Friday, January 28, 2011

Must de Cartier II



Wearing and assessing a perfume that is or was the signature scent of someone you used to know, is difficult at best. It's hard to tell if you like (or dislike) it due to the memories or because of the way it smells. It took me a while and 80% of a miniature Must de Cartier II EDP to get over myself and smell the juice for what it is.

My former friend used to wear both the EDT and the EDP. If I remember correctly, the eau de toilette was greener and more mossy. I think I liked it better, though I don't have a sample to check. You see, Must II was only around for a short time- launched in 1993 and discontinued somewhere between 1999 and 2000 (I bought my friend a bottle in early 1999 and it was already a little hard to find). I'm guessing it was never crazy popular because very few bottles remained and the prices they reach online nowadays are between $200-300.

I really dislike the top and middle notes of the eau de parfum. It smells both aquatic and aldehydic, a combination that feels very wrong. The floral part is dominated by a metallic muguet, another questionable element as far as I'm concerned. But it gets a little better once it reaches a musky wood territory and I have to say Must de Cartier II has a quiet elegance and enough complexity to make me think of it as one of the last very French perfumes. I may not like it too much but I appreciate the idea behind it: a well-dressed, perfectly coiffed kind of scent. It smells of money and connections, nice hotel lobbies and good jewelry. It was a little out of place in the early nineties, when you either wore Angel or Eau d'Issey; Must II was somewhere in the middle (conceptually speaking, it smells like neither) and didn't attract enough attention to itself, which was probably part of the charm and the problem.


Notes: bergamot, peach, tarragon, green notes, hyacinth, plum, tagetes, mandarine, jasmine, rose, muguet, carnation, ylang-ylang, narcisssus, orris, orchid, sandalwood, vetiver, oakmoss, cedarwood, amber, musk.

1993 Must de Cartier 2 ad  and 1996 Cartier Parfums ad from couleurparfums.com

9 comments:

  1. Hi Gaia,

    What do you think of Le Baiser Du Dragon?

    Goya.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Goya, I love LBdD in both EDP and extrait, not so much in EDT (it's thin and sharp). You can search the blog for the full review.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you, Gaia, will do the search :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Gaia. I consider myself the Cartier II widow . It has been my signature fragrance for almost 30 years and I cant stop mourning for it. When I found out they were discontinuing it ,I ran and bought allthe bottles left I could find (10 bottles ). Still today I have left some of my last EDT. I try so hard to find a substitute with no success. Pls if you know of any brand that can get close to my passionate fragrance pls, let me know. By the way looking for possible results is how I found your page.
    I have every other Cartier perfume and they dont please me as Cartier II. They tend to be to sweet. I think is Cartier biggest mistake. Im considering even buying the over price ones in the internet. CartierII was me. Thank you. Ms Drama

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. go to haywards perfume oils and try their 'must cartier'-it is very good, including the balsam.

      Delete
  5. Forgot to mention I started with Must the Cartier 1985 in it leather bag and change to Cartier II when it was release.

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  6. Hi I to am a must de cartierII lover looking for something similar! any ideas?

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  7. I loved-yes LOVED the Must de Cartier eau de toilette. I tremains my favorite ,but only in memory.
    I wish I could do something about it!!

    Couldn't someone make a copy? I read somewhere that it was not a natural perfume nor was Chanel 5 ..true?

    ReplyDelete
  8. love the Must 2!! Did anyone find something similar??
    thanks

    ReplyDelete

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