Parfums Grès- Ambre de Cabochard

The biggest sin of Parfums Grès in creating Ambre de Cabochard is by naming it after their classic masterpiece, the original Cabochard. There's absolutely nothing that connects the two, nor were they created with the same wearer in mind. Ambre de Cabochard is a safe little  foody-floral-ambery-vanilla thing along the same lines of the more popular and better marketed  Ambre Gris from Balmain.

Ambre de Cabochard opens with a promising bouquet of spices. They end up being more gingerbread than an exotic destination, but I have to say that other than the chemical aftertaste I do enjoy this cookie. I like the way the fragrance is kept lighthearted and bouncy with some zesty fruit and is later infused with tuberose to keep things interesting. The tuberose and whatever other white floral notes used here smell so spectacularly synthetic it's almost campy. It's so bad that it's almost good-- you just have to keep sniffing, overdosing a little on the sweet concoction while laughing at yourself (and having some dark thoughts about he fate of Parfums Grès).

The dry-down is your standard amber/vanilla. There's a berry musk undertone in Ambre de Cabochard that's probably supposed to convey youthfulness but can also register as cheap trash on the wrong skin. I have the skin chemistry to carry this kind of perfume rather successfully, but honestly, I don't see why. The fragrance could have come from The Body Shop just as easily, which is sad when you consider the history and legacy of Parfums Grès. If Ambre de Cabochard is "the renaissance of a legend" as the ad claims, then we, Paris, and Parfums Grès are in deep trouble.

Ambre de Cabochard  by Parfums Grès was released in 2006; it may or may not still be in production. It's hard to say, because Parfums Grès doesn't have a functional website, so there's no current list of products anywhere. In any case, Ambre de Cabochard can be found at discounters here in the US. 

Notes: ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, mandarin orange, black currant, blueberry, tuberose, lily-of-the-valley, cyclamen, musk, patchouli, amber, tonka bean, vanille and woodsy notes.