Cavale (1979)
by Fabergé

On a high after a couple of successful blind purchases of vintage Fabergés, I decided to take a punt on Cavale. I bought a partial bottle exactly like the one in the photo. If I hadn't seen other pics of this fragrance in parfum form, I'd swear there'd been a mistake in classifying Cavale as feminine. To my nose it smells quite masculine* (or at least unisex). Not to mention the style of the bottle and the name.

I could not find a list of notes for Cavale, so I'll have a go at describing them myself.

Cavale opens with strong lemony notes which remind me of Guerlain's Eau de Fleurs de Cedrat. I can also smell verbena and/or lemongrass. These top notes are soon joined by vetiver, herbs, patchouli and moss. I'm sure there's a floral heart, but I cannot distinguish any particular flowers. I agree with the previous reviewer that Cavale is a chypre.

I was going to give a Thumbs Down because I wouldn't want to wear this fragrance. But the more I smell Cavale, the more I think that it's not such a bad example of the style, and the longevity of those lemony notes is actually quite impressive.

*There are a number of other, somewhat similar, scents marketed as feminine which I think smell distinctly masculine - eg. O de Lancome, Malone's Lime Basil & Mandarin and Choc de Cardin - so please regard my assessment as highly subjective.

30th August, 2011.

Nice chypre- with a floral opening-but after awhile it mellows out to a nice unisex drydown.

7th December, 2007.