Description
Cabochard is a fragrant image of Alix Gres. Even the name, chosen by Madame Gres herself (in French Cabochard means ‘stubborn’ or ‘headstrong’) reflects her free spirit and will.
Cabochard was created after Madame Gres‘ trip to India. She described a beautiful perfume to the young perfume creator Guy Robert – very flowery, rich like tuberose yet softer, contrasted by fresh, slightly green note. It was a water hyacinth! After several trials, Madame Gres recognized her perfume. It was light and floral. However, the trend dictated intensive and strong chypre (Tabac Blond (1919), Cuir de Russie (1924), Scandal (1933), Bandit (1944)), so Madame Gres decided to launch two perfumes at the same time: floral Chouda and leather chypre Cabochard, created by Bernard Chant with IFF.
Cabochard was launched in 1959 and instantly became very popular; Madame Gres said that it reminded her of her walks along the long and empty beaches of India: sharp freshness of the morning air, warmth of sandalwood, a touch of flower and comfort of the sea breeze.
A couple of months after it was created the production of Chouda was suspended. The delivered 5 liters of the perfume was most probably worn by Madame Gres herself.
The first bottle of Cabochard was very plane and simple (Madame Gres wanted to minimize the costs), with pharmaceutical top and a grey bow. The Chouda bottle had a green bow.
By information of Parfums Gres
rrrrrr – :
Cabochard arrived today, and a spritz later a memory rises in my mind … I’ve smelled this before. My mother must have worn this when I was a kid, but I never knew the name.
Cabochard is hard to forget, not being exactly a typical woman’s fragrance. Leathery with notes of tobacco, this could almost be unisex. Unconventional is one way to describe this fragrance, interesting is another. This is a powerful perfume without a hint of sweetness and barely any floral notes. The opening is very strong, the dry down softens and warms the scent.
Cabochard isn’t dated or old fashioned although it came out a long time ago. I’d call this timeless and sophisticated. It was lovely when my mother wore it, and it’s nice on me.
sanek_k – :
I am a chypre girl. Always was, always will be, although occasionally I like to binge on vanilla orientals too. Long time ago I’ve bought a set – perfume, EDT and soap. Vintage, pre-barcode one. I knew I got a chypre of my life and naively I was celebrating my victory of taming another chypre before it has arrived. Well, not so easy, darling. I could not for the life of me figure out what has happened… I’ve been knocked down to the floor and stayed there for a good few minutes not being able to breath or see the light of the day… Not literary, of course, but I knew then I lost. She won. Cabochard is an ultimate and powerful, I mean POWERFUL chypre which will knock lights out of you if you are not prepared… Chanel 19, Knowing, Ivory and Jolie Madame are innocent girls in pink dresses and flower tiaras on their heads compared to Cabochard. She wears comfortably old leather attire from head to toe with metal studs all over it, and to make it a bit more long lasting she soaked it in a bitter, dry herbs and tobacco concoction for few years in old oak barrel. That’s it, there is not a single violet or forget-me-not, not even promised uno rose to make it a tad friendly. None. I haven’t touched Cabochard since, a number of years, and I shudder every time I think of our first encounter. I can’t even imagine to wear it for a whole day…Nope… as beautiful as it is Cabochard is not for me. Not yet anyway 🙂
chernal – :
This perfume – I have the edt version, so that is the one I know, flat bottle, recent incarnation – was love at first sniff for me. So different from everything else I own yet makes sense so much as if I always had it! Defo a vintage offering, hard to think it would suit current day popular taste. It is intense, almost unisex, a mystical mix of strong notes and has a gloomy ambience, you would not associate it with anything light and bright yet it pulls you in and you almost think you`re a horror movie character walking towards their inevitable fate wearing this gem…It is somewhat gothic for me – maybe the leather note and some kind of a medicinal impression it gives off with vetiver and oakmoss.
The leather, oakmoss and aldehydes are very strong on me, I personally don`t get a lot of the tobacco note until the drydown, whereas geranium is much more detectable and even the ylang-ylang is. The drydown is mainly woody and patchouli than anything which makes it even more dark and somewhat bitter imo, someone mentioned cough syrup – it`s more like swedish bitter drops.
