Pasha de Cartier Noir Absolu 2023

Pasha de Cartier Noir Absolu by Cartier
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7.0 / 10 51 Ratings
A new perfume by Cartier for men, released in 2023. The scent is smoky-sweet. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Smoky
Sweet
Woody
Spicy
Oriental

Fragrance Notes

Charred woodCharred wood CaramelCaramel

Perfumer

Ratings
Scent
7.051 Ratings
Longevity
7.845 Ratings
Sillage
7.144 Ratings
Bottle
7.551 Ratings
Value for money
6.532 Ratings
Submitted by TheBladi11, last update on 09/27/2024.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Statements

3 short views on the fragrance
CognoSenti45CognoSenti45 11 months ago
10
Bottle
9
Scent
Caramel over some burning wood. Very very different in a very good way. I'm pleased with this one!
0 Comments
HugoMontezHugoMontez 1 year ago
8
Bottle
8
Sillage
8
Longevity
8
Scent
Burned woods with a weird creamy caramel over it. Definitely different and dark. Dries down to a more sensual woody scent. Pretty nice
0 Comments
DeadnoseDeadnose 1 year ago
7
Bottle
8
Sillage
9
Longevity
9
Scent
▲ If you’re not paying attention you’ll swear it’s linear—but dimensions appear and disappear—like wisps of smoke and embers that smoulder.
0 Comments

Reviews

6 in-depth fragrance descriptions
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
10
Longevity
8.5
Scent
ScentSlave

216 Reviews
ScentSlave
ScentSlave
Helpful Review 7  
hmmmm….
…. Different indeed….

Not for everyone, and NOT for beginners.

Everyone is asking for something that isn’t “mainstream” and Cartier is giving its take on something “different”.

Right from the start, the people that it won’t appeal to are going to KNOW it. The opening is definitely very different than what most designers have been trying. This caught me off guard as well, as I’m so used to designers having their either sweet or soapy approaches introducing themselves immediately.

The immediate opening smells like that feeling you get when you swallow that FIRST SHOT of a good, strong bourbon/whisky/scotch. Not what it smells like from the bottle, but the FEELING you get in the back of your throat/upwards toward your nasal cavity when you take the shot. THAT’S what I’m talking about. That passes, and it’s quickly followed with a dark, musky and smoky feeling, almost coffee-esque vibe. It kind of reminds me of when elementary schools had a “coffee lounge” where the teachers would gather and be themselves before school, and during recess and lunch. (The teachers playroom, if you will). Remember that room, but think of it back when the teachers were allowed to smoke cigarettes in there as well (yes I’m old). Now remember that coffee-breath+smokers-breath feeling that resonated throughout those types of rooms? That’s what I get here. A quick kick of nostalgia that I didn’t even know I would remember.

Semi sweet, smoky, MATURE, and unique. When I say breath, don’t mistake me for saying it’s a bad odor, because it’s not. I honestly get the feeling of those “administration only” rooms that only adults were allowed into in the mid-to-late eighties. There was a resonating scent that would remain there even after work hours, but when the coffee was hot, and the smokers were puffing, it become louder and louder, and that’s what I see here.

That scent remains as it dries down into the mid, and an Antaeus/Jules feeling musk slowly emerges, but lightly. Very much present, but not loud. It then becomes sweeter and sweeter as time progresses, eventually settling into a burnt caramel that feels very similar to Gentleman Reserve Privée.

This feels like a modernized take on an old school, musky scent. If Antaeus was created in todays society, this is what it would be.

It has an authoritative, very masculine feeling, but I think a woman could easily wear it as well. The visual I get here is a 35+ year old administrator (like a superintendent). It has a very strong masculinity, but when I close my eyes, I see a female wearing it. She has all the power, and her fuse is short. No one knows her true personality, and they all fear her. She only exists to them in the professional world. No one has been inside her house. That is what this feels like.

Performance is modest; projecting 1.5ft or less in radius, and the sillage trail isn’t loud either. People WILL know it is you, and that you were there, but in a more “intimidating” way. (Footsteps in a carpet more so than a sillage trail). Longevity is fantastic, however, as it maintains its humble performance for over 9+ hours.

This isn’t bound to a suit and tie environment either. A decent polo and slacks would work too. Just be professional, and you can pull it off. I think it would work well on a smoker as well, to be honest. It would “clean up” their aura, and add a color to it.

2 Comments
8
Pricing
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
8.5
Scent
Smirky

188 Reviews
Smirky
Smirky
3  
Unique winner in the Pasha collection
Was really worried about this one. Caramel? Spun sugar? Was this going to be an ooey gooey mess? Turns out, NO! It's really nice and quite unique for my inexperienced nose. The smokey note isn't overpowering, but just right to overcome any possibility of gooey sweetness. The woody and spicy components provide an interesting combo with the caramel and smoke. Gives the impression of a subtle animalic note even though not in the official list. Longevity is quite good - got about 9 hours out of it until it was just a subtle skin scent. Sillage and projection are about average. Noir Absolu is going on my shopping list. It's not heavy, so pretty versatile. Would even work on warm summer nights. Strongly masculine fragrance. Price is quite reasonable at discounters - good value.

