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. What did others see in myself that I could not? Deep in my DNA, even in 1972 when I first discovered Cabochard, there existed a spirit which wouldn’t be subjugated, sublimated, vanquished: a warrior poised on the brink of never-ending skirmish. Gentle until no recourse remained but the dagger, willing to go to war for a noble cause, follow a leader worthy of the task. I don’t think I actually glimpsed that person until I had resumé photos taken in preparation for an audition with opera impresario Boris Goldovsky – and they frightened me. I avoided the camera. What I’d mistaken for ‘resting bitch face’ was pure resolve in the face of adversity and distrust of the lens’ scrutiny. It is hard to imagine that the formula has not been tinkered with since 1959, and in fact, Luca Turin has less than kind things to say about the current version. This is yet another fragrance that makes me wish I had started my smelling career 20 years ago. Cabochard starts with citrus and deep green notes. It is a dark fragrance right from the start, and the leather is apparent almost immediately. The floral notes are muted: when smelled from a distance they are barely noticeable, from up close, the jasmine is more obvious but still seems to weave in and out. It dries down to an animalic leathery chypre with woods, moss, and a touch of smoke. It stays very dry for the first hour, then starts to take on a hint of sweetness from the patchouli. 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.

Slowly the smell leads me deeper into the forest and closer to the ground. It becomes more woodsy, heavier, sweeter, warmly spicy and a little bit earthy, but never musty or stuffy; I always feel the scent as somehow "fresh", as if a mild wind is blowing in the forest landscape.Do you know the situation at a class reunion, when you are confronted by someone you used to know well, you have had good times with him, you also find familiar facial expressions and language and yet you are still a stranger? 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.

I am not especially fond of leather in fragrance, but Cabochard is very soft and smooth once it calms. As Guy Robert explains:Just this fresh green start alone: Beautiful. Very green, very awake, not unsweet, a little bit herbaceous but nevertheless very well maintained. A bit like tall, ripe grass at the edge of the forest. Only the durability is a bit sad on my skin. After a few hours it is so close to my body that I have to spray again - and with two sprayers of conviction much more generously than I usually do.