoss, labdanum, and sandalwood prominent. The cinnamon is a wonderful touch--nice to bring a spice back into the mix. Sillage is big, longevity 8+ hours. I've seldom seen such a quality fragrance at such a reasonable price---I don't know how they manage it but I hope they make this scent forever. A perfect summer fragrance, day or night. A great unisex fragrance, too.

I have 1/2oz of this in very vintage extrait. I am a chypre connoisseur, and this is right at the top of my list along with Mitsouko, Private Collection, Eau Sauvage, and Z14. This must have been destroyed in a reformulation to have reviews like this; I haven't smelled the new version to compare. I can, however, talk about my particular bottle that I bought recently, still in its original plastic wrapping.

Ma Griffe opens citrusy and green, like you would expect it to, with a sweetness provided by the gardenia. The citrus starts to wane, and the salty, sulfurous asafoetida note brings the gardenia into a pretty avant-garde territory. At the same time, but independently, the most beautiful natural cinnamon and iris accord is pushed up into the foreground by the bitter, inky chypre base. This is all glued together by a delicate floral middle and the presentation is just stunning. As time goes on, the vetiver and florals become a bit more prominent, echoing a bit Dior's trademark sour chypre bases. Hours later, you're treated to a gorgeous but extremely feminine musk. It smells like warm skin, and it's done very well.

Longevity is great, though projection ceases fairly early on. Ma Griffe, in its vintage form, at least, is a stunning example of a soft, floral chypre. Lovely through and through.

just gone back to Ma Griffe after lapsing into a sweet perfume binge. It was the first 'proper' scent I bought. A stay in France as a teenager and a trip to a big Paris department store led me to it. I was enraptured after all the fruit sec ted 'teen' scents available in the UK at the time. Ma Griffe is like no other. A fresh green breeze but a strange intoxicating secret underneath the familiar freshness. As if a genie lurks in the bottle beguiling the wearer to explore more and discover it! I never grow tired of Ma Griffe. I'm glad we're best friends again. I can wear Ma Griffe anywhere and she never embarrasses me.

I was very hesitated to try this, as I thought that it would be a darker stronger version of Caleche or Rive Gauche. (I hate them both) Indeed, there is a similarity at the top and middle notes,but it reminds more of Paco Rabane's Calandre, which is similar to the other two, but more subtle and elegant.
Ma Griffe is even more elegant and subtle...Bitter and warm, floral and green. All together! I did not expected to like it but I really did! So, I bought it. I have the new version of edp, so I cannot compare it to the vintage one, but I imagine this new is lighter, and more floral than the old. It is a unisex fragrance and not a sexy girly thing...Yet, chypre lovers will appreciate it.

The vintage Ma Griffe I have fairly screams, "call the gas company, the house is going to explode!" That would be the asafoetida, which contains methly mercaptan, a noxious garlicky smell. Any questions?

I was wondering if Carven perfumes are tested on animals? if anyone knows, that would be great

I used to wear this a lot in the 70's so not sure what the newer version is like. It was very strong from what I remember. I've bid for some on ebay so will see....

Ma Griffe is a strong and sour floral with a somewhat spicy base surrounded by green notes. The floral characters are gardenia, lily of the valley and rose. Styrax, asofedita and sandalwood add spice and just a bit of sourness comes from oak moss. There is also a 'note' here that I haven't really encountered before in a perfume, and I'd call that 'soapy green' - it's very pleasant and perhaps just a bit like what you'd expect jade to smell like if it had a smell.

It opens sharp, floral and loud, and this is its strength. There is nothing sweet or gentle about Ma Griffe - this is serious perfume. It evolves slowly (because of its incredible longevity,) and and changes lightly from one stage to another. This soapy-green appears about half an hour in, along with a sour and boozy note. The florals fade slightly, and I think these middle notes are the most pleasant.

It remains spicy till the end, but not in a cinnamon-and-sugar kind of way - asofedita is one of the strangest spices to a Western nose (it's incredibly disagreeable in its raw state,) but when warm it opens into something very appetizing and savory - anybody who's ever cooked a curry will remember this. It plays an important role in Ma Griffe adding a serious edge to the whole experience.

