1740 Histoires de Parfums 2008

Perfume genres are based on composition (components): chypre (oakmoss), floral, gourmand, fougere (coumarin), oriental (labdanum), fruitchouli. Sometimes these categories are helpful. They hold together. For instance, I like chypres and I don’t like sweet gourmands. But there are exceptions that make the compositional genre approach less effective. That is, I’m inclined to like fougeres and I generally don’t like aquatics.

In my head I tend to use other qualitative categories that feel more functional to me. 1740 falls squarely into one. 1740 is large, full, expansive, rich. It’s rumbling, church-organ harmonious, full-bodied. Typical of the conundrum of talking about perfume, although I have a clear image of what this sort of fragrance is, I don’t have a good word to name it, to describe it. My fall-back is Huge Fucking Perfumes. The fragrances in this pseudo-genre aren’t necessarily alike in structure, they just wear similarly for me. They tend to fall into two subcategories: chewy/boozy (Mauboussin by Mauboussin, Kiss Me Tender, Daphne Guinness, l’Ombre Fauve) and dry (Sikkim, Mahora, Yatagan, Aromatics Elixir, Cuir d’Iris.) Some have a foot in each camp like Aramis’s JHL and Havana.

1740 is a huge fucking dry perfume. Leathery and tobacco-ish, dense but expansive, rich but not bubbly. This sort of fragrance tends to get pigeon-holed with aspirational gender goals. ‘It’s the sort of fragrance Cary Grant, Morgan Freeman, George Clooney...would wear.‘ Since gender is really fantasy, the original war/role playing online-game, with the gaming community historically being humanity, let’s expand the field. 1740 is the sort of fragrance that Michelle Wie, Jane Goodall or Gwen Eiffel... would wear. Worn for yourself, it’s the center point between cozy and stimulating. Worn for others, it projects confidence and contentment. For me, perhaps even more than other fragrances, a huge fucking perfumes deserve to be worn primarily for yourself. Others liking it, or not, is beside the point.

One generous test wearing was all it took for me to fall for this quasi masculine.
It started out in wisps of powder and something vaguely reminiscent of lipstick, Moulin Rouge's kissing cousin. The leather note emerged almost instantly, taking center stage, with cedar and patchouli never too far away.
This leather is no kid glove, nor a suede pouch, mind you. Think saddle leather instead. It's hard, polished from extensive wear and dry as a bone.
Cedar, which given its domineering nature can be a very difficult note for me, is truly cast in a supporting role here, rendering the fragrance even drier. It also encases the otherwise soft heart of this composition in a much needed corset, preventing it from turning into a spineless dollop of oriental sweetness even as the notes progress into dried fruit, spice and absinthe territory.
The drydown lingers well into the wee hours of the night and is delectable with tobacco leaves, brandy-soaked raisins and dates and still more smoky leather.
Like other offerings from this house it can be either an intimate whisper of a scent or a sillage bomb, depending on application.
The last thing this beauty needs is stereotyping by gender.

I love Histoires de Parfums as a house and this is the jewel for me. This gorgeous, hedonistic leather and immortelle combination and all the complexity surrounding it is mischievious and mysterious. Pleas e see my video review

Marquis de Sade is utterly pleasurable. It is deep, well-balanced, rounded, complex and one of the best leather scents around. The name doesn't bother me at all, wearing this fragrance is no torture, but paying the high price for the bottle is an act of debauchery. On the other hand, such a gorgeous, sensuous and outstanding fragrance is worth the money! And the fragrance lasts and lasts...

Histoires de Parfums 1740 is a bountiful floriental leather perfume with lots of texture and enough spice to balance the dark leather note. I would compare this composition favorably with 1876. Both are just gorgeous and have a chypre side, in this case thanks to the labdanum and patchouli notes. The presence of cardamom also contributes to a texture similar to one that I've encountered in several modern chypres, although this one is darker due to the leather.

This composition is definitely suitable for guys and gals alike, and I find myself unclear once again (same story with other offerings from this house) as to why 1740 is categorized by the house as “made for men.” There is so much oriental and chypre activity here characteristic of women's perfumes, in fact, that only the leather renders this unisex. Anyway, it's beautiful. That's the important point! Highly recommended for those who love oriental chypres with a light touch of leather.