I find it really sexy – I`d say it doesn`t matter if a woman or a man wears it – and even though it is a strong and dry scent I don`t find any notes out of place, which has often happened recently when I tried Dior Poison and Joop..Possibly my skin chemistry just loves this one and didn`t work with the others..Anyway this one is for keeps and you can get it relatively cheap.Even the big bottle of edt will last you a long time cos one spritz lasts and lasts..
karentvh2 – :
I don’t know what this smells like, note-wise.
But it is rich, biting, spicy, strong.
Likable!
At times even…floral.
But acrid in a fantastic way at first.
Odd thing for such a salty powerhouse…poor longevity.
Maybe that’s a good thing though.
Bleliaappebra – :
Cabochard in versione vintage si potrebbe tranquillamente inserire tra i profumi maschili più buoni stile anni 70.
E’ freddo,severo,sobrio,le brezze di agrumi e erbe aromatiche ricreano l’effetto dell’aria marina rinfrescata al mattino.
Nel profondo il tabacco e le note calde rincuorano un pò questo profumo che risulterebbe troppo amaro e severo,quasi austero.
Ma fondamentalmente è buono,sono buoni gli ingredienti e il risultato è discreto.
Non è una seduzione stile moderno,con frutta e vaniglia,direi piuttosto un elegante e sofisticato profumo rasserenante.
Mefecheammoms – :
Old-timey herbal cough syrup + Jägermeister + stale flower vase water. My body was NOT ready for this. I don’t dislike it.
pavel59 – :
I tried my current EDP sample and something in it smells intensely (I mean I can almost taste it in my mouth!) camphoraceous…Does anybody know what that could be?
nikitaonline – :
I recently bought the edt, thinking I was trying something new to me… turns out I remember this scent well, because my father would wear it for special occasions! This smells like him dressed in his best suit and fedora. His fragrances all dated to the 70s or 80s, they stood in a row on the middle shelf of our bathroom cabinet, and I would sniff the caps once in a while. I never could remember what they all were, besides the conspicuous and unforgettable yellow bottle of Giorgio Beverly Hills, so it’s rather nice to have bought this by accident. I’m sure I have a different formulation, but it hasn’t been changed beyond recognition. It definitely smells vintage. I will wear it when I want to feel my dad with me, but the powdery aldehydic quality of it feels a bit dated now, and it’s one of the few perfumes that leaves a taste in my mouth.
Lotsik – :
Think Betty Page in your dad’s snooker room. She’s wearing a leather corset and wielding a whip, Lola Montez style. Your dad’s boss cringes on the floor in his tighty-whites. You dad is silently smoking a cigar in the corner. You walk in, then back out, accidentally knocking of an ashtray…
I have the latest incarnation. I adore it. Dirty leather, dirty ash tray, all over a ballsy chypre topped with this magnificent bitter green smell. This reminds me of a woman who beats people for a living.
ozv720speagoessenda – :
Thanks for the advice to layer Mitsouko over Cabochard Emma0714! I normally never layer perfumes (I like to keep things pure XD ) but this combination intrigued me and I’m glad I tried it! The Cabochard gives Mitsouko a mysterious, almost gritty base-yness. Really nice!
said555 – :
I had a tiny bottle of this perfume back in the 80ies, and the smell of it brings back many good memories. Recently I bought a bottle, and very unfortunately, I get very sick in my tummi if I use it, so, sadly I have to sell it 🙁
sociolog – :
I adore many of the 70’s-80’s power house fragrances but Cabochard smaells awful to me! A blind buy….going on the reviews on here but I tried it and waited and just got a grubby, earthy stink…perhaps my body chemistry?
I get on well with Opium, Youth Dew, Obsession, Diva, Cinnabar….but not this. I hated it so much I had to change all my clothes and wash them to get rid of the pong! Phew….this bottle is off to the charity shop where, I hope, someone will buy it, enjoy it and donate some money to the charity.
Dimische – :
This is a leathery, smoky powdery incense fragrance, very similar to Azuree on me. It has a magical herbal quality that makes it feel earthy yet glamourous and slightly masculine at the same time. I think this would be a great scent for goth bars or anytime you wear a lot of leather. It’s definitely something different from everything released nowadays. I got it for a steal too – $15 what a bargain.
eoesyio2 – :
I love leather perfumes but I can’t wear this one. I tried so very hard to like it, literally forcing myself to wear it many times over a period of two years, for long days and nights in all seasons, all kinds of weather. I have worn both vintage and reformulated EDT and EDP versions, desperately wanting to enjoy this classic.