Because its so strong, this one will last all day. The dry down is unusual - it brings forth a kind of withering blossom scent; like cut flowers heavy with the last gasp of perfume. It's a dramatic exit for a perfume that has a lot of assertive character and a strong personality. This is serious perfume, highlighting the strength of chypres. Is it old-fashioned? It may be, slightly, but that is in no way a flaw. Ma Griffe is from a former era when perfume made a stronger statement.

It was my first French fragrance: the first fragrance I wore as a woman... Many years ago, now: in 1981. I was 26 or 27. I don't think I can find it in Uruguay now.

Classic - never lets me down. Always admired when I wear this.

I have to apologize to those who voted on my review only to find it has dissappeared.

I get excited when I get to test something new and in my exhuberance to share my first impressions, I am finding that my reviews are sometimes less than they should be. So, a fresh start...

As I mentioned before, cooler weather makes me yearn for heavier, denser scents so chypre's are the natural choice.

Upon my first sniff of Ma Griffe, I fell instantly in love. Sweet green and slightly soapy aldehydic heaven! It seems like it could be overpowering and way too pushy if you wear more than a dab and yet after only a few minutes it turns into a slightly sweet powdery cinnamon dusting, soft and skin close. There is no further evolution and this is where it remains for the rest of it's 5-7 hour (EDP) life.

It isn't a glorious awe inspiring jus but on the bright side, the EDP is very oily so doesn't "burn off" like other alchohol fueled scents do.

A pleasant day scent overall. One thing I like about it is the absence of the obligatory mossy dankness of other chypre's. I think aldehydes are the perfect counterpoint to offset this gloom and doom.

Update: "Whacky" is the perfect word to describe this scent...it reminds of a crazy aunt who wears swim goggles to go bowling.

Elegant, fresh,amazing. So called "old-fasioned" but masterpiece. A perfect representative of true green notes. Not sweet - very pleasant for all of us who don't like oversweeted perfumes. Sparkling opening, nice drydown.Brilliant composition.

I have known Ma Griffe since childhood. It's a scent that works best in very hot, humid climates as it has a tremendous cooling effect. I loved it when I lived in Africa but on buying it again in London, it just wasn't the same. Partly, the perfume itself had changed and, of course, the British weather is not right for Ma Griffe. I know it is a top favourite of many high-profile women in India. It used to be quite inexpensive but has recently taken a price hike -- not sure why!
Additional Note: BEWARE of Ma Griffe dating from the 1990s to about 2005. (That's when it suddenly also became very cheap to buy.)
The batches produced thereafter (including these days) smell much better and more like the Ma Griffe of the old days.

The reformulated edp I have is quite a safe scent to my nose, and for that it is indeed well-blended. The general impression I have with this fragrance is that of smelling dry hay together with other meadow plants. On first spray it is all about aldehydes, and I do like aldehydes, together with some genteel citrus added in, some slightly oily greenness rounding it. As it dries down there are no particular flowers coming to the front, but I can feel the oakmoss coming through instead, together with just a hint of soft woodiness to sustain it; dry and oakmossy, yet not disturbing, with a remnant of classy feeling. I have applied on my pulse points and on the crook of my arms. While on my pulse points the scent is powdery dry with a dash of citrus, on the crook of my arms it is warmer with flowers and cinnamon or sandalwood, maybe.
I place this scent, for its safe character, in the same category with Blue Grass and Je reviens, even though it is more mature, drier with a hint of powder.
I also think it to be a skin scent, to the effect that it smells of skin, as it brightens and highlights the natural smell of one's person.
I intend to wear it for a couple of days and see how it mixed with skin and hair and how I perceive it when I wake up in the morning.
Now that I move around I can feel a soapy feeling like of my own body and I see that the scent warmed a little more on the crook of my arm.

I have just bought "MA GRIFFE Carven parfum de toilette 10mls", now I wonder about this version. Can it be good? Because it is not spray and splash . It's roll on. I had mini parfum- just only fantastic scent! Reminds me Climat Lancome very much.
I tryed to find the information about Ma Griffe bottle roll on but couldn't find.If this vintage or new - I don't know.

