Gres Cabochard Eau de toilette Spray 100 ml

Product Information

The fact that I feel drawn to perfumes of the 50s is unrelated to having been born into that era. Some of these fragrances feel like aromatic wish fulfillment and/or projection: despite the tyranny of long-line brassières and girdles (or possibly in light of their existence) there has always been a subtext of suppressed eroticism, the controlled sensuality of discipline akin to a warrior preparing for anticipated battle. Clearly defined 1950s gender roles makes this subversive quality all the more fascinating; today Cabochard de Gres reads as perfect for anyone who loves the impossibly dry elegance of a leathery tobacco-laden no-nonsense chypre. That's how I felt when I sprayed on the newest version of Cabochard. Yes, there is already known, and yet... it already wanted to spread the unfortunately so often experienced disappointment, if once again a fragrance classic reformulated to pretend as if he was the ancestor. Well well, the money is to be taken care of, you can use it now and then and consume it in such a way... but it's a shame. I don't really get it all apart at all. It is an interwoven fragrance reminiscent of old times. Slowly the scent settles into something suede-like and powdery-sweet at the same time. Reminds something of make up.

Jaye: Have worn Cabochard (mostly vintage EDT or 50th Anniversary EDT) every day for years, ever since I found it oh-so-cheap in TJMaxx…. many years ago…to this day, stopped in grocery store aisles and asked what is that marvelous fragrance you’re wearing…..I am no perfumanista but I do know ” my nose”…..and what smells good “on me”, and apparently lovers, friends and total strangers agree…..OTOH….tried more than once, a sample of Chanel Cuir de Russie, so recommended to me by many because of my love of Cabochard…..OMG….it was a heavy, powdery floral on me that reminded me of being 8yo and my elderly, matronly aunts visiting and enveloping me in their heavy fur coats as they gave me a suffocating “hug”…..save me!….Recently, I’ve tried an EDT sample of Molinard’s Habinita (recommended for the same reasons)…..yessss…..like it for it’s warm but spicy smell on my skin and it seems to have some lasting power…..bit heavier than my Cabochard….and it is winter…..right now, I think it a lovely warm, fall/winter scent and glad I found it.

Ok, enough daydreaming, now refocus and get on with the numbers part. Oh no, no fragrance will help... Even as the flowers join the party Cabochard remains a bitter brew. Already, through the heart the leather, birch, oakmoss and vetiver speak of a dangerous, exciting course. Flowers are trodden into the darkness. This modern EdT is bloody excellent, I’m enjoying it immensely. I am trying the Eau de Toilette, and the lasting power is excellent. By today's standards, this is very much a unisex fragrance. It is probably better suited to cold weather, though, and I am going to revisit this in the fall and see if it is something I would wear regularly. To me, it smells very classic. Actually, I have no idea about classics, most of them I don't like, as I associate them with old ladies tippling (well strutting) across the Ku-Damm with your fiffi on your arm. It will probably never become my genre but this one is still quite pleasant. The longevity is good, the sillage perceptible, pleasant and not too intrusive. Towards the end, it falls apart a bit.

I’d love to find some more vintage – I have a little vintage Fendi and Coco. Would like to find vintage Mitsouko and believe it or not, Old Spice. The first spray is Ginger Wine or Sherry, very loud and very swiftly over. Then you get the talcum powder again, but when I waited for ten minutes I was rewarded with a fabulous Incense/Patchouli Leather fragrance that was worth about five times what I paid. Naturally it’s been reformulated into submission, but I don’t have the vintages to compare it to. When this has jumped out of the bottle it’s not so good, but when it’s gone to sleep on your skin, it’s divine. It reminds me of Leather that has been worn to Church, with a hint of papery dry Tobacco. The Tobacco note is not one of toxic exhaled smoke, but more one of the smell inside a Tobacconists, where the pipe smoke and cigars rub shoulders, giving off an aroma of dark, dried leaves. But then in the course of the evening the ice breaks. Both at the class reunion and at the approach to an old-fashioned scent I end up in the stage of "Do you still know...?" And "How was that then..." etc. etc. The somewhat awkward time of reuniting, possibly even of false memories, is over and one digs into the treasure trove of experienced treasures one would not want to miss. So this is my first conscious chypre, or at least chypre-like scent. Of alone I would not have approached him. Aldehydes, patchouli and sage make me already from reading headache.