I recently went through a bunch of Cabotine Eau de Toilette flankers, coming to the conclusion that none of them smelled like the original. My bottle of Cabaret comes in a similar ovoid shape to all those (shame, I would've liked the decanter-shaped one) and, despite not smelling a thing like Cabotine, feels as if it has a bit of a family resemblance. Let me explain why.
Both Cabotine and Cabaret do this thing of adding a seemingly deliberate synthetic note to their floral hearts. Cabaret looks like it should be a pretty standard woody-resinous rose, but it has this quality to it that's strangely oily, like greasy theatrical makeup under hot lights. It feels like campy performance art, like the rose is in drag. This Cabaret isn't Liza Minelli, it's Joel Grey. Absolutely none of that is an insult, I think it's fantastic, and makes the whole thing interesting to wear.
