Must de Cartier pour Homme
Cartier (2000)

Beige age 90's "oriental". Oriental is not in quotation marks because I probably should try to find a better term to use for our times but because it's pretty far from anything I've used the fragrance qualification before. CMpH is mainly a clean tame"olive leaf"musk affair, coming after a fresh vaguely spicy opening. It's well made and inoffensive but altogether a bit middle of the road.
I've found that I'm pretty disinclined to soapy musks as they are for example used in Oscar de la Renta pour Lui, Eau de Rochas Homme, Eau de Campagne and Cartier's feminine Must itself . There's a sharp laundry freshness to them and to a lesser extant to Must pour Homme that makes me queasy sooner or later. This was a blind buy from the good reviews from some of our basenotes great reviewers, I can see what they see but unfortunately I'm not feeling it. If spices form the turn of the century is what I'm looking for, Envy or Carven Homme are what I'd reach for.

There must have been something in the water at the cusp of the 21st century that led many designers to make late-coming masculine additions to much older feminine lines. I figured it was a phenomenon exclusive to Tom Ford's adventures with YSL during this time period, but it turns out that Cartier was in on it as well, releasing Must de Cartier pour Homme (2000) almost twenty years after the original Must de Cartier (1981) debuted the house to the perfume world. In similar fashion to what YSL did with Opium pour Homme (1995) and later Rive Gauche pour Homme (2003), Cartier gave their Must de Cartier pour Homme only the most silken-fine tether to the original feminine perfume from which it took its name, modelling the scent with oriental facets but not making it a chypre like the erstwhile powerhouse classic. The late 90's and early 2000's were also a period where designers were solidly embracing polite oriental designs in masculine perfume, seemingly almost as a counter to all the aquatics, fresh fougères, ozonic fruity musks, sweet gourmands, and sharp Iso E Super and juniper woody scents being hail-mary'd to teens and young men in shopping malls. If you wanted something mature and stately, but didn't want to dip into your father's 70's/80's powerhouse animalic leathers or musky floral fougères, you went with a "nü-oriental" of the period. The short pill-shaped bottle designed to mimic the shape of the original release is a neat touch that makes it stand out on a shelf, too.

The opening of Must de Cartier is nice with a sharp metallic aldehyde and bergamot that is smoothed with a green leafy mandarin and coriander note, sweetened just a touch with anise. This has the same olive leaf/flower note that would later appear in Giorgio Armani Code/Black Code (2004), but it isn't annoyingly powdery or scratchy like it can be in that scent, since there is a ton of smoothness here too. People who weren't happy with the thickness of Opium pour Homme or Pour L'Homme by Jacques Fath (1998) will be happy with the relative dryness here. There's also just something -familiar- about this fragrance, like I've smelled it a handful of times in other period fragrances from the turn of the millennium, but I cannot put my finger on it. This mysterious "x note" is also in Eau de Cartier Concentrée (2002), Very Sexy for Him by Victoria Secret (1999) and Avon Skin 2 Skin for Men (2003), but to a lesser extent, so maybe it's the soft lavender treatment. Speaking of that, Must de Cartier pour Homme does have a soap soapy lavender in the heart, with cardamom, ginger, and trace bit of something like clove. The base is a woody musk which Cartier calls sandalwood, but it's about as "sandalwood" as you can expect by this point with abstract synthetics being the craze then. Tonka smooths the final skin feel, and Must de Cartier pour Homme wears rather discreetly, making it perfect for an office environment where not everyone is going to be your friend or appreciate bold fragrance. Best time of year to use Must de Cartier pour Homme is going to be fall through spring, because it might be just a tad too rich for summer heat.

Sadly, Must de Cartier entered a crowded field and was ignored, partially because young dudebros likely interpreted "Must" to mean "musty", and partly because by 2000's, similarly genteel fragrances like Very Valentino (1999) and Vera Wang for Men (2004) were entering the market and the designer shelf space was flooded with options just like it. Furthermore, Cartier had put out a blistering number of men's releases by the mid 2000's, with flankers to Pasha de Cartier (1992), Cartier Déclaration (1998), the various unisex Eau de Cartier (2001) releases, and this line, so the house was competing against itself in a market segment where it was already having an uphill battle against the likes of giants such as Dior, Chanel, the aforementioned YSL, and others. Something had to give, and that ended up being the ill-fated Must de Cartier pour Homme and it's briefly-existing flankers, so by the 2010's it was gone. Nathalie Feisthauer composed this, and her portfolio shows her to be a go-to for many brands looking for someone who can complete a brief with no fuss, so it's no surprise something low-key like this came from her. While never quite a hyped "unicorn", years off the market has taken Must de Cartier pour Homme from hidden discount gem to something that is insulting levels of pricey for what it is (considering the number of listings on eBay), although I understand why this has its fans. Sample before plunging big bucks on a bottle, and if you find this to be a "must" have, I won't blame you. Thumbs up.

