The Trained Nose

Rive Gauche against Calandre

One number per era rather than one number overall — two fragrances can be near-identical at the opening and different things by the evening, and an average hides exactly that.
Yves Saint Laurent

Rive Gauche

· lasts about 7.5 h
Paco Rabanne

Calandre

· lasts about 8.2 h

How close, and when

Across a whole wearing, Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche and Paco Rabanne Calandre are very close. They hold the same distance from each other all the way through, rather than converging or parting as the hours pass.

88% opening · 0–1 h
89% heart · 1–3 h
88% drydown · 3–8 h
Measured across all twenty-four facets, from the notes below — not from the families on the boxes. They share 10 of 22 materials, which is worth holding beside the figures: a pair can share almost nothing and still converge, because different materials can smell of the same things.

What AKIN predicts

AKIN predicts these two are alike, and the evidence behind that is substantial.

Two signals sit on this page and are never averaged: what the note pyramids measure these two to share, and what AKIN’s resemblance graph predicts. Where they part, that is the finding rather than a fault.

The pyramids, side by side

Compared by material rather than by spelling, so a note recorded two ways is not counted as a difference.
top
both — Aldehyde, Bergamot
Rive Gauche only — Honeysuckle, Lemon, Peach
heart
both — Geranium, Jasmine, Lily of the Valley, Rose
Rive Gauche only — Gardenia, Iris, Magnolia, Ylang-Ylang
Calandre only — Hyacinth, Orris Root
base
both — Amber, Musk, Oakmoss, Sandalwood
Rive Gauche only — Tahitian Vetiver, Tonka Bean
Calandre only — Vetiver

Other comparisons worth reading

Pairs involving one of these two where the notes are fully recorded on both sides and AKIN has enough evidence for the pair to be worth reading.