Saturday SOTD - Cartier Declaration

Cartier Declaration is another perfume that I've written about before. I want to mention it again, partly because I wore it yesterday and also because I think it is an excellent perfume that is seldom mentioned these days. 

Created by Jean-Claude Ellena and released in 1998, Declaration has (according to Basenotes) notes of birchwood, bitter orange, bergamot, juniper, artemisia, cardamom, cedar, vetiver and oakmoss. Many reviews in the past mention a heavy accord of cumin and, I have to say, I do detect quite a prominent cumin note too, despite it not being listed above. Depending on your senses, you will probably either love cumin (spicy), or hate it (sweaty body odour). For me, luckily, cumin only holds good associations. Despite the prominence of cumin, to me Declaration is ultimately a spicy, citrus woody fragrance, but I have never smelled another perfume quite like it. I can see how Ellena moved from this to Terre d'Hermes and the other work he's done for Hermes, but Declaration is a one-off special.

Image credit - http://www.theperfumeshop.com/

A bit of this, a bit of that (Creed Aventus and Cartier Declaration)

It's a bit of a strange time for me, perfume-wise, at the start of 2011. It's that time of year when there aren't all that many new perfume releases, and if like me, the thrill of the chase can be as satisfying as the kill, metaphorically, then January can be rather dull. Not that I'm saying that all I want in my perfume life is the instant hit and the never ending search for new releases, but that is an exciting part of being a perfume nut.

Of course I say there aren't many new releases, but there are actually, if one browses enough websites, of which Now Smell This is to my mind the best at keeping up with this sort of thing. I guess it's just a case that not many of these are heading to my shores right now.

Anyway, I've been spending a few days trying out some of my older samples, or in some cases some of my more boring samples. A case in point is Aventus, by Creed. It's not a bad perfume by any means, but it just smells to me a bit too much like "Been there, done that". At a price, I might add. If this were priced at say £50, I would probably say this is a refined, classy-smelling perfume. At double that price, I'm thinking it should be a lot better. I don't want to pay triple figure prices for perfumes that smell like everything that's come before, no matter how gentlemanly, refined and classy they might be. Aventus is inoffensive, and to my mind the most generically staid Creed to date, and perfect for the upper end of the mainstream market. I know I sound snobbish, but to reiterate, at those price points there should be more innovation in my opinion.

One of my older samples is Cartier's Declaration. Actually, I was recently given a 15ml mini of Declaration when I purchased something else, which is quite a good deal. I really like Declaration, which I know some find challenging due to its very generous cumin note. This fragrance is anything but simplistic, and a great example of Jean Claude Elena's work just before he started going wholeheartedly down the minimalist, sheer route. In fact, anyone familiar with his work for Hermes and Frederic Malle should smell Declaration because even then you can sense the direction he was heading in. I read somewhere that Declaration is Elena's ode to Eau d'Hermes (created by Edmond Roudnitska), which itself is a fairly robust fragrance, although I have not tried it. Speaking of which, I have yet to track down either Eau d'Hermes or Bel Ami in this country. If any of you know where to find these, I should be grateful for the tip off. I don't intend to write about Declaration in detail now, but it is a wonderful spicy/woody perfume, very distinctive and loaded with Cumin. I love it. At the risk of sounding a bit provocative, if I had to choose between Aventus and Declaration, both of which are aimed at men generally, I know which I would choose.

Editions De Parfums Frederic Malle French Lover

French Lover (or Bois D'orage as it is known in the US) was one of the first fragrances I sampled from the Frederic Malle line. In many ways I had only recently become addicted to the whole perfume thing and Frederic Malle was about as niche as could be, for me, and in many ways still is. I admire quite a few perfumes from the line, but I would say that in general, they are not easy perfumes to like; they require a bit of perseverance and even then, there are some you might not grow to like. French Lover is one of those for me. For some reason I have never taken to it, although I do acknowledge that it has a certain something about it. The notes include pimento, galbanum, iris, angelica, cedarwood and vetiver. Other sources list incense, patchouli, mosses, musk, clove and bergamot. What I do know is that French Lover opens with a crackerjack shot of pepper/pink pepper, that reminds me almost of gunpowder, which I think might be the initial burst of galbanum. It is dry, dusty and almost cough-inducing, but as the top notes fade a more recognisable galbanum note seeps through, greener and sappier. Alongside this I detect a very definite clove note and some musk and cedar. There is a floral vibe going as well, or I thought it was floral but perhaps it is angelica. After about fifteen minutes or so I detected a vaguely sour note, slightly spicy and citrusy, which I thought is bergamot. That strange gunpowder note lingers. 

French Lover kept on reminding me of another perfume. At first I couldn't put my finger on it and then it struck me: Isfarkand by Ormonde Jayne. Isfarkand is all about pink pepper, musk and cedar, not a huge leap from pimento, musk, spices and cedar, it must be said. Thinking about it a bit more, I also detect a similarity to Cartier Declaration, without the cumin note. Into the heart and early dry down French Lover softens considerably, with a sweeter mossy note that strengthens and takes this into less austere territory. I must say that I don't detect any iris or patchouli, but that's not to say they aren't there. 

Writing this, I still can't quite say why I don't like French Lover more. It is a good perfume and I know it has lots of fans out there. Perhaps it's the association first of all - I don't personally think French Lover is a very apt name for it. I don't find it a particularly sexy fragrance. If anything it is quite austere and severe, particularly in the first third of development, but that's just my personal take on it. I think it is definitely one of the more masculine fragrances in the Malle line, but having said that, it would be interesting to smell this on a woman. I think a lady who enjoys the style embodied by Ormonde Jayne in particular would quite possibly enjoy this.

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