Café Vert Il Profvmo 1998

Cafe Vert clearly falls into the categories of character fragrance and extravagant. In both categories, there is always a quiet danger lurking in the background: annoyance factor! Such character fragrances can be extremely fascinating on one hand (like Interlude by Amouage), because you have something truly special under your nose that stands out, but they can also become quite bothersome with regular use.
Cafe Vert is an extremely unusual scent...incredible...requires some getting used to...and is anything but ordinary. Parfumos who love fragrances with edges and facets will revel in this scent. It is damn hard to capture it in words. I like fragrances that have clear opposing elements. Here, in the first minutes, we have slightly sharp citrus notes, more grapefruit or blood orange than lemon. It smells very natural and untreated. As a counterpoint, we have a violet and lily of the valley note, which comes across as powdery and creamy, alongside the bitter coffee note, also untreated. The top note is dominated by the citrus notes and light coffee (not Starbucks, I Love New York for all, or Cafe Intense by Montale), unsweetened and free of roasted aromas. I like the middle part the least, as the flowers dominate here...it borders on being overly floral and reminds me a lot of MFK's Aqua Universalis and Universalis Forte. This is where the annoyance factor sits, though it doesn't push it as strongly as with the MFK fragrances. After half an hour, this note fades well, and the bitterness from the increasingly prominent coffee scent comes forward more and more. For the first time, I perceive the scent as masculine, and women may not like it as much in this phase.

Conclusion: Unisex fragrance with feminine and masculine facets, extremely extraordinary, cannot really be pigeonholed, longevity of 7 hours for a "fresh scent" with depth is great, sillage is strong in the first 2 hours but then decreases, though you are still perceived very well. A fascinating scent that prompts many inquiries. Not a scent for every day, but a highlight each time! At times, it reminds me of Bosque...especially regarding the sharpness and the slight prickliness at the beginning.