I picked up 50mls vintage 'parfum de toilette' with talc boxed, both unused. I sprayed it on and just cannot get on with it at all, it's just too astringent and sharp for me. Would someone like it? pm me if you would!:)

This is one of the most complex fragrances I've ever encountered. The opening is horrible! It has a witch hazel/astringent smell. Fortunately that quickly gives way to a lovely heart: roses and white flowers,and cool green notes. It is clean, fresh, and dry. What little sweetness Ma Griffe has shows up in the drydown and it is a "candy" sweetness. This little bit of "burnt sugar" mixed with orris root produces a soft, smooth, powdery drydown. Ma Griffe reminds me of Cabotine. They are both cool, dry, green fragrances -- great "go to" perfumes for the long, hot days (and nights) of summer. But Ma Griffe is more subtle, more sophisticated. It is Cabotine grown from a girl into a woman.

Just a little history: In 1946 Ma Griffe was literally "launched." A small plane rained down a bundle of tiny parachutes over Paris, each containing a mini bottle of Ma Griffe underneath. I love this story...

Ma Griffe opens crisp and lush of Green Notes caresses
your senses of different shades though light and dark
swirls vibrantly like an Rousseau painting primal and
instinctive from the surface the opening gives an impression of innocence and the green notes adds that
metaphor as we walk further into the Ma Griffe Greenhouse the air becomes thicker and the floral becomes deeper The note of Peach steeps though the
air like a sensual Verita; Rose adds an velvety touch
to this dualistic scent Orris brings the earthy side
and nocturnal jasmine closes the middle with an green
herbal smell; The drydown turn Ma Griffe uninhibited
and Primal; Labdanum with a mixture of Civet adds a
Animalistic spirit Cinnamon brings depth and a bit of an edge; Watered musk dilutes the volume but noticible.

Ma Griffe dries to a dark and esoteric finish of
styrax and dry sandalwood,This scent is a Chameleon
crisp and green at the opening deep and reseinous
drydown, i would love this if it wasn't a bit cloying
but still a nice perfume i would give this
3 out of 5 Stars.

Hello! :-) I bought a golden (!) version of "Ma griffe" and I don´t know if it´s a totally different smell or a fake!? Maybe there is somebody who can answer my question? LOVE!!! ;-)

I have a very strong opinion about Ma Griffe - I HATE it! I bought a vintage eau de toilette bottle on ebay. I'm interested in trying as many vintage scents as possible because I find so many contemporary perfumes have a chemical, synthetic smell, and they don't last. There are so few of good quality, though there are exceptions (for ex: Tresor). I long for the quality of the "real" perfumes of the past, those made with more pure ingredients, the bold, long-lasting scents.

Ma Griffe is one of those classic perfumes, but alas, as I said before, I HATED it! I suppose it's because I gravitate toward sweet perfumes. Ma Griffe is not sweet, except in the sense that it's powdery. What immediately came to mind was a strong similarity to YSL's Rive Gauche, another retro French classic "fresh" green cyphre. I beleive the unpleasant note I'm reacting to may be asafoetida.

Fragrantica members describe Ma Griffe as very green, so I expected a fresh smell, but I didn't really smell fresh cut green grass. I smelled, let's see....earthy, mossy, damp, grassy mud, with some baby powder poured in it. Yeah, muddy baby powder. I don't smell citrus. Actually, when I think of it, it does smell like a sour lemon that's gone bad. And cut flowers that have been in a vase for weeks and weeks, that have gone bad. Ma Griffe made me feel very nauseous. It was a "scrubber" (had to get rid of it asap!!). Reading the reviews, it seems to smell swell on others. Go figure! Maybe the newer version is lighter, but unfortunately I had such a bad experience with the vintage that I'm not willing to try it.

Cool. Confident. Classy Green. Fresh. Some powder, too...and the faintest hint of spice way in the background. I love this beautiful classic. Love my green scents.

I had an amazing opportunity to test both, Pure Perfume and Eau de Perfume versions of MA GRIFFE. They both share the same theme but they are definitely not the same. I have to say that I absolutely and deeply in love with both versions.