Unfortunately no matter how hard I tried, Cabochard on my skin is overwhelmingly intensely bitter. The extremely bitter asafoetida note amplifies on my skin, absolutely refusing to fade away or blend with other ingredients. If asafoetida note could be eliminated from this perfume, I’m sure I could wear and enjoy it.
gariknakie – :
I have a full bottle of the EDP now and gave another chance to the EDT as well. These two formulations are rather different on my skin, indeed. EDP is a chypre, definetely unisex, a little bit bitter and has a nice vintage feeling to it. It can smell slightly masculine on me (specially when sprayed on cool skin) and can behave rather feminine when applied on warmer and oilier skin. It can be a signature and can be worn daytime if someone has the spirit for it, it’s different, outstanding but if used with a light hand it’s not necesserily overpowering, because it stays relatively close to the skin. But initially, this is a dark perfume that is perfect for night.
EDT is totally different, however, they share many features. But EDT lacks characteristics of a chypre, it’s more like a dusty, dry floral on me, therefore much easier to wear and more modern. It’s still different from todays trends and outstanding on it’s own, but I don’t feel that I need courage to wear it. More dusty than smoky, soft, earthy-woodsy floral. Beautiful. It reminds me a little bit on Ferre Eau de Parfum, albeit notes listed are totally differen and the fragrance must be very diffeert too, but the overall impression has something in common with it.
andrejj-kudik – :
I have a vague memory that this bottle used to be on my grandmothers perfumeshelf when I was a child. I clearly remember the bottle with the bow in any case.
All of the roads lead to Rome they say, and some “Romes” are definitely perfumes – and in my case Cabochard kept popping up everywhere.
So I found it online, edT version 100 ml for almost no money at all, so I just “Well, OK then Internet, you won me over again” and bought it.
Wasn’t even sure I was gonna like it, but it just felt like an itch that needed to be scratched. So I dived in, blindnosed not knowing what to expect.
It definitely smells a bit dated for sure. I hardly get ANY leather or tobacco at all. All aldehyde and oakmoss here. Very, sharp, green fragrance, with a bit of moist soil going on (the patchouli and vetiver comes by and sends their regards) and a bit of woody notes that reminds me a bit of pencil shavings. It’s not bad, but… Now I know for SURE that I have smelt this before. Flashbacks of being a kid and nosing on that “pretty bow” bottle, and wrinkling my nose when its content did not live up to the expectations. The broccoli of perfumes.
But as a fully grown fume-head, I can respect the perfume for what it is. I no longer think it stinks, I rather feel that it doesn’t stink enough. So after the 5:th time of trying it (even wearing it in a heavy cloud an entire winters day, which honestly made me a bit sick), I now deduce that what this little buddy needs is a dancing partner. Yes, I need to layer it with something else. Wearing this alone for me feels a bit like chewing on a bouillon cube. Not so tasty on it’s own, but put it in a stew and it will lift the entire dish!
So – I spray one pump of this, and two of Guerlain Mitsouko and now I feel like a freaking genius. I just made my Mitsouko edt to a Mitsouko “Nuit, noir, intense, extrait whatever”
Always remember that perfume is fun and personal, and that it stems from alchemy. And today I felt like Nicholas Flamel. A bit. At least “Nicky F JR”.
allev – :
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen … Today came to me this retro Saint. Nicholas. Gres – Cabochard Eau de Toilette -100ml. The smell of Made In France … this time we are in France. What we have here – is the skin in a duet with oak moss are aldehydes, it is ash and narcotic. French chypr … I see it this way …. Paris smoky cafe in 1959 in the corner next to the wall sits a woman in a black hat, lips painted in red wine, smokes a cigar is smoky, dark and sexily accompanies her fur and a glass of wine wraps that’s all Cabochard, and in the background Peggy Lee and “FEVER” sound like that, it’s so hot, and it’s long on my skin. I recommend it to all those who love skippers, French school and men’s fragrances in women’s version, I recommend “vamp” and not only for men’s bodies and women. Necessarily with red lipstick and high heel. <3 I recommend. Unisex SCENT!
skupunk – :
Totally agree with review by Cauda Pavonis. It instantly reminded me of Knowing which I was pretty happy about. Don’t get much of the leather and it’s not as dirty as I was expecting it to be. But it is a love for me. Very happy with this one.