I can't understand why this elegant, oriental masterpiece is no longer in production. I recall how PROPER it looked sitting among the other Cartier fragrances at the store counters I'd frequent over ten years ago....

Must de Cartier is a smooth, spicy potion with tasteful touches of musk and aniseed throughout. The bottle is really beautiful, if not a bit heavy!

Wish this one would come back as a "classic" relaunch.

Not sure why I didn't enjoy this scent as much as I thought I would. The limited scent tree listed here led me to believe this was right up my alley. Due to being a blind buy and the price I paid at the time was no where near what it's going for now I went for it. Granted in 2002 or 2003 when I had this my nose and preferences were of course way different. I thought it was a little dated for me (at the time being 32 or 33) I didn't enjoy the opening I found it a little harsh and underwhelming. The mid was just ok and by the time I started to like the scent it was almost gone. I wish the dry down lasted as long as it took to get to it (4 to 5 hours on my skin). If I find it for the right price MAYBE I will give it another go.

The sadly discontinued yet still quite easy to find Must de Cartier pour Homme is a great scent, just this close to phenomenal. It smells irresistibly refined and sophisticated in a less conventional way than usual, it smells rich and deep but also breezy and bright, and it's definitely quite ahead of its time while showing solid roots into classic perfumery. Basically it's a fresh spicy-woody scent, but a rather unique one. First of all, a bit like Fendi Theorema for women, the freshness here is cleverly played on spicy notes rather than only – and predictably - on citrusy or green ones; cinnamon above all, and coriander. There's citrus obviously, but the spiciness is equally bold and clear, albeit incredibly weightless and perfectly “tamed down” (so no worries, not an “exotic bomb”). Sandalwood is there too, supporting both the aromatic spiciness and the fresh side with its “juicy-fruity” nuances. A greenish aromatic note of what I thought may be laurel, while it must that olive tree leaf note, provides a whiff of Mediterranean. A zesty and uplifting blend, but with “flavour” and complexity. Then, the other irresistible aspect that makes Must so special to me is its base; as Turin writes in his guide, and I agree with him, there's a subtle yet vibrant sort of animalic feel on the base that blends with the crisp refinement of cedar to create a really peculiar sort of “sophisticated dirt”, if that makes sense. Like a dusty, camphorous, musky and even almost moldy base note which provides a fantastic touch of “sweaty virility” to a really clean, almost dandified fresh-spicy-woody blend. I don't know what it may be due to, I guess it may be a side-effect of musk and woods, but the feel is just perfect. The ensemble is really remarkable, as you get this incredibly harmonic mixture of fresh, fruity, green, spicy notes with woods, musk, “dirty” shades. Terribly classy, but also deep and substantial, even complex and slightly ambiguous. A shiny gem with a dark shade – and a “niche” personality too, as this hasn't the slightest “designer” look to any extent (well, ok, maybe a conventional woody-amber aroma underneath). Total quality. To me it smells also completely versatile and I hardly imagine someone not liking this, so... grab one if you find it, even blind. It has only one “con” to my nose: the persistence isn't as good as the smell.

8,5/10

An elegant and luxurious discontinued gem.

Must de Cartier followed the women's oriental from back in 1981. This men's version fragrance is really such a refined, classy scent. You get aniseed, mandarin orange, grapefruit... followed by cinnamon, ginger, carnation, vanilla, sandalwood & tonka bean. It is such an elegant fragrance I can see a man in a tailored suit in an exclusive high class bar in either Hong Kong or Paris or New York... wearing this beautiful, elegant smell. The most elegant fashioned-suit and an aura of wealth and confidence. It just proves that you don't have to spend so much money on a fragrance to smell rich. It is such a shame that they discontinued this fragrance. Pure class and elegance, a mysterious oriental with anise, cinnamon, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla & sandalwood. I would love to see something so elegant for men being made again by Cartier. Either way a wonderfully smooth, oriental fragrance for men, and a real shame it was discontinued. R.I.P.