Caron Yatagan Men Eau de Toilette 125 ml

Product Information

Is this a fougere? Is this a chypre? Is this not sheer bliss?.. A touch of honey-sweet at first. Followed by a breeze of something fresh and clear. Then, musty wood. Twigs. Blend, blends, blended. It's a manly scent. Nearly aloof. It smells of an autumn woodpile, with a bite of chill in the air. I ramble incoherently...

Let’s look at perfume criticism. And let’s not start with the accepted classics, the greats, the grandes dames. Let’s start with the commonly-available, inexpensive yet extraordinary perfumes, since this starting place is troubling to the notions of exclusivity and refinement baked into commercial perfumery by virtue of its long-standing affiliation with fashion. I hesitate to use the word “great” in perfumery. I recognize perfumery as an art form, one of my favorites. But greatness as a notion comes from more accepted genres of art and established forms of criticism, when what we need are new vocabularies and systems to consider perfume. Think of greatness as an aspiration or a standard of the Old School. I would hope that the New School in perfumery and criticism would promote quality, creativity and analysis, but not hold out judgment and arbitrary thresholds as principal goals. Greatness seems to me to connote a feigned objectivity, or at least a socially agreed upon judgment, when it is in fact fundamentally subjective. Greatness is cited when we’re looking for the dividing line: high/low, good/bad, worthy/crass. Lets find words that assess and characterize, words that can speak both to objectivity and shared subjectivity and foster a less removed esthetic of criticism. The visit asks about the bearskin that was draped so casually-beautifully on the Divan, just to find out that it fell to the former officer (so much we already know) during a Balkan offensive. Separated from most of his regiment in the snowy skirmishes, he had no choice: without the warmth of the bearskin (and, please, his still steaming intestines!), he and his adjutant would hardly have survived the night. It turns out during the afternoon that his life was woven from such episodes. He was one of those men to whom the inner call of the adventure came at least as loudly to the ear as the call of duty. Rhodesia, Indo-China, Asia Minor. Monstrous stories, even more monstrous hints. On the table, Rilke's Malte Laurids Brigge. In a way, a double man, double enormous, in which not, as in us, civilization and savagery lead the eternally same, eternally murky battles, but both, in that the elements were at the same time led to their extremes, experienced a dialectical envelope as it were. Another uncanny, awe-inspiring realization of human possibilities. We always recommend you try a perfume out before you buy it - this is truer than ever with Yatagan. Some will love it. Some will hate it. Some will need time to adjust. That basic difference continues through the evolution: the vintage stays greener, mossier, and cooler, and importantly, smells more clearly like a cyphre with a greater moss element. The modern replaces the natural moss that makes the cyphre personality so compelling with an amplified castoreum/musk/leather chord. The vintage is more woody/mossy/dry leather, with a quieter but better-integrated animalic accord.Just take a look at the juice itself – a dirty, earthy leathery liquid. And though it would be ill-advised to distill liquid from a piece leather, Yatagan may be the closest we'll get to an actual leather extract, at least in spirit.

PhillippM – I have since bought a very large bottle of Royal Bain de Caron and I like the musky – vanilla smell of it. It's very comforting and nice to wear, but I still like my stronger fragrances for special nights out. This is a great day fragrance for me, but after reading about your love of Guerlain's Habit Rouge for 30 years, I can see similarities. Wow that's quite a signature fragrance for you!Ahhh, Yatagan, one of my true loves. One day, a number of years ago, I walked into the legendary Colonial Drug in Newton, MA (formerly in Harvard Square, Cambridge for decades). Here I would get my education on the classics, whether they be household names or those that were unsung. The owners have impeccable taste and have recommended so many of the scents that I now hold very dear to my heart. During that visit, I saw their display of Caron men's fragrances, and there stood Yatagan, with that sepia-tinted juice. It was calling out my name: "Joseph, I was meant for you..."

Sure, five euros bail would work but the bank is ready. Let's oblige the supporting cast so far, MahatmaGandix has been grumbling into her mead at the inn for days. The Swiss duo, the Bernese Mountain Dogs Vracache and Bloodxklebt might have time too?"Will Yatagan make you smell clean? No. Will Yatagan make you feel like you’re on a living, breathing planet no matter where you are? Yes. Yatagan is a wearable piece of art that is as likely to draw in those who love the wilds as it is to push away people repulsed by, well, beaver musk. If the wild calls to you, then Yatagan will get you there. Just be warned that it will take everyone around you there too. Still, while perfume and fashion are bound in the marketplace, perfume doesn’t necessarily have to be viewed and debated in the same light as fashion and design. Looking to other art forms, music is probably the most commonly used analogy. How often is a perfume described as orchestral, loud, harmonious, shrill or dissonant? We could just as easily consider perfume as performance, borrowing the language of dance and theater. Additionally, the recent recognition of the perfumer as auteur allows us to look at a perfumer’s body of work over time just as we might that of a visual artist. Add to these perspectives the scientific advances in chemical analysis and synthesis and perfumery looks ripe for a new if not radical form of critical thought. If I did not have this childhood experience, to this fragrance, I would be unable to describe it adequately. The vintage version is a lot quieter, and actually strikes me as the more versatile, well-behaved sibling. The modern version is entirely respectable, but I can't deny that my nose is naturally drawn to the more natural and well-proportioned earthy-cool environment of the vintage.