I agree with Brooks Otterlake, that I really just don't see what applesauce has to do with Ernest Hemingway, because that's what I smell when I first spray 1899 on my wrist. Applesauce. I looked through the other reviews and the notes, and no one else seems to mention it. But, that's what I wrote down when I sampled this on May 3, 2020. Applesauce. Then baby powder, then pine needles, then cedar, and maybe musk? And bergamot? And a few minutes later, after top notes dissipated a little bit, I could smell vanilla and Iso-E, like in Montana Parfum d'Homme (red box), and something that smells like Bulgari Omnia Brown...kind of cedar-like. Very yummy! I like cedar. Then it dries down with a weird sharp incense-y smell, like the kind I get in John Varvatos, and then that was all I could smell. Not an unlikeable fragrance. Not sure I'd buy a full bottle though. It is however the only fragrance I've tried so far that smells like applesauce. But only for a few minutes tops.
A gorgeous but discrete fragrance. Warm, nose tinglingly spicy, smooth, a bit creamy, a twinge of sweetness, but mostly dry. Comparisons to Spicebomb are apt, though as other reviewers have noted, this is far, far beyond it in terms of composition and quality. Perfectly refined and well balanced. I just wish it had a little bit more oomph, a little bit more power behind it. Its lasting power leaves something to be desired, and its projection and sillage are similarly taciturn. I think I'll try this out when it gets a bit colder out, though only at home or at the office.
7/10
This is a cleaner, more floral version in the Tobacco Vanille family of fragrances (Atkinson’s Old Fellows Bouquet, Eau Duelle, etc.). Most vanilla fragrances can get a bit heavy and monotonous after a while, but this is much brighter and more watery, like a sparkling vanilla champagne with the faint scent of a nearby garden wafting in on the cool nighttime breeze (probably the vetiver that keeps things fresh and light, and slightly cold.) I wouldn’t say this was feminine at all. It’s just more sophisticated and more gentlemanly than heavier smoker alternatives, less cloying and more interesting as it develops over time.)
It’s still a second place to PdM Herod (or how I remember it - it’s been a while since my decant ran out) but it’s certainly a worthy lighter alternative.
02nd October, 2019 (last edited: 19th October, 2019)
A very nice blend of hesperidic notes, spicy florals, drying down to a fougeric ending of lavender, vanilla, amber, and a distinct blonde tobacco accord. A very wearable masculine and very distinct.
I've never been altogether sure what this fragrance has to do with Ernest Hemingway. Its soft sweetness and vanilla with exotic spices doesn't exactly conjure up the spirit of Hemingway, and it leans more feminine than masculine, though not dramatically so.
In a world full of sweet, lightly spicy scents, I don't know that 1899 does much to carve out a niche for itself. Conceptually, it's familiar, and it's not particularly precise in its construction. But, if nothing else, it's pleasant enough, at least until Ghislain's trademark "musty" accord creeps into the dry-down.
28th February, 2019 (last edited: 01st April, 2019)
Sweet, pine-y, peppery opening. It reminds me of candy cigarettes, from my youth. The orange blossom and iris mesh well together. The candy aroma lingers throughout the middle. This reminds me of Vaninger by Oliver & Co. A vanilla base. Hours later, a vague powder note, on my skin. Leans more femme IMO.