Tristan Pierre Cardin 2000

I can't believe this fragrance is from the year 2000, as it feels more like a relic from the good old days of rich leather perfumes.

Since no fragrance notes are provided, I will try to describe my scent impressions as best as I can.

The opening accord reminds me a bit of Knize 10. The scent presents itself as quite herbal, bitter-fruity, paired with what I find to be a dusty leather note.

The herbs lose their strength after a while, and the leather note takes on a bitter-floral quality, without losing the dustiness. The initial resemblance to Knize diminishes more and more, as the fragrance now shows itself to be much more pleasing than the creation of the Austrian tailor.

After what feels like an eternity, the dust is finally wiped away, leaving behind a beautiful, subtly sweet, and what I find to be an ambered leather accord.

Personally, I can't relate much to Wagner's operatic works, as I find the music rather exhausting, and I always associate these operas with tons of pomp, bombast, and pathos. The drawn-out, sung dying amuses me more than it touches me, and I feel that the myths and stories underlying the operas have been somewhat overly exaggerated. But I am usually a confessed philistine when it comes to classical music and hope that the opera faction treats me kindly.

To bring the focus back to the fragrance, Tristan & Yseult is for me almost Wagnerian, as the perfume displays great pathos, especially in the opening and middle sections. Towards the end, where Wagner becomes particularly dramatic, the scent feels almost a bit too tame for me, or in other words, the heroic death unfortunately occurs in the second act with Cardin.