For the longest time I owned only one PG perfume, Felanilla, and was perfectly happy with that status. But all of a sudden – that is how it is with us Perfumistas -I got a craving for all things PG (the man as well the line, although I have more success getting my hands on the perfumes 😉 ) and samples were sought out like crazy. Thankfully my sample box yielded many treasures, a lot due to the lovely Dee, a fan of the line, but also many from swaps or shops.
The testing fest began…as a result there are going to be quite a bit of PG reviews on this blog in the next months, since I found many a scent I fell for and hardly one I didn’t at least like.
To start we took a look at the two newest releases Tonkamande and Praliné de Santal recently, and for the sake of full disclosure I will admit that in a birthday related buying frenzy, both of these are finding a home at my house now. Yes, I am weak and yes, I did as I forbade myself to do, but I stand behind it. Sometimes only perfume shopping will do. 🙂
But this is a review about Cadjmeré, so let’s quickly move on to that:
Created in 2007 by Pierre Guillaume, Cadjmeré is part of the numbered collection, N°18 to be exact. It includes notes of myrtle branch, sap, red tangerine, rosewood, Kenyan cypress resin, coconut milk, sandalwood bark, ambrette seed and vanilla.
Cadjmeré is one of those fragrances where reading the notes list makes me salivate already, which is usually a recipe for disaster as I set myself up for disappointment. Luckily not in this case.
Cadjmeré starts fresh and herbal, but almost immediately the star of the show – wood, soft wood – peeks through. The heart of sandalwood (what does PG do with Sandalwood? He is the master of this material!) and rosewood is smooth, soft, malleable and deeply, deeply elegant. Imagine a very old piece of carved wood, smoothed over by thousands of hands, touched and caressed into something infinitely softer than you would imagine wood ever capable of being. That is how Cadjmeré smells. Its drydown is softly musky and sweet, but not too much. Maybe it is the coconut milk in combination with the woods that make Cadjmeré at once distinctive and strangely familiar.
Full bottle worthy? But of course! On the list it goes.
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Wait. Does this mean you only have a sample of this? If yes, then my path is laid out before me. 😉
This was my first PG bottle, although I bought it for my boyfriend. Turns out, he doesn’t really like it so it’s all mine now! 😀
Yes, that means I only have a sample of this. 🙂
Your boyfriend does not like it??? Too bad, but good for you! I think it is gorgeous, like its master (PG). 😉
Oh yes. The master is gorgeous. 😉
I keep wondering how tall he is in real life. He looks tall. And delicious. Ok, I’m stopping now. 😀
He does look tall…
A shame he wouldn’t care for us even if we met, Georgy has the best chances by far here. 😉
I´ll go for him, just for you girls!!!!!
Such selfless dedication should be rewarded… 😉
I’m gonna sacrifice myself for the sake of the community 🙂
Bravo, my friend, bravo!
Someone at least has to do that job….
I thought that might be the case. Oh well, at least Georgy is willing to make a sacrifice on our behalf. 😉
Your sympathy for my sacrifice is very much appreciated:-)
Hey, I’ve seen him on a video, and he looks tiny! Like, about 5’6″ tiny… someone needs to find out how tall he really is! 😉
Thankfully I’d have to consult a coverter to see how tall (or not) 5’6″ is, so as long as I don’t do that, he is 1,90m and all is well with the world. 😉
Great, does this mean we get lots more pics of PG over the coming days?! Seriously though I am also a tad obsessed with this line at the moment. I don’t how he manages it, but so many of the scents achieve that difficult state of being non-edible gourmands (which I love). Yummy but not at all cloying. Even Aomassai is terribly sweet but not sickly so. Glad you found another PG that’s full bottle worthy.
BTW forgot to say how radiant and chic you look in your new profile pic!
I held back on the gratitutious PG pics, lol.
You say it perfectly, the inedible gourmand is what he does and he does it perfectly. Did you try Musc Maori? Yum. Aomassai is great as well, and I even like how he does white florals – non-white florally. 😉 It is too bad I found another FBW perfume… 😦
Thank you for the compliment, lighting is everything. 😉
I haven’t tried Musc Maori yet, but that is on the list along with Bois Blond, Drama Nuui, Coze, Harmatan Noir, L’Oiseau de Nuit, L’Eau Rare Matale and of course, Praline de Santal. Sadly Felanilla and Iris Taizo weren’t for me (though I admire them greatly) but I know there’s at least one PG bottle out there with my name on it!
Also try Bois Naufragé while you are at it, it is interesting.
I wish there was just one bottle with my name on it. 🙂
Aha! You want to try Bois Blond??? I can make that happen! 🙂
(Gotcha!)
PG is in my list as well, the man and the perfumes….:-)
Hahaha, good luck on both quests! 🙂
My best wishes for Georgy’s success! I love Cadjmere’, it’s my favorite of the PG line, that odd juxtaposition of cypress/old sandalwood, citrus, and coconut really pulls me in. Very unique!
Ah, I am glad you love it too. We have many likes in common, Marla!
Cadjmere sounds wonderful, indeed. I’m a sandalwood fan. Must seek out a sample of this one.
I am a sandalwood fan too, and this is a great specimen. 🙂
True Confessions…I have, to date, only sampled the one PG. (The perfume, not the Other One. Go, Georgy! 🙂 ), and that was Felanilla, also courtesy of the devious Dee. I did like it very much, but just not enough to knock the Killah Vanilla – SdV – from its prominent perch. Now, there’s Cadjmeré. Sandalwood. Hmm. I’m intrigued. If it is half so good as your review, then it must be…something. Something I some day must somehow try…;)
I must say everything I have tried by PG is better than Felanilla, which is good, but very close to Shalimar and therefore not so unique. It is the woody gourmands where PG really excels.
Sandalwood might be my favorite note, and Mr. Symmetrical Genius is a master with it! I haven’t sniffed Cadjmeré yet—when I first started sampling the PG line, I was still at the place where any indication of “tropical” was a keyword for “avoid at all costs.”
But then the Ormonde Jayne tropicals happened, and Nuit de Tubereuse, and Bronze Goddess, and Amaranthine… well, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I think I’m ready for Cadjmeré now!
There is not much in the way of tropical going on in Cadjmerė for me. Above all it is smoooooooth, and you sure are ready for smoooooooth. 😉
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