Tabac Blond by Caron

Originally crafted in 1919 for a strictly female audience by French perfume house Caron, Tabac Blond is still a creature of striking, potent glory. It appeals to the dark-eyed minx that lives inside the best of women, and can even overpower a good portion of the wimpy metrosexual excuses for men's colognes out on the market today.

Rich and heady, it rushes from the bottle in a blaze of pipe tobacco and powdery florals, both of which combine to produce an incense-smoke veil about the wearer. As time passes, Tabac Blond only gets warmer and throatier, its woodsy, vanilla, amber and musk destination snapping into clear focus, though it never fully loses the primroses that line the path.

Some reviewers swear by the hair of the their chinny chin chins that Tabac Blond is a blast of leather from start to finish, but I don't get a whiff of leather -- not a snort or a toot. The original 1919 formulation was allegedly all about broad strokes and bold leathers, but modern requirements have softened the edges and tamed its more aggressive tendencies into the soft, amberish, woodsy floral it is today.

Angela at NowSmellThis states that Tabac Blond "feels luxuriously womanly . . . on the right woman, Tabac Blond is chic as all get-out." A man could wear it, too, but it saves its last, best dance for the ladies.