Cacharel Eden by Jean Guichard: You are awful, but I like you.
From the archives: Those over fifty who were raised on a diet of BBC comedy may recognise the catch phrase above. Somehow, when writing about Cacharel Eden, that phrase popped into my head. Eden has been tugging at my hem for five years now, squealing “what about me?” and since I am a YUGE fan of Cacharel, it’s only fair that the black sheep gets a lollipop too.
The perfumer behind Eden is the genius Jean Guichard. Without him we wouldn’t have had Calvin Klein Obsession, Cacharel LouLou or the much missed Nina Ricci Deci Dela. We owe him A LOT.
Some of you may recall a wonderful blogger called The Perfumed Dandy. He no longer blogs, but has a marvellous back catalogue of reviews that I consider unique and peerless. Last time I nearly reviewed Eden back in 2013, The Dandy beat me to it and did such a good job, that I didn’t bother again for five years. Find it here. It’s so good I’m jealous.
Finally, I’m ready to give Eden another try. I didn’t like it before but my olfactory taste has changed dramatically over the years, so I drenched myself in it today and gave myself several lingering sniffs.
Oh dear. It would seem that my feelings for Eden have not moved on. Firstly, we need to talk about Pineapple. It has never worked for me in any fragrance and it’s not working now. Add some melon. Hmmm. So far so calone. Now chuck in peaches, lemons, oranges, tuberose, jasmine, water lily, lotus, more pineapple, more melon, some tonka bean and anybody else who knows me.
Eden is so noisy you can almost hear the parrots fighting in the trees. It’s high pitched, screechy and fake. It smells massively of tuberose but not in the creamy way I like. It has colossal jasmine, but that doesn’t work for me either. The fruits fight to cancel each other out like a mad cocktail in a jug. The whole thing’s a hot mess.
But! But! But! – there are redeeming features. Eden shows me glimpses of two other fragrances of which I will always be fond: one is Givenchy Amarige and one is Giorgio Beverly Hills. I can’t resist either and there are slices of both in here (somewhere). Maybe it’s the jasmine. Maybe it’s the tuberose. Maybe I should buy those instead.
The other thing I like about Eden is its soapy greenery and its sort of seventies vibe- this missed the boat if you ask me. I reckon women in the seventies would have lapped it up by the gallon.
The third thing I like about Eden is the fact that it sticks two fingers up at people like me and says “I don’t care if you don’t think pineapple goes with tuberose. I’m putting them together anyway AND I’m wearing a funeral hat with a tropical print sundress and glittery boots. Watch me!”
You can’t argue with courage, and nor do I want to.
Do I like Eden? Yes. Would I wear it? No. But I can sit back and wish I had that sort of nerve.
Stockists
You can buy Cacharel Eden from Perfume Click for a very reasonable £25.05 . The bottle is fab, an opaque off centre sloping treat of a flacon, like a green plastic sky scraper melting in the sun.
Disclosure
I borrowed a bottle of Cacharel Eden to write this review. I use an affiliate programme which means that sometimes I may earn a small commission if you use some of the links in my posts. This does not sway my opinion or my choice of subject matter. Prices correct at current date of publication.