Reviews of Cabochard (1959)
by Grès

Cabochard used to be one of the best things you could ever smell. It was exalting and ethereal, and as sultry and animalic as it gets. But now the thing barely even competes with Aramis (very similar, and also made by Bernard Chant). It was true to its name, big and strong, fully extended with Chant's herbaceous-patchouli-floral accord, and all the things that make a leather chypre come alive. The stuff was smooth as silk, the leathery isoquinolines sung, and never went sluggish like so many of its kind. There was plenty of animalic castoreum to keep it fleshy and warm, and it felt so natural you thought it could be oozing from your pores. It was dark-serious-mysterious-cerebral and x-rated anytime, but mainly just housed in twilight, infused with so many golden sunsets and all the things you need to make future possibilities more vivid. But now it’s as far from itself as a hawk from the moon, a mere outline at best. So that leaves Bandit, and as much as I preferred the athleticism of Cabochard, Bandit was always a slightly more substantial composition. And aside from one of the formulations, the quality is still as high as it gets. So high in fact that Bandit could easily still be considered one of the top five perfumes on the planet. Cuir de Russie parfum (Chanel) is liquid gold, but it’s not the dark, edgy type. Tabac Blond is too sweet, and it’s been sucked dry anyway. Among other things, Caron apparently doesn’t like castoreum anymore. Miss Balmain has a similar temperament to Cabochard, but comes off a little coarse (try it anyway, it’s excellent). So that means you get to try Oud Cuir d’Arabie, which smells fantastic, and is one of the most satisfying leathers ever made, full of silky-buttery animalic oud, leather, tobacco, labdanum, and who knows what else. It’s luxurious but as dirty as it needs to be, at home with the filthiest porn, or perhaps just eating with the Rothschilds. And you might as well try Aramis, because it’s not far from what Cabochard is now, but with a little more quality. And never forget La Nuit (Rabanne). You might not get on with it at first because it suffers from some minor structural deficiency, but give it a few weeks, and don’t listen too hard for the drydown until the fourth or fifth hour. Because that’s when the clock strikes, and it’s pure sex from then on. There are few things I’d rather smell on a woman than La Nuit.

Have fun.

Once a great leather chypre, this heavy weary unisex scent does not age well at all. Smell nicer on my clothes (after spraying on my chest and pulling the shirt over) than on my skin. My shirt loves this more than I do

I'm guessing it's the vintage version I have a sample of. Anyway, it's an appealingly sharp and green and bold chypre. It's often compared to Bandit, and I'd say Bandit is the lighter and more wearable and floral/sweet scent (I have the modern edp, so it might be that the reformulated Cabochard is even softer) I certainly see the similarities though, the greenness, I just think Cabochard is more hardcore.