More limited edition collector fragrance bottles, with the usual disclaimers: in most of these cases, the juice is unchanged, just the bottle is “special” (or not, as the case may be), and some of these may not be available in the US.
From Cartier, Baiser Volé wrapped in pink leather. £94 for 100 ml at Selfridges in the UK…
Cartier just launched Déclaration d’un Soir (a flanker to 1998′s Déclaration Eau de Toilette) and it supposedly takes the original Déclaration perfume into nighttime (huh?) (Also laughable: Cartier PR says Déclaration d’un Soir ‘drives men to speak their minds.’) Perfume may make me speak my mind…but only about perfume (thus, this review).
Déclaration d’un Soir was developed by Cartier perfumer Mathilde Laurent; its notes include pepper, cumin, nutmeg, rose and sandalwood. When I first wore Déclaration d’un Soir, I felt I had smelled a close relative of it before. It took me weeks to finally figure out that Déclaration d’un Soir reminds me of Eau d’Italie Paestum Rose (more on that later). Déclaration d’un Soir opens with peppery citrus…
I remember smelling Cartier Déclaration when it was released almost 15 years ago. I didn’t like it one bit: “too dirty.” What smelled “unclean” to my nose back in 1998, today smells almost fresh, and not because of reformulation, but because so many of my perfume dislikes turned to likes over the years.
I must have been in the minority back in 1998 when Déclaration Eau de Toilette was released because it’s been successful and spawned flanker after flanker. At this moment, there are four Déclaration formulas for sale.
Original Déclaration Eau de Toilette was developed by perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena and includes notes of birch, bergamot, bitter orange, juniper, artemisia, cardamom, cedar, vetiver and oakmoss. Déclaration Eau de Toilette goes on strong with bitter orange…
Cartier will launch Déclaration d’un Soir, a new fragrance for men, in August. Déclaration d’un Soir is a flanker to 1998’s Déclaration, and is intended as an evening version that ‘drives men to speak their minds’…
Sometimes I’ve wished for the woody equivalent of a light, clean, citrus Eau de Cologne — Cartier has just answered my wish with Eau de Cartier Essence de Bois, a watery concoction “accented by oud wood.”
Eau de Cartier Essence de Bois includes notes of yuzu, bergamot, violet leaf, violet flower, lavender, musk, patchouli, ambergris and oud wood. That combination of notes sounds a LOT richer than anything you’ll experience. The Cartier image shown at the top of this review is apt; the character of Eau de Cartier Essence de Bois is of aged wood floating in water (this is a simple cologne, nothing that will tire your nostrils or test your perfume I.Q.)
When first applied, Eau de Cartier Essence de Bois gives a nano-second of sharp citrus that immediately leads to a close-to-the-skin aroma of pencil shavings…