The EDP is like a walk outside on a spring morning. It is green, fresh and beautiful. The EDP appears much lighter, less complex and a bit sharper and greener than the PURE PERFUME.

The PURE PERFUME is like a sultry summer night. It is deep, rich and opulent. The PURE PERFUME is very smooth and incredibly complex but it still retains this “green” quality.

The EDP opening is lemony fresh with green notes and just a touch of aldehydes. The heart notes are mostly ylang-ylang, orange blossom and iris. The composition remains to stay beautiful and light. The oakmoss, vetiver and resins are prominent in the dry down.

The PURE PARFUME opening is rich and opulent. The aldehydes are much more present than in EDP. I also feel a touch of asoefetida. This is a strong combo but it remains very smooth and creamy. The heart notes are stunning with jasmine, ylang-ylang and rose. The composition remains to stay within the green zone but without the sharpness of EDP. The dry down has woody notes with noticeable cinnamon, resins and benzoin notes. There is a bit of honey like sweetness in the PURE PARFUME that I do not detect at all in EDP.

EDP version is like a light beautiful tune played on the piano. PURE PARFUME is like the same tune but played by a big orchestra. MA GRIFFE Pure Perfume is my mom’s signature scent. I am so happy that I followed her advice and tried both versions. If I was asked which one is my favorite, I would pick the pure perfume for its complexity and smooth velvet like finish. This was definitely one of the best purchases I made recently. I am so glad that I finally found the fragrances from Chypre Floral group that I love.

its disappointing that so many people today don't like overpowering perfumes, now everything that is made is so disappearing one spray and its gone, spray this and something like charlie and it will last for a long long time the way perfume/cologne is supposed to be worn, perfume afterall is your signature statement...

This is my mother in a bottle. It was her signature perfume, and now when I wear it I remember her and her stylishness, classiness, intelligence and absolute determination.

It is green, green gree, but unlike most greens it has a robustness and staying power and depth and sexiness that defies its first notes. Gosh, could those early perfumers really compose some amazing bombs!!!It is all quenching and cooling, and has some fire despite that!

It is definitely a fume for a strong, classy and clever lady who wants to smell feminine. Solid staying power, so it also defies lots of greens in that regard!

You'll never find another perfume like "Ma Griffe."

i love trying out new scents, which are hard to find(and smell:) i got the EDt and i have to admit - puh, thats a strong one! its oldfashioned in its first blast - reminds me of my grandmothers mix of hairspray and cream- then the citrus gets calmer, its softer and unfortunately on me it vanishes pretty fast.
still its a very demanding strong scent, that needs an certain occasion and bold outfit!!! - thats the way i personally see it.
as for me - its too bitterish herb, i wont wear it, but its pleasent. i'd describe it a spring smell.

I recently acquired a bottle of this. I must say, I dislike the strong, over powering initial smell. But the dry down is totally worth the wait. I find this perfume hard to wear. My family sneezes (non stop) at the initial smell of this perfume. So I put it on in the washroom with the vent on until the dry down happens. Love the soft dry down.

Hi all...so glad to now be a part of this forum! I've been wearing Ma Griffe since I was 16 years old...39 years ago!! I LOVE Ma Griffe (wear nothing else)...but, yes, after the reformulation years ago, sadly it changed. I have been searching for a quality perfume that would be like it ever since, yet can't find anything like it. Some perfumes I've tried have some similar properties, but in the end dissapoint. Anyone know of another perfume that has the same scent of Ma Griffe, or have you heard if Carven has any intention of reformulating Ma Griffe to the quality perfume it once was?

Please track down the pure perfume if you want to try this one. The Eau de Parfum can seem a bit harsh at first, but the dry-down, especially layered over the body cream, is very nice. However, to really "get" the scent, you need to experience the undiluted perfume. It's absolutely lovely, a perfect green chypre, sophisticated and yet fresh. I love it.

I remembered trying this in my 'youth' and never really taking to it enough to get a bottle.
Lured by reading about it's 'green', and forgetting exactly what it smelled like, I decided to try it again and found a reasonably cheap, sealed, vintage bottle of the parfum de toilette on Ebay.
To me it is very very 'dry' and simple, in that it doesn't seem to go through any great change in the drydown.
That's not bad, I can wear this, it reminds me very much of YSL Rive Gauche actually, very similar in that dry quality.

