Caron, Les Fleurs, Parfum Concreta, Trois Pots Enchanteurs de Rose, Jasmin, et Ylang Ylang, 1932, Paris, France ..

Established by Ernest Daltroff in 1904, Parfums Caron was originally located on Rue de la Paix in Paris. Daltroff purchased the perfumery from Anne-Marie Caron and kept the original name. At the same time, he met Félicie Wanpouille, who became his partner and an important contributor to the rise of the house. While Daltroff created fragrances, Wanpouille designed bottles and served as an artistic director.

Caron is the second-oldest Parisian perfume house still active today, and one of the last great houses devoted entirely to fragrances. Caron’s fragrances respond to, and capture the spirit of their times—from WWI to modern women, their scents reflect both personal emotions and historical moments. The company has been able to adapt to changes in society while staying true to its own tradition. Even Caron’s modern perfumes continue to be both unique and timeless.

From the beginning, Parfums Caron was the house dedicated solely to fragrance, unlike houses like Chanel or Christian Dior that were first and foremost fashion houses. While the perfume houses produced more fragrances than fashion houses, by the 1920s women started to look at perfume the same way they regarded new fashion styles. However, as the couture fragrances became more and more popular, they provided a stable point in the ever changing world fashion, therefore the pace of perfume production began to decline. Subsequently, however, Caron has burst back into the front runners of a very elite and niche market perfume business. Bois de Jasmin.

Both Molinard and Caron produced 'concreta' or solid perfumes starting in the early 1920's. "This is when the genuine wax of the flowers, used directly as a perfume, can be applied, with just a touch behind the ear, in the hair, on the eyebrows, on the linings of your coat, quite enough to be perfumed.", states a vintage advertisement for this format.

In 1925, perfume houses created the first solid perfumes, called concreta. These solids were the genuine wax from the flowers. This alcohol free formula, is a very guarded secret and has even been patented by some perfumers. It is more concentrated than any other perfume, and will last a lot longer as well. Even vintage concreta still retains a strong scent. The beautiful little pots used to present concreta make awesome little collectibles as each one is one of a kind, with flowers,butterflies, or any other motifs on the little pots.

In the making of concreta or concrete perfumes, fragrant materials that have been extracted from raw materials through solvent extraction using volatile hydrocarbons are involved. Concretes usually contain a large amount of wax due to the ease in which the solvents dissolve various hydrophobic compounds. As such concretes are usually further purified through distillation or ethanol based solvent extraction. Concretes are typically either waxy or resinous solids or thick oily liquids.

Offered here is an extremely rare set of three concreta perfumes, pure Rose, Jasmine, and Ylang Ylang. The little pots of pure fragrance have been lightly used, perhaps once, although it is barely perceptible. Highly collectible .. Caron collectors. Extremely rare!