Cabaret

Gres Cabaret is the product of an international swap that I waited over 6 weeks for. Today is the day I finally get to try this coveted beauty, and I’m a little anxious! The bottle is lovely, standing tall and elegant like some crystal version of the Eifel Tower, with a wide base and narrow neck. I reviewed the notes, and had forgotten how highly rated the notes of patchouli and incense were—2 notes which I now know do not work for my skin! I feel a little foolish, wondering why I wanted this fragrance sooo badly, but then I read the reviews and am reminded and hopeful....maybe.... First spritz is patchouli and incense. It’s actually quite similar to Nanette by Nanette Lepore; although this is a brighter, “happier” incense (and I think where Nanette has cedar, this is the patchouli). If Nanette was a melancholy beauty lounging despondently after the show, this is the fragrance before the show starts—excited and maybe a little giddy before the curtain rises. Rather than darkening (as Nanette did), Gres Cabaret seems to lighten as I wear it. After about 40 minutes, the rose and lily are making their appearance...the curtain rises, the spot light comes on.... The rose is fairly prominent, and it is a nice citrusy-woody-green-crisp rose. I can sense the musk and sandalwood, always such wonderful supporting players the smooth notes over so well, at least to my nose. By an hour and half, the patch and incense are nearly gone, leaving just a lingering depth behind a lovely sophisticated floral fragrance. After about 2 hours, I can smell more lily. The incense and patchouli have made a bit of a reappearance, like our dancer has taken herself out to the back garden for a smoke...or a tryst.... It’s not a garden in daytime, but a garden at night, cool and heady with the smell of damp earth mingling with roses, lilies and smoke. With the dry down (3 hours), it reminds me of Lovely by SJP. While I Lovely did not work for me (disintegrated in minutes on my skin), somehow this combination of floral-patchouli-musk is reminiscent of that fragrance—with slightly more lily. For those who love Nanette by Nanette Lepore, or Lovely—you may give this a try. I feel elegant and sophisticated in this fragrance. It is not girly, nor too dark. It is a well balanced evening floral. At the moment, my skin is dry and the weather is cold. I am not sure that this would work well in warmer months, as it could become overpowering. I’m wearing it during the day, but think it’s better suited for the evening. Sillage is moderate, longevity so far is >3 hours.

I have copied and pasted this from a place where I simply put down my thoughts about a perfume as I come across them, I will try to organize it a little better and delete a few things that were merely first impressions, but please keep that in mind. This is a little bit rosey, and not as dark as I had hoped. There is something very familiar about this, maybe someone I knew wore it? Not very long lasting but definitely cheap enough that I don't mind reapplying often. (I've since changed my mind, while this is no 12hr perfume it has decent longevity.) Thankfully the sillage is fairly light, so I don't feel embarrassed wearing this. It is a little "old fashioned," or, as I (age 25) prefer to think of it, mature. But in a good way, not in a "your grandma wore this badly" kind of way. I get the cabaret association, but to me it's a more intellectual perfume than that. I think it will perform better in colder weather; though admittedly I have not tried it in warm weather I bet it would be cloying. I have the bottle without the red, I wonder is there a difference? The bottle IS rather tacky, but seems to be good quality - mainly because the lid is very heavy. I think it's solid metal. The sprayer is fine, even, and generous. I definitely get peony, patch, LotV, and...lavender? Incense in the background, of the nag champa variety. Sandalwood seems to be a top note on my skin... Actually, I just realized it's familiarity. Rose incense sticks. They used to burn them in the Indian restaurant in Budapest where my family used to go when I was a little girl...It was too strong for me then and I hated it and always made the waiter put it out. I was little and cute and had him wrapped around my finger. Once this dries down, it smells just like Govinda, minus the food smell. That's not a bad thing, to me. It's very beautiful and nostalgic. A bit of a jammy rose, just at first. I wear this now to the theatre - not to see a show, but when I am in one. It fits perfectly - even when one is told not to wear perfume, it mimics the natural smell of the theatre so well that it's perfect. It's almost even better when I'm working "on the dark side," sitting in the dark booth staring at a computer screen as sound or light operator, or pointing hot spotlights at the actors. This is the dust, sweat, skin, hairspray, the stage makeup, the deodorant, the wood and the paint of the newly built set, the hot metal of the lights, and the almost maple syrup smell of the fog juice. I love it. 6/10