I remembered this one from the 1960s. My sister had it and I remember the provocative (for the 60s) ads in magazines. The ladies nails scratching the man's back with green in passion. Whew ! Too much . I got a vintage bottle to try out. I was expecting it to be more sexy but it's very vintage and refined smelling to me. It's great after all the fruity-florals produced now. It seems like something for a really classy lady who keeps her passionate side hidden until the right time in private. It seems very mid-century and retro but too green to be old fashioned. You can't find good Chypres like this anymore. Never mind about trying out the lastest celebrity bimbo fruit juice, check out a vintage bottle of Ma Griff for a different experience.

Update- It's a vintage chypre perfume. I think chypres are an acquired taste and maybe not for everybody. Most of the people on this website are open to trying different fragrances and experimenting with vintage chypres.
This is what Peggy on Mad Men would have worn when she broke new ground for women in the 60s. That is the feeling of Ma Griff , retro classic.

And yes, Rosabelle, your reviews were "absolutely horrible" .

This was my mother's signature fragrance when I was little. It is an elegant fragrance, and I will continue to make the effort to find it as long as it is made!

Wanted to like this, given its history. Sadly it was not for me. I found it sour and very powdery. On the right person this perfume would be sensational, given the notes of this perfume. The fact is you cannot please everyone and body chemistry certainly plays a factor.

I read the reviews below and I can understand why people like/love Ma Griffe and I think it is great on others skin, but unfortunately not on mine. I find it too sharp and wild and find myself punched in my nose and knocked out completely. Sorry, I wanted to like this one, but not for me at all. :-((

ma griffe the new one is a bugspray
like chematox... do not spend any money on it i regret the purchase deeply, but
the older bottle with the golden top area and plastic top is a unique frag.
Very very addictable!!!

What a beautifully put together fragrance! I came across this perfume by chance and loved the bottle so out of interest I looked it up and was impressed. There wasnt a negative comment to be seen! Having bought the perfume I was delighted with it, I too smell spring, hay, freshly cut grass, moss, Lemon and most evocatively Lily of the Valley. This perfume is strong but gentle, sharp but soft I get so many compliments when wearing it, I'm just so glad I prchased it. This one gets a 10 out of 10 from me.

what else can be said,except,green ,greener ,greenest

i'm in love

I love the aggressive Ma Griff, and Miss Dior , Y and more passive Cabochard and Ivoire and Paloma Picasso in winter.
Even better, they love me. I receive more compliments from this crew than from any other genre.
Ma Griff EDT used to be an economy buy at duty free outlets but is a long time since I have seen the parfum or EDP.

It is said that Ma griff was composed by Mme Gres as a scent for young girls, sporty, modern ,chic. I might add self-absorbed ? I can't think of a recent aldehydic chypre release that has been adopted by teens.

Does anyone else remember Millot's Crepe de Chine ? It too had a layer of gardenia buds and a sharp woody drydown but was not quite as astringent as Ma Griff.I have never understood why it was lost to us.

I continue to try scents from other families and enjoy them but always come back to the Chypre group, especially as I can finally pronounce the word.

Weegee is right on the money: this fragrance is so old it seems new again.


Fantastically green--fresh emerald green and dark mossiness make a contrast that can only be found in old school winners and maybe some adventurous nichery.
A pleasant floral heart basking in a green sun.
The opening is certainly aldehydic-unpleasantly soapy for me--
but there is something about Ma Griffe that keeps it from opening too bitter and too soapy to appreciate the scent in its entirety.

It's a fully precious gem--alive, with strong roots, green fluid-filled stems and a swaying shadow.

Carven MA GRIFFE is one of the most exciting perfumes I've encountered in quite some time. I am grateful to all of the Fragranticistas who praised this worthy creation to the high heavens, since on their recommendation I bought a gift set online and am thoroughly delighted!

MA GRIFFE is totally green and utterly unique. MA GRIFFE is a huge pile of freshly cut grass clippings under a bright blue sky. MA GRIFFE is a vast expanse of glistening green rice paddies in rural Japan with not another soul anywhere in sight.

