Cacharel Pour L'Homme by Cacharel, 1981

Cacharel pour L'Homme (vintage) opens with a very nice bergamot open before quickly switching to a natural cedar wood and lemon tandem. Joining the woods and lemon in the heart of the scent is an almost cinnamon-like nutmeg that starts off as a supporting note, but as time passes gets stronger and stronger until the lemon completely fades and the cedar now acts in support of the now dominant nutmeg in the latter heart phase of the scent. Oakmoss, fir and musk round out the key base notes now joining the remaining cedar as the nutmeg finally recedes during the sublime musk-laced woody dry-down. Projection is average and longevity is below average to average. Cacharel pour L'Homme (vintage) was a complete surprise, and all to the positive. When I first applied it on skin I immediately was impressed, but its early woody lemon transition from the initial bergamot seemed to come out of nowhere, reminding me of what I hoped I would have smelled with Monsieur Balmain but instead found it a bit too synthetic when I tried it versus the much more natural and sophisticated woody lemon exhibited here. Just when I got used to enjoying that lemon and wood tandem, again the scent took yet another turn in transitioning to a spicy nutmeg scent before its final transition in the final stage of the scent's development to its cedar musk and fir dominant dry-down. Each phase is so well-defined and truly outstanding in both smell and execution by the parfumier Gerard Goupy. Its bottle may look more than a bit dated, but Carcharel pour L'Homme (vintage) is an absolutely timeless amazing smelling classic that is well-deserving of its "near masterpiece" 4.5 stars out of 5 rating. This one is a "must buy" in my book.