Thenrereugs – :
Recently found a decant of this among my many, many decants from friends. Having never truly looked into this in depth, I put it on. I remembered, before sniffing, that several people I know had compared this to both Arpege and Chanel’s No. 5. I must assume that they were referring only to strength and mild androgyny in scent, because it’s nothing like the two. I’m not one to enjoy comparing, but if I were to do so … I’d say it’s a tiny bit like a mossier version of Antaeus with a touch more sparkly aldehydes.
I think the first thing I noticed was oakmoss. Oakmoss so strong I was reminded of Charlie Blue, which at first had me running for the tap. Once this settled down, like in Charlie Blue, the scent was rather beautiful. Not what I’d call feminine by today’s standards but in the 60s and 70s, this is what I’d imagine to be the ultimate feminist scent. The smell of changing culture and an introduction to the idea that women didn’t have to be all pretty and pink, that they could have a dark/brooding side that wore leather jackets and rode motorcycles off into the sunset. There’s a faint freshness to it, but I think that may again just be the oakmoss. It’s a totally different style of chypre to what I’m used to smelling and I welcome it with loving arms… occasionally. Don’t have the courage to wear this sort of thing EVERY day. Now I must track down the answer to whether or not this is a vintage decant… I suspect it’s not, but I honestly don’t mind. If the modern version smells this beautiful, I can live with that and not shed a tear for having not tried the vintage.
gonfantom – :
Leathery chypre. In the same vein as the dry green fragrances of the 70s and early 80s, like Knowing and Silences. Not actually overly leathery – I think the florals are fairly prominent, giving it an almost laundry-like feel – although there is a hint of the ashtray (in a good way). Potent in the modern disappointing era of perfumery but nowhere near as skanky or dirty as I was expecting – yes, it’s got that bitter green oakmoss; yes, there’s that hint of ashtray bitterness, but it’s actually relatively restrained. Still, this isn’t shy or retiring, by any means. Cabochard is a grand, confident, gives no crap classic.
xakimov79 – :
Smoking hot. Black leather. Hell on wheels biker chic. Red lipstick. Stilhetto heels. Fishnet stockings. Dagger fingernails. Sardonic grin of Patsy Stone of Absolutely Fabulous. This is Cabochard.
Seregas – :
My mother used to wear Cabochard in her youth, she told me, but I am not from that time. I kept the name in mind, and her description of a bottle with a glass bow (maybe she had the parfum, who knows?).
I finally had the chance to test a decanted sample (not sure from when).
This is beautiful. A classic, warm, leathery, round perfume. I can’t distinguish the notes per se, as this is one of those compositions where they meld together. The leather is not adstringent and tarry as in Cuir de Russie, this one is warm and animalic, woody, floral, all together. It manages to go vaguely soapy (still woody, still leathery, still floral) and very, very creamy.
This would be delightful in a crisp winter morning. It’s one of those great classics, it smell “perfume-y”, but different.
I would really like to have it.
—
(Now to find a way to test the parfum)..
andrey23347 – :
I was reading a bio of Marlene Dietrich, so I got curious about Bandit. Well, Cabochard is cheaper than Bandit, so I thought I’d start with Cabochard. (Blind buying online)
I got the EDT of Cabochard. I do like it. I have no freakin’ clue what I’m smelling tho. If this is leather– than I think it kinda smells like the EDP of Fendi Fan Di. I didn’t care for Fendi Fan Di EDP at first because I thought it was boring/citrus/wood instead of a nice leather scent… now I understand the leather of both FFDi and Cabochard. It’s not the leather I’m used to with Shalimar and Habanita. Not at all.
I like Cabochard, but I’m helpless in describing what I like. It has a bit of vintage funk in the middle/drydown (I believe I have a current EDT) and it’s sharp… I think I’m getting the leather and aldehydes… not so much tobacco. And I can pick out the citrus I think… It’s kinda masculine too. But I do like it. I like the vintage kick of it, even tho mine is recent. A cheap buy online… $13 shipped!
I don’t get anything Chypre so mine is prob missing the oakmoss?
L963 – :
Who wrote the Fragrantica description above for Cabochard, and did they mean to write “plane” and simple, instead of plain, because they believe it has tones like leathery aeroplane seats?