This may be what I wanted CABOTINE to be, though unfortunately it never measured up to my dream: clean, green, briskly aldehydic, white floral pristine perfection...and also chypre!

MA GRIFFE effects an immediate change in perspective but without numbing the mind. To spritz on MA GRIFFE is to step outside of Plato's Cave and stare directly at the incandescent sun. I may sound like some sort of religious zealot, but MA GRIFFE simply further confirms my longstanding belief in survival of the fittest when it comes to matters of value.

There's a reason why this extraordinary creation still exists and has no even close competitors. In the perfume jungle red in tooth and claw, MA GRIFFE has managed to hold her own, to retain the claim she staked so long ago.

(parfum de toilette)
I'm starting to get to know chypres. My experience with Ma Griffe shows that if you don't feel comfortable with a whole fragrance group, you just haven't found your perfume in it. I wasn't sure about chypres as a whole group and then I found Ma Griffe. (Thanks Kterhark for the introducing us to each other!)

Ma Griffe starts with a localized explosion of aldehydes and greens with slight hint of lemons. Definitely green, pretty soapy and very much in your face. Like your rival showing up for a party with a hairdo like yours but better done. And wearing the same perfume, too. An aaahhh, an immediate punch in the nose, quick move, 180 degree turn, instant change. I understand why this can be getting home after work fragrance.

This stage lasts on me less then 10 minutes, perhaps about 5, and I affectionately call it... no, I am too embarrassed, please, lean closer, I'll whisper... I call it "a green stinker" for these minutes.

Then it mellows out on me and becomes a combination of smells that cannot be experienced together. On the one hand, I feel myself lying on a lot of green grass in the forest, in the heat, tearing the blades, rubbing them against my hands together with the delicate and dangerous flowers of lily of the valley. At the same time, I smell something like steaming milk. How can that happen to be in the same place? This puzzles my mind for about an hour, and then we're on to drydown. It's a sparkling green tarragon soda from my childhood, it's a light green soap made into a shape of cinnamon roll (and with a cinnamon flavor). It's whimsical and comforting at the same time. I'm at home with maverick and I like Ma Griffe.

I put Ma Griffe in my "Love" column, but can't really remember its scent. I'm on a mission to find some again! I'd ordered a sample of it, back in the 70s. A mini bottle came in the mail. I remember loving it; I'd never smelled anything like this before. I used it all up, not thinking (in my teens) that it might one day be a reformulated, hard-to-find fragrance. Sigh. If you can get your hands on some, cherish it.

I have a vintage bottle of the authentic perfume and it was a surprise to find it. Simply delight as a perfume. Real chypree, i feel like i am outdoor, in the country, i smell fresh air coming through the trees in a clean atmosfere. Although the colour of the liquid is altered by the time, the scent smells as new as possible. It doesn' t have any synthetic, industrialy made smell, it's impossible to bring in mind something similar, so perfectly made from it's start until the drydown, which has something unexpectededly sweet and fresh at the same time. It's a fragrance that stays on the skin 24 hours and suits most women. It brings to mind high heels and furs and i agree that accompanies better a classic appearence, as if you walk out from a 50's movie. But i wear it even with athletic clothes. 14.18

I heard the story that this perfume was made by a creator who was actually anosmic. The perfume was made out of memory just like Bethoven did his music. Amazing. I doubt it is the original, unfortunatly, like most of the good old fragrances.

(parfum de toilette review)
I found this quirky gem in an obscure perfume shop at the mall. Never read white oleander, never even read a review of it. Just sniffed, liked, and bought.
The opening is like an espresso jolt to me. Love the sharp, green notes.
Can't say it's gorgeous, can't say it mysterious, and can't say it's stunning.

What I can say it that this has become a scent I wear every other day (so it's a good thing it's a cheapie). I love coming home from work, changing my clothes, and spritzing on some Ma Griffe for an instant change in mood. There is something about this scent that is infectious. It's just plain energizing. Zing!!!

This is a goddess of all that's green and fresh. Very sultry , steamy scent.