I have to call out Cartier for being pretty original with the Pasha collection. They aren't doing an endless release of flankers that are only minor tweaks with different concentrations. They are all unique, standalone scents. Have to try the Noire Sport next.
0 Comments
5
Pricing
7
Bottle
7
Sillage
7
Longevity
1
Scent
AustinF88

4 Reviews
AustinF88
AustinF88
1  
Blow Torch + Smokey Cow Shit
It smells Like if you were to burn a pile of cow shit so it's crispy on the outside and still goopy on the inside, and then you stomp in it with all your might. I had a 2ml sample and threw it away and took the trash out so I was able to still travel in and out of my restroom. Different on paper and skin. This was the reaction I got on my skin and my friend I was testing with was not pleased with the scent either. Also, not for young audiences if you are able to get a different reaction on your skin.
1 Comment
7
Bottle
7
Sillage
9
Longevity
9
Scent
Mossoak

9 Reviews
Mossoak
Mossoak
2  
Pasha taking a smoke break
A freshly opened box of cigarettes, wafts of moist tobacco rising up your nostrils.
A cup of maybe mokka with cocoa, maybe Chinese black tea. It's hard to tell. In any case, there are a couple of gingerbread cookies as a side snack, slightly burnt.
One cigarette is taken out of the box and lit up.
Fougère notes, burnt flowers, barrell char and maybe a hint of incense.
Dense and well blended.
Lasts 10-12 hours, good sillage.
0 Comments
Intersport

68 Reviews
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Intersport
Intersport
Top Review 16  
A hautgout wafts from Place Vendôme..
Cartier is extremely cautious with the narrative for Noir Absolu, only mentioning an 'accord of burning wood and caramelized sugar' before going into far more detail about the sustainable aspects (fittingly with 'burning wood') of the bottle. More interesting is a look at the ingredients, the list of allergens here is more extensive than usual, some of them newer IFRA guidelines, some not, but here, quasi through footnotes, an increase in ingredients is recognizable that play a role in Noir Absolu:

POGOSTEMON CABLIN LEAF EXTRACT (patch), COUMARIN, JUNIPERUS VIRGINIANA OI (juniper), VANILLIN, PINENE, CEDRENE, EUGENIA CARYOPHYLLUS OIL (cloves), ROSE KETONES

Three phases:

1. Noir Absolu starts with a slightly pungent ammonia-like note, which is much harsher on paper or fabric than on my skin. I can somehow understand why reviews in English-language forums are quick to talk about urine, although the ammonia-like note is so nuanced that a certain skin odor cannot be denied, but an overly figurative interpretation somehow doesn't quite work either. Nevertheless, the, I'll call it now, 'hung ammonia animalic' contributes a slightly nostalgic facet that *almost* makes me think of early 80's hits with slight urinal overtones.
2. In a second phase, the perfume takes on a subtly caramelized, maple syrup-like note that seems to simmer with lots of spices, especially cloves with a mixture of herbal bitters [unicum, etc.], malt soy and sugar. Is this candied something perhaps a microdose of the infamous Sotolon that briefly kept New York on its toes in 2005 ( https://tinyurl.com/2h997b9n ) or other immortelle-like scents? But there's something more, coniferous-resinous, vaguely floral, something like fresh charcoal? Even after several attempts, the fragrance remains difficult to grasp in this section; the special note that characterizes the opening remains present, the slight sweetness contributes accordingly.
3. In the third and final section, Noir Absolu becomes increasingly musky, which reminds me in volume and texture of Caron's L'Anarchiste (2001), where after a mint-cinnamon-like overture, massive musk comes into play. In the background, warm but not entirely ambery, balsamic notes melt away, slightly smoky vanilla, juniper and vetiver could be involved, the still shimmering Hautgout prevents the fragrance from appearing too clean here.

*

Mathilde Laurent is a stroke of luck for Cartier. Of the long-established Parisian luxury goods manufacturers, Hermès enjoyed the almost impeccable reputation for a long time when it came to in-house perfumes: the slowly growing portfolio with groundbreaking works by Roudnitska, Robert, or Giacobetti, among others, was almost completely retained and maintained accordingly even after the publicity-technical smart move to hire Jean Claude Ellena as in-house perfumer, and the Hermès legacy was upheld with all kinds of new additions.

The apparently well-considered handover to a new in-house perfumer, whose previous work included Tolles (Theorema), also sounded promising at first - the results so far have been rather mixed: it is navigated back and forth between leather theme variations, the umpteenth rose oud, and Woody Amber Torschlusspanik. Cartier, a similarly long-established competitor with its Paris headquarters just a few hundred meters to the east, on the other hand, has been able to position itself increasingly convincingly

Even if I have liked the classic Cartier fragrances over the years: Must, Santos, Must pour Homme, Déclaration were drawn from other perfumers - for around 15 years, Mathilde Laurent has been developing an independent program that ranges from well-executed mainstream (Envol) to the inevitable exclusive series (including LES HEURES DE PARFUM). Even if many flankers are part of it, with the Soliflor concept of the LES ÉPURES DE PARFUM series Laurent was able to propose remarkably straightforward, to-the-point fragrances.

Noir Absolu is probably exactly what the ÉPURES are not - a dense, molasses-like fragrance that leaves plenty of room for interpretation between the notes. The difference to the transparent, hyper-realistic Épures could hardly be greater, perhaps Mathilde Laurent had to go through with it, perhaps marketing strategy, or simply, the odd one out? I can't imagine whether Noir Absolu will appeal to Cartier's regular audience, but that's probably not the purpose of such a release. I can't recognize any olfactory references to the original or other Pasha versions, fortunately 'Noir Absolu' is its own thing; a fragrance whose middle section I see more next to Comme des Garçons' Series 7: Sweet - Wood Coffee or Series 7: Sweet - Burnt Sugar (both 2005), or Le participe passé (2018), or its finish close to the aforementioned Caron. Especially in the designer sector, or in this case jeweler, halfway original fragrances are more than scarce, and here Mathilde Laurent can score with Noir Absolu.
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