Leathery, deeply soapy, tough, smokey. The new version is missing something from the ’70’s, but I don’t know what. Either way, I love it because it’s so damn unique.
sanych10 – :
I must say that the comparisons to Aramis are on the spot. Bertrand Chant did both, after all. But… I must say… with current offerings that I prefer Cabochard to Aramis. Why? Well… Cabochard is more skanky. The tobacco is not what you smell nowadays. It is the type of tobacco that reeks, and you may be wondering why anyone in their right mind would like to smell like an chain smoking old harlot. Well, quite simply, because it works well. It provides a lingering spicy?grassy?woody?.. who knows. Bottom life this is a classic chypre as it gets. This came out in the late 50’s but this is not demure at all. Quite frankly, I think whoever wore this back then must have had a certain frame of mind. Who knows, I will never know. But for sure this was not a lady who waited for her hubby at night with the dinner ready.
The sad thing is that nowadays this type of scent is mostly found on niche offerings.
Totally unisex by the way, but stay away if you are into aquatics and fruity gourmands.
Smell great my friends.
UPDATE. I was able to get my hands on a vintage EDT Cabochard. It is probably prior to the 90’s based on the markings on the box. And yes, today’s offering is a disservice to vintage. The oakmoss on this splash bottle has gone stale, but if you endure, you find out a beautiful mid that is very floral with the drydown somewhat more similar to th vintage. For comparisons I applied the vintage over the current version and there it was, a shadow of a former glorious chypre. The dryness of the current was gone and a more rounded, floral, woody composition emerged. I wonder how a vintage EDP may smell like…. I think the current version enabled the vintage a solid, similar base in where the vintage coud flourish… of course the top notes are gone but you really can’t expect them on any vintage.
Lianiepay – :
Wow! I was lucky enough to find this new fragrance to me yesterday from a Finnish flea market, only with couple of euros! Fantastic smell, I really love this perfume! In my home-country Finland it is very difficult to find these kind of perfumes, like old-style ones. I admire this Cabochard scent, it is my new favourite bottle so as is this Internet-side! Nice to get to know you, Cabochard and you; Fracrantica-page… many greetings to you; everyone from Finland!
Sunveil – :
My bottle is eau de parfum from the 1980’s, it smells like less aldehydic Aramis mixed with Cuir de Russie .Very soft and no sillage (aura) at all. The longer it stays on skin, the deeper mor leathery and less powdery it gets. It is indeed organic and alive liquid, the green note is realistic in a way that I sense the feeling of rubbed flowers and plants on my skin… intertwined with my arm creating this “flower shop” effect.
MiDuzz – :
I think I confirmed that I cant take too much leather with this fragrance. I gave it to my old Dad and he loves it. It does smell lovely on him. He never questioned if it was a womans fragrance lol
This is a real leather bomb. I agree with the notes folk have generally noted and the order. I actually like chypres so I was disappointed this didnt work on my skin. Im glad Dad loves it lol
Ramzes 01 – :
I love it constantly, I wear it occasionly, and I would not be without it.
On me, initial blast is rather sharp, direct and strong combination of woods and leather with a and a bit of citrus, but sharpness and citrus last only for a few minutes and then it spreads and softens in dusty, a bit soapy and velvety flowers and tobacco.
After that the earthy traces of oak moss and vetiver become more apparent and they start to tickle the leather.
Cabochard feels like a warm and thrilling touch of men’s two-day beard on a woman’s neck.
Also, Cabochard’s firmness feels like a ribbon tightened right to the point when you feel its edges on the skin, but it gives you only a pleasant thrill.
I’d call it sensuously intriguing, but still somehow oldfashionly proper – like there’s a safe word embedded in the play, and the word is – “Cabochard”.
Damn, it’s sexy.
Damn, it’s classic.
PS
I bet that my mother, who also wore Cabochard, would ignore and refuse my description of Cabochard with all of her dignity, and – also – with crossed fingers in her pocket.
* LOVE (3rd bottle)
* longetivity: moderate/longlasting (up to 8 hours, for current EDP)
* silage: moderate (arms lenght)
* weather/season/time: Moderate to cold. I preffer to start wearing it on first rainy days in october, and wear it trough the winter, until spring sun starts to become warm. Semi-formal to formal. Day and night.
__________________________________________________
– personal attachment – if you are not interested, just skip it, please
One of the best (and most expressive) compliments I ever got, I got when I felt everything but representative.
It was “out of a blue”, in the kitchen, for Cabochard:
“Mmmmm… I like vanilla pancakes, but I love more the smell of them im your hair with this stuff on your neck.”