The afternoon breeze in a beautiful garden , down in the deep south...

This is a very womanly and in my opinion quite a sexy scent.
Very unique. Another retro gem!

I'm not an expert at picking out notes or anything but I think what gives
this that wonderful freshness is the sage, oakmoss and citruses combining with all its wonderful florals.

I'll be making this my own, love it!

I always loved Ma Griffe, and I first tried it before it became the degraded thing it is today. I just got a little bottle of the vintage Parfum, and oh boy, it is fantastic! If anyone doubts that this is one of the greats, try it in its original formula. It is true thing of beauty that any lover of green scents must experience. If only it could be restored to its former glory.

Mademoiselle Carven loved gardenia, jasmin and rose and she created this wonderful fragrance in 1945. She said "All what I love is green". "Ma Griffe" is fresh, green, soft and sultry. I love it, I made me this gift when I passed my final school test, Ma Griffe was my big motivation to study.

I love this perfume. It is a restrained, classy, dry, green scent. I agree with elgab89 about the Ivoire thing. In fact, I layer them together, sometimes with a touch of Fendi to round things out.

also, I do fine the ads a little embarassing: this is not why I wear it, nor do I feel like this when I do. it sometimes seems to me to have a scent of old-fashioned hard Christmas candy, the good kind, especially in winter; I don`t know which ingredient that would be, but perhaps it is association as I love to wear it in winter and on the holidays.

Does anyone have the true story of the remake of this perfume-that it is not the original-is this true? I love this perfume.

The neroli and oakmoss emerge fairly quickly for me, transforming the initial bright green into something dark - like the moist shadows in the forest that seem welcoming but -- "Come closer, my dear..." -- where truly evil things live out a dour, miserable and revenge filled existence.

Ma Griffe is so old it seems new again as fragrances move through cycles of popularity. Sweet turns 'round to bitter; floral winds down to herbal; clean soap and powder age into unwashed skin and dirty laundry.

Not for everyone, to be sure. I never wear it but like knowing it's there on the shelf, available as an olfactory antidote when I've sniffed too many sugar bombs.

this brings a picture to my mind of my spinster aunt in a twinset and plastic popper pearls, in the 70's, havent tried it for a while, maybe should again as i have been developing my tastes recently, probably similar to miss dior,which is an acquired taste but growing on me fast

I love this scent - also Miss Dior, the only Dior one I like, and Mitsouko - so elgab89 may be on to something! It's a bit astringent and a bit rich as well - a really good deep subtle balance of fresh green notes and deeper sweet notes in the fragrance. Loved it since I was a small child

i didnt think that i am gonna like it ,because i read so much about it`s smell that it is old-fashion and so on but i really loved it !!it is not my style but there is something in this smell that gives me comfort and reminds me of my childhood.love it!

The perfume has so many notes listed
and creates such an interesting combination, many of the notes are not perceptible individually. For sure it is not sweet, as mentioned above, I do not find it so sharp as others do. The old advertisement photos try to give the idea of "pure sex" and "animalistic" tendencies..which seems to be such a contrast for this perfume. The perfume starts out very green and quickly turns into some humid garden of white flowers and or some heavy aura around you,
the fragrance feels humid--humid-is the only way I can describe it. Maybe it is the oakmoss, musk, jasmine, ylang ylang combination creating this feeling of heavyness and humidity. It is a heavy perfume if you spray too much, it is a light perfume if you only spray a little. It´s quite different from all in my collection, and I must say that I do not always enjoy it, but, I do like, appreciate, and admire it.

I don't think my nose gets along very well with chypres in general...I've yet to find one that I'm crazy about. I bought this and wore it a few times, but just couldn't get over the sharp bite of its opening notes. I did like the soft, powdery dry-down. I gave it to my aunt and she loved it!

I just had to sniff this after reading "White Oleander," in which one of the characters made this her signature scent. I didn't care for it on the first couple of wearings, but after a few more sniffs, I have decided it's one of the loveliest scents. Very green. If the color green has a scent, this is it. No sweetness at all, which is a nice for a change. It's such a shame that classics like this one get lost amongst all the mediocre fruity florals in today's marketplace. This one is worth tracking down.