Déclaration Eau Genereuse (2003)
by Cartier

Cartier Declaration Eau Genereuse

Flankers are not my favorite subject in perfumery. Very often they are weaker un-balanced versions of the original and suffer in comparison. Try the sport version of many popular fragrances to see where I'm coming from. Then someone like Jean-Claude Ellena takes the idea and actually does something incredible with it. The Declaration line he created for Cartier shows how a central theme can be re-interpreted over four different scents. I am a big fan of the original Declaration and as someone who likes cumin in his scents it is a great scent, for me. What about the cumin averse out there? Ellena's first answer was, in 2001, Bois Bleu which stripped the cumin out and left the remainder firmly in aquatic territory. While I liked Bois Bleu it had lost some of the citrus sparkle that was present in the original and I missed that. In 2003, Ellena designed the scent that retains that spark and created Declaration Eau Genereuse. This is Declaration without the cumin and it is all sunshine and light and wonderful, on me. The top recreates the citrus beginning but without the earthiness of the cumin the green notes are much more prevalent. The wormwood is also missing which removes the astringent woody aspects and keeps Eau Genereuse all on the side of lighter, brighter accords as the zesty cardamom and artemesia lead down to a cedar-centric base. This is a clean, fresh scent expertly executed in an Eau de Cologne style. That Eau de Cologne style means not a lot of sillage but on me it stays as a close wearing skin scent for many hours. Ellena has almost made me a believer in flankers. Maybe more appropriately he has made me a believer in flankers designed by Ellena.

This is my favorite version of Déclaration. I think the appeal is that the basic Déclaration idea is translated into an Eau-de-cologne style. The re-balanced citrus and green notes in the top take some of the bitter birch tar edge off the basic fragrance and enliven it just enough to make it a good warn-weather wear. The trouble is that it's nearly impossible to find; but the trade-off is that the bottle I have is huge! Jean-Claude Ellena has done a great job on this one!

I find this version of Déclaration very energizing and invigorating. It hangs around just enough, with good sillage, but it's not a one-two punch. With warm weather approaching, I find myself looking forward to the treat of wearing this again.