Zendrick – :
– a digression –
Cabochard – FOR HER:
A FEW WORDS FOR SAFELY HIDDEN FEMININE FRAGRANTICIAN
I bet that right now here is some young woman – a fragrantician, too – who is reading all the reviews about Cabochard and thinking: “Oh, this one isn’t for me, because here is more than few times stated that Cabochard is kinda masculine. Or unisex…. I don’t want THAT.”
And this comment is for her, as a balance to comments in which Cabochard is pronounced to be unisex, “almost masculine”.
Cabochard is a woman’s scent.
Some men would bend to it and wear it, of course.
But, as I’m concerned, it is not other way around.
When I sense the man wearing Cabochard, I feel like it bends the man on a feminine side, and at the same time that doesn’t make the scent less feminine.
Also, as a scent originally made for woman, Cabochard really doesn’t need to be labeled as made for certain kind of woman’s personality.
I don’t think that Cabochard was made for strong, tough woman, or that its vibe attributes masculinity, or some “vamp” or “bad-girl” attribute.
Many traditionally feminine women wore Cabochard in the past.
Not just “vamps” or “masculine” feminists, but also nice, quiet housewife with children.
Tender nurses.
Pleasant, mildly tempered teachers.
Ultrafeminine secretaries.
My mom, who is warm, quiet, tender, very classicly feminine and everything but tough, stubborn or authoritative woman.
It is as misleading to believe that women for whom the Cabochard was originally made and who wore it in the past were by default strong and independent, or stubborn, as it is misleading to believe that among today’s candy-scented population there are not some tough, strong willed, independent or in any other way a bit “cabochard-spirited” / “vamp”, “masculine” women.
Let’s not apply unnecessary stereotypes over the perfume. Let’s rise above it and go beyond that kind of stereotypes, or fashion, or overly protective correctness.
My mother would have certainly never wear Cabochard if it was in her time repeatedly labeled as “unisex” or “almost masculine”.
It would have been a pity, and I wouldn’t have the childhood memory of this beautiful scent on a commonly feminine, tender, polite and traditional woman.
I’m sure that woman with my mom’s way of thinking still live among us and read the reviews here.
And just because they rightfully aspire not to be differently feminine from many of the first ordinary users of Cabochard (the housewives or ultra feminine secretaries or nurses, or my mom), the “masculinity” label could divert them from trying beautiful and different kind of warmth from woods, flowers, tobacco and leather.
My personal experience with Cabochard is that it draws compliments from persons (both genders) whom I find open minded and willing to ignore any kind of “labels” as equally as overly protective correctness, and who concentrate on individual quality of the fragrance on my woman’s body.
And that is:
On a general level – Cabochard is a women’s scent because it was originally made for traditionally feminine women, not for men.
And that is a fact.
On a personal level – Cabochard is womanly because on me it smells feminine.
And that is fact, too.
So, here’s the message to the young fragnatician safely hidden in genderly non-questionble sweets, but who is wondering how does she as a woman fits to the scent which is today described as “gender bender”:
There’s no fashion, dominant opinion or political correctness which should divert any woman from experiencing the scent made for woman on her woman’s body.
Cabochard is a scent for woman.
That is proven so many times that it made it woman’s classic.
And if all of these sounds politicly incorrect – well, I’m also sometimes overly protective and I’m certainly willing to speak up what I think.
You can freely downvote it.
Naruto120 – :
Reading the description this one seemed perfect on paper. So many people say it’s unisex so I gave it a go in a shop in Luxemburg where I could finally get my hands on a tester. I’m sorry but I don’t think I could get away wearing this. It’s smoky, leathery, but to me it remains pretty much a ladies perfume. It’s very pleasing though.
stossegerntoR – :
If you loveeeee the scent of this but rarely have the occasion to wear it like me, being in hot and humid Florida, you absolutely must purchase BBW Wallflowers in Tobacco Flower! I bought it blind and my whole house smells like it! I’m ordering more now as we speak!
nuKo – :
Cabochard, ou le plus sexy des androgynes.
Son nom le résume parfaitement, il est insolent, vif, hâbleur, il claque sur votre peau, vert, épicé, cuir et tabac, il est sans concession, âpre et élégant.
Il exalte votre féminité mais votre homme pourrait vous le piquer sans souci.
