Force Majeure 
Jacques Bogart (1998)

Coming as it did, three years after Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male, Force Majeure could be seen as a copycat fragrance but if so, Jacques Bogart beat them at their own game as Force Majeure is by far the better scent of the two. They only actually share two notes (cedar and mint) unless you count cinnamon and cinnamon leaves as the same. When I first smelled Le Male, I was accosted in a department store and had such a visceral dislike to it that I went straight to the gents to scrub it off. Of course, I have never found a single Kurdjian scent that I like so that may be what is happening there. Force Majeure has all the minty, barbershop, fougère goodness (despite the lack of lavender and oak moss) that is attributed to Le Male but is so much nicer. As with all Bogart fragrances, the performance is off the charts and the price is amazing. The dry down is the best part of this and smelling the dregs of yesterday’s dose makes me want to wear it again, day after day. Compared to other Bogarts, this is actually low key and cuddly, not quite the “Act of God” that the name suggests but then, He does work in mysterious ways….

Force Majeure by Jacques Bogart (1998) is a surprising and rather unique sort of scent from this house of all things beastmode and masculine, in that it really isn't too much of a monster like most things Bogart makes, nor is it really all that macho like one might come to expect from the brand that unleashed One Man Show (1980) upon the world. Instead, what we get here is a rather moderated effort that does a few things both dated and modern for the time in equal measure, plus looks ahead to the future either intentionally or by accident, resulting in a fragrance that gets compared to many disparate things both newer and older than itself. Despite this, Force Majeure proved to be anything but a force of nature, effectively going nowhere sales-wise and being quickly dumped by the brand into discontinuation. Prices fluctuate wildly by region of the world with this one, so it may be a unicorn in some markets, but an unwanted forgotten cheapie in others, only adding to its bizarre nature. Lastly, the rather plain and uninspiring packaging that surrounds the boring nondescript bottle that houses the stuff just makes it feel like a fragrance that may have never actually meant to be a success in the first place, or so it would seem when compared to the usually gaudy presentations of Bogart releases. Add it all up and you have a fragrance that seemed doomed from the onset.

The opening of Force Majeure shatters all expectations of what this green-hued scent should smell like when a salvo of mint, lavender, and vanilla is carried along by ozonic aldehydes, coming across like a sharper and more bombastic take on Jean-Paul Gaultier Le Mâle (1994), minus the clubby sweetness. The lavender recedes first, and before you know it, you're smelling what feels like the prototype proof-of-concept for Cartier Roadster (2008) but ten years early. By the time that scent would come out, the mint and vanilla thing would be considered too old-fashioned, but here in Force Majeure it's hot on the heels of the aforementioned Gaultier smash success. Cinnamon and black pepper add some piquant flair to the opening, while clove and a bit of musky indole add that virile Bogart heft. Cedar and a very foward-thinking guaiac wood round out the woody/creamy musky base a year before guaiac wood of this type would be put on the designer map by Gucci Rush for Men (1999), or furthered into synth oud Yves Saint Laurent M7 (2002) and woody-ambers with Gucci pour Homme (2003). Was Tom Ford copying Bogart's homework? Wear time is 10 hours but sillage hangs around mid-level instead of the usual nuclear cloud Bogart is known for, and best use for me is fall through spring as a casual day time scent. The musk can be a bit too tenacious for office use, but if you work in your own space or outside, I don't think it'll be a problem.

Force Majeure sits in a seance circle surrounded by fragrances that both preceded it, and weren't invented yet, plus predicts the peppery creamy wood fad in men's oriental fragrances a decade before it happened. The aforementioned long-discontinued Gucci Rush and its cousins Azzaro Visit (2003) and Parfums de Marly Pegasus (2011) all seem to share some DNA with Force Majeure, while the vanilla/mint tandem in the also-discontinued Cartier Roadster plus its niche cousins Dirty by Gorilla Perfume (2011) and Diptyque Eau de Minthe (2019) seem to sprout from a different branch on the same tree as Force Majeure. Looking back, the link to Le Mâle (which is often the most-cited one) is actually the most tenuous due to the brevity of the lavender note here, while the guaiac wood note that would carry on with M7 then down into countless woody ambers also feels a bit more tangential compared to the other tethers I've described but it is indeed there. Simply put, something like this would be considered niche today (especially with the acquired taste that is a prominent mint and vanilla), which is perhaps why it was under-marketed upon release, and under rug swept in 1998. I'm surprised Bogart put this out, and maybe the name Force Majeure was appropriate after all, seeing as this showed up, made a ripple only to be felt later, then disappeared like an act of God. Thumbs up.

I have been both lucky and unlucky with this perfume. Lucky that I could find this gem and unlucky now that my bottle is finishing up I'm finding it increasingly hard to replace it!

Yes, it's nice and subtle with a slight metallic (aldehyde?) tinge interspersed with a hint of lime and mint. It's more or less linear becoming slightly bitter (read chemical) after about four hours but is pure bliss till then.

Very very well made. Bogart has a unique style and has my respect.