10/16/25

Côte d'Azur (Féraud)

Released in 1988, Côte d'Azur by Avon/Féraud smells of salt and peaches (interesting combo) in the top accord, which rapidly resolves into a tuberose and muguet heart, with that salty essence lingering in the periphery well into the base. 

I agree with Derek (Varanis Ridari) that this smells like it could easily be the feminine version of Mario Valentino's Ocean Rain (1990), which was Edmond Roudnitska's final farewell. Valentino's scent is a very Roudnitska-esque arrangement of overripe, banana-like fruits, salty brine, and dry sandy tones over a pared-down chypre base. Féraud's is simpler on top (not quite as avant-garde) and smells perhaps 60% similar, but winds up in a different neighborhood at the ten minutes mark: Creed's Fleurissimo.

I'm talking vintage Fleurissimo, 2005 and older. For the rest of its considerable duration, Côte d'Azur is a dead-ringer for the Creed, and nearly the same quality. The biggest difference is the lack of real ambergris, which is abundant in the vintage formula of this particular Creed, but that salinated accord isn't half-bad. If you remember Fleurissimo as it was pre-Kering (and pre-Aventus) but can't swing the cost of a vintage bottle on eBay, try Avon's ghostwritten late eighties Féraud. Heck, it might've been done by the same perfumer. Who knows?