Cabotine (1990)
by Grès

Genre: Green Floral

Cabotine exits the bottle in a flourish of very sharp, chemical, fruity floral notes and aldehydes, establishing an unfortunate air freshener vibe that the fragrance never fully manages to shed. The composition first sorts itself out into a harsh, soapy rose and ersatz carnation accord badly in need of rounding and warming. It improves over time, the rose losing some of its chemical rough edges, while woods and vanillic base notes add some much-needed textural relief.

With an hour’s wear Cabotine grows softer and prettier, reading as and aldehydic, fresh, green rose scent. Competition in this particular genre is keen, however, and Cabotine does not hold up well by comparison to scents like Alliage, Private Collection, L’Ombre dans l’Eau, and Chanel No. 19, never mind the infinitely more delicate Une Zeste de Rose and Drôle de Rose.

11^th June, 2014

Fruity, green floral

A most unusual bottle - the stopper is topped by four green flowers - an additional four are clustered in a band adorning the bottle proper.

This is a very fruity, green floral that becomes quite sweet in the dry down. Over applying can result in a cloying, unpleasant effect - the sort of over play that sends one running to the HR office to complain about scent abuse.

It would seem to me that its best audience would be adolescent females, who want to smell like a candy factory.

Fine for its niche, which happens not to be mine.

Pros: Light, fresh feminine scent
Cons: Can be cloying if over applied

18^th June, 2013

My wife once came home with Cabotine by Grès and wore it a couple of times. She likes it, but I find that this perfume has an overpowering chemical smell, not at all pleasant but rather bordering on nauseating. In fact, I hid the bottle in the corner in the back of her wardrobe so that she would stop wearing it. When she found the bottle, a couple of months later, she gave it to her mother, who didn't like it (The father in law was lucky).

The only perfume that I disliked more is Cartier De Lune. I wonder whether they share an ingredient for which I happen to be much more sensitive than other people.

06^th October, 2012

Once I was given a huge tester of this which kept me in Cabotine for quite some time. It starts out extremely green and kind of sharp, then mellows down to a fresh green/floral. I didn't get any of the fruit on this, but I know its in there.

I don't understand the bottle, however. It is quite original, but what is the green thing on the top? A cabbage?

04^th September, 2012

it is very clean like soap.it is not very feminine at first but it becomes soft and floral in several hours.most people i know doesn't like it but i do.

03^rd July, 2012

To my nose an extremely green- bordering on citrus- white floral. It's as though you gathered up all the cuttings from a florists' floor and made the scent from that rather than the blossoms. It's very "stemmy". The fruit and base notes combine to make an unmistakable female scent. The right amount on the right woman with the right chemistry would be...just right! Anyone else, especially a man, should probably stay away. It seems Cabotine if overapplied could be much too overpowering. Obviously well contructed in the French manner with quality ingredients. It seems to have very strong projection/sillage and I'm guessing it lasts for quite a while. I'm getting images of Marie Antoinette wandering through Versailles on a hot afternoon...
Some perfumes really do only work on women.

22^nd May, 2012