The year is 2503, and you have walked into a spartan, white, hermetic room with seemingly nothing in it - nothing on the walls, the ceiling, or the floor, and yet it is a library. You say to the space “present a picture and the smell of a peony flower,” and some as-yet unfathomable technology begins to whirr. An almost perfect image of a peony hovers in the center of the space, which is suddenly filled with the slightly rosy, slightly honeyed, citrusy and zesty, and heady odor of peony. Even though you have never smelled it before, you can immediately detect that it has been manipulated by technology; it has an iridescent and hollow character to it, whereby it is extremely convincing yet completely untouchable. This doesn’t bother you because the smell is still gorgeous, as if the iridescence and vacant spaces allow for more contrast to the details, and you say to yourself “ahh, that’s why it was so beloved those many ages ago.” The opening of Cabaret is one of the most beautiful peony presentations I have ever smelled, and yet it intentionally conveys to you that it’s not the real thing - there are no tricks to conceal its trickery. The adornments of rose and lily of the valley push its fruity zesty, unctuous, and heady bath powder characteristics more to the forefront. How it manages to hang so lightly in the air and providing a lot of space inside the aroma whilst being rich and “solid” keeps me going back for one sniff after another, second by second. As time passes a floral and silky smooth orris and musk combination convincingly carries the message of the peony and its costars. In the early days of Cabaret this dry down leaned more heavily on amberic woods and patchouli, but it was always quiet and clean - never a thick or typically-dirty woody amber. In the newer formulation those notes are even quieter; you really have to go searching for them beneath the also quiet orris and musk. While I miss the old Cabaret’s dry down a lot, I can’t honestly say the perfume has been done a massive disservice with this newest reformulation. It’s the floral top of Cabaret I love most, and we get that for longer - and mostly convincingly - in the newer formulation’s dry down. However, it does feel a lot less like a cabaret and more like a baby shower. That said, if baby showers actually smelled like this I’d make considerably more effort to attend them.

I'm nearly out of my Agent Provocateur. So I felt like I needed something rosey and naughty til I can afford a huge bottle again. So I found this one. Read reviews and kind of decided I like it. So today I got a whole 3.4 bottle of it and couldn't wait to try it out. First impressions. Well, the bottle is pretty vintage and not that bad actually. Mine doesn't have the red top, instead, it's all transparent glass with plastic red top thingy. [Still, it's edp] It's a little bonkers because red glass coloring would hide that fact that thin neck of the bottle is not filled with juice. Juice is of champagne color and if you turn the bottle upside down... it really looks like a glass full of champagne ._. Its cap is heavy, made of metal. Second impression. 2 sprays in the air to make sure I don't get the icky few sprays of a new frag that's been sitting somewhere for some time and I'm all set. I sprayed twice to my wrist. It sprays richly and leaves stains under the sprayer. Skin looks pretty oily. I get a blast of patchouli. I'd admit that I'm kinda got bored with patchouli lately, but this one is kinda velvety and nice actually. Next is rose addition. It's pretty dry and smoky. Incense here creates smookiness, it's not too churchy on me. It smells of dry red, dead rose mummy and gorgeous old wood and smoke. The kind of furniture found in a bar, soaked with booze. It's so effing original and bizarre and quite on my way. If you smoke, it totally compliments this fragrance. I mean, its suitable for a smoker. My only complaint is lasting power. With such notes I expected great lasting power and sillage ...!!! Gone from my wrist in 6 hours. I don't sense it even on my sleeve! But there's a bit left in hair. Argh... Summary. Transparent yet dry and solid at the same time. Very original and seems to sit close to skin. Such a liar, I bet it has some sillage still, only I'm not aware of it while wearing it. Fantastic price, but lasting power very average. Maybe it will unlock some aspects of it [incl. lasting power plx] with some time, because the very first test can be very different from the experience of wearing a frag for a while. It sometimes happens. P.S. Not similar to Agent Provocateur at all.

When my stepdaughter was a very little girl she was eating a very spicy curry and crying between each mouthful. When she was asked what was wrong she said that it was too spicy for her, we offered to remove the dish but she then cried some more and said that she still wanted it!! This is how I feel about Cabaret. I find that something in the composition makes me uncomfortable and yet, I feel compelled to wear it and to smell it continuously. There is something very comforting and addictive about this perfume. It reminds me of my Mum and yet she never wore it. The notes are everything I love in a perfume and yet somehow it doesnt work well together and I get a continuous 'hairspray' kind of vibe going on, which isn't unpleasant and actually it's grown on me to the point where I like it.. This is a very fresh perfume which I feel would be better suited to summertime. I would almost go as far as to say that it's very 'green' to my nose. I do get the woods and most certainly the peony but I get a faint and rather cold rose scent. This is a very unusual and seductive perfume. It doesn't try too hard but it remains unforgettable, unique and utterly aloof. The price of this perfume does not reflect its quality which is excellent. Longevity is amazing, I wore it last night, slept in it and I could still smell it loud and clear this morning. Silage is good too, about 2 feet. I like it enough to get a FB because I feel that I will crave this perfume from time to time. Highly recommended as this is as good as any niche or high end of the market scent, but shhh, it'll be our little secret!