Un classique intemporel qui n’a rien à voir avec la sucraille actuelle, le chef-d’oeuvre des parfums Grès.
marzipanmann – :
I had an Eighties splash bottle of EDT. I have no way of knowing if it was well preserved, but I didn’t smell any glorious leather, just a harsh green chypre. I could wear it to the office, because it really wasn’t loud, like others have already said. The problem was I was so underwhelmed that I had no reason to keep it. The comparison to Jolie Madame is completely wrong: I love that fragrance and though they do share some notes, JM is much smoother. My interpretation of Cabochard could be tainted by how my skin reacts to tobacco notes, so I guess that was my biggest issue with the perfume.
eut748intitytek – :
Oh dear sweet baby Jesus! I don’t know if my bottle is “off” or what but when I sprayed this, all I got was the scent of cigarettes and weed in an old, musty house. It was the reformulated bottle, not the original. A co-worker, a gender-fluid/queer smoker, loved it so I gave it to them. I quite like it on them, but abhorred it on me. Perhaps it’s a matter of chemistry. Thankfully it wasn’t a pricey blind buy.
Pypeemabete – :
Always wanted to try this one. Bought a reformulated bottle at a great price. Love the boldness of the leather and smoke… and the soft soapiness that indicates there is a soft side to the wearer. I call this my serious ball busting scent…i wear it when i mean business. Works well…except when someone tells me I smell lovely. Damn it!
oxsana1905 – :
I blind-bought a new bottle of this on an auction site recently, very reasonably priced.
I love the tobacco and leathery notes in this very much; as an ex-smoker I really miss the smell of ciggies! There is a tiny bit of a woodsy scent to this one, but not much to my nose. However, the gorgeous smoky and leathery opening very soon disappears, and it becomes a ‘non-smell’ on me. I just cannot smell anything at all after about half an hour/one hour. But I am sure that must be my weird body chemistry or the fact that my nose that cannot pick up certain notes. It has certainly happened before with other perfumes…
A bit disappointing all-in-all but I love the opening spray of this one very much. Give it a whirl, it’s so reasonably priced.
Darkromanangel – :
At an elderly woman’s garage sale, I happened on a carton of vintage, unopened perfumes from the 70s and 80s, including four bottles of Cabochard in various sizes. There are just three words for how I felt when I tried the first spray: Oh, my god. So leathery, and a bit of something I’d call “smoky,” except that I don’t see anything like this in the notes. It has a quality I’d call “texture,” or even a bit rough. I’ve been learning about perfume for a few years now, and keep wondering what people mean when they say a scent is “sexy.” Do they mean musky? Sweet? Dark? Well, now I know at least what “sexy” means to me. Cabochard, at least in its vintage formulation, is hands-down the sexiest scent I know.
grigorii32 – :
This is for the EDP, newly bought off Fragrancenet (so, probably not vintage). Well, this is a lot like Bandit. Which is good, because I love Bandit, and Cabochard is ridiculously inexpensive. Cabochard smells a little more like cigarette smoke—in a good way! Reminds me of a nice hotel that allows smoking; that mix of clean swanky furnishings with a hint of cigarettes. Plenty of leather spiked with green and floral, just like Bandit. So I tested them side by side: at the top, Bandit is crisper and cleaner and chillier, and Cabochard does have more cigarette tobacco and is warmer. As it settles into the heart, Bandit evinces more carnation-like spice, and Cabochard more soapy florals. Then on drydown they start smelling a bit more similar, settling to oakmossy leather. Both great, and on me both quite easy wearing.
awu794speagoessenda – :
Thank you for your thoughts, Tillywave. I am not sure what incarnation my bottle is; though it looks like the one pictured―only my bottle and lid don’t have edges. They’re an oval, I guess, and not a hexagon.
I am glad that it isn’t “me” and actually, apparently, the perfume itself. I smell no leather. No one note jumps out at me, actually. I just don’t know why I don’t like this one! All the notes (with the possible exception of the Aldehydes) are big winners.
I know my bottle is fairly current; but I guess I can’t “do” stuff with a vintage/Chypre vibe like I always fantasized that I could. I like everything else that is from other eras. Just not perfume.
I respect it. It is iconic, even if it is reformulated beyond recognition. I may swap it eventually, but for now, I believe it to be a good perfume to keep in my perfume library. Maybe I will give it another try this winter.
big__things – :
Floral