Air de Cabochard

Parfums Gres was the first house I started collecting many years ago when I was too poor to afford designer or “higher-end” niche perfumes. Generally, Gres is great value and quality for the price. Air de Cabochard is one of their more unique scents and is an absolute “love” for me. While Cabochard is a vintage classic and a badass, powerhouse fragrance, it does NOT wear well on me. However, Air de Cabochard sanded off all the unpleasant aspects of the original that disagreed with my body chemistry, leaving a deep, spicy, leathery, mossy floral without the suffocating heaviness of Cabochard. This one wears *very* well on me. A compliment-getter. While I love it, it isn’t for everyone.

What I get from this is sugared tabacco. It is much sweeter than I imagened, but that's what my skin does. For sunny days, I find it a bit to sweet, but I love to wear this on rainy days, and living in the Netherlands, I'm getting to wear this very often.

It's the lightest leather scent I've ever tried, which isn't a bad thing. There are times when a heavy leather like Cabochard or Cuir de Lancome (my favorite leather, BTW) can become tiresome. While I really love Cuir, there have been times that I actually wished I hadn't worn it, like when my boss crinkled up his nose when I walked into his office . But Air De Cabochard is an even mix of smooth florals and leather with a very classy, slightly soapy dry down. The notes here list spices, but they are barely noticeable and add just the perfect amount of depth. It lasts a quite a long time, too - about 4-5 hours and still faintly noticeable after even 8 hours. I have a tiny sample that I used very sparingly so I didn't think it was too strong. As usual, I find application is the key. I always try to go very sparingly with any new scent until I find the right level. Sometimes that means allowing only a dribble from the sprayer instead of a full blast, or doing the spritz in the air and walk through method. I can see this being the perfect leather for summer as it has the classiness that a good leather scent has, along with the soapy cleanliness you want to smell on a warm day. Can't wait for my bottle!!

Citrusy sweet opening with light florals and a hint of spice, plus something softly pink, and then the dry, slightly smoky leather Cabochard smell. I get a jasmine. A bit of oakmoss. Nicely earthy, almost animalic leather dry-down. "Parfum de toilette." Elegant and cool summer leather floral scent. It is very similar to Cabochard edt imo. The only other similarity I can find within my collection is Anais Anais, but of course Anais Anais is much stronger and has more florals, while Air de Cabochard is softer and has more pronounced patchouli, simpler florals. There is a rose (update 5/21/24). Also a soft, soapy vetiver on opening. Classic. But it appears to be overpriced online currently, imo.

This smells good, but just a warning about the bottle, at least the 1.7 ouncer. There is no cap; you just press down on the coin-like glass thing at the top. This design is unfamiliar, and on at least two occasions it has resulted in perfume inadvertently spraying in the user's face! Once it was in someone's eyes! It's easy to mistake the spray mechanism for a cap, and if you try to pull it off, it squirts.

It's nice. A gift from my mother's collection. A bit mature for my taste but I'll try it in various settings and hope it works out.

I haven't tried this one yet, but I adore Jolie Madame, and other leather classics. I am flabbergasted Balmain discontinued that work of art. Cabochard and Bandit are great, but a bit unisex. Air de Cabochard sounds like it has the girl with an edge complexity I love about Jolie Madame. Could Air de Cabochard be a good Jolie Madame replacement? Or should I just buy a bunch of Jolie Madame on Etsy and Ebay?

The original Cabochard is just unique. Timeless. Did it really need a variant? I find it very confusing when one long-established, well-known and well-loved scent acquires numerous mutations. Makes searching for it much more difficult. Why am I so grouchy today? Because my place is being painted and no matter what scent I put on, all I can smell is WET PAINT. Not a good time to test anything new!

It's a bit too heavy for me,too leather-y but if I were a chypre fan I'd wear it for special occasions.Air de Cabochard is definately classy,but not for everybody.

Air de Cabochard is for those who adore "Cabochard" but want something lighter for day - or summer!