1740

I once again find myself detracting from my fellow scenthusiasts. 1740 is not a leather. Smell this next to Cuir de Russie. 1740 is not a leather. Smell this next to Knize 10. 1740 is not a leather. Smell this next to Ombre Leather or Tuscan Leather. 1740 is not a leather. Comme des Garcons Black. 1740 is not a leather. Heck, smell my handmade boots made from Horween Shackleton leather and note that 1740 certainly doesn't smell anything like real, actual leather (or synthetic leather for that matter). Sure, 1740 has some facets of leather in it, but a curry also has a lot of onions and probably some cream in it, yet you wouldn't call curry a cream of onion soup, you call it a curry; the onion is very much an aside for curry. Yellowstone National Park sits on a volcano, and Hawaii also sits on a volcano, but to say Yellowstone and Hawaii are the same because they each sit on a volcano misses the mark by an extraordinary margin. Could this be a difference of skin chemistry and/or temperature? Perhaps. On my skin 1740 presents itself far more significantly to point of being almost solely an amber. On the top I certainly get some brief hits of artemisia (I think) and some bergamot, but those drop-off very quickly to the spicy patchouli heart. Speaking of curry, I'm pulling some Asian seed spices for sure: cardamom, anise, nutmeg, maybe coriander, but almost as quickly as the heart notes show up the base begins bulging at the seams.

I like this. Want to love it. But can’t. Longevity is poor 3 or 4 hours at the most. Same with projection after about two hours is meh. And I sprayed a ton of this stuff on. Having said that this is a fun fragrance. From a distance, a boozy cocktail party with the boys after moderate exertion in a white collar setting. Everyone’s colognes have mixed along with their clean but activated humanity. Like a group of lawyers who moved some boxes of files after winning a case just after the bottle of cognac was passed around. It is a nice smell. Nothing off putting but you just know your own armpits are adding to the mix, in a good way. Up close all of the above is there but I am able to differentiate the cumin from the spice mix. This brings me back to the 1970s, and right guard on stinky armpits. The only thing I would change is I want better longevity and a little more umph protection wise. Having said that I see why some describe this as a teenage groupie waking in the morning from the after party. Her mouth tasting of booze and butts, hopefully just cigarettes, because two things are certain. Something happened last night and it burns when she pees.

This is a great perfume period. I think that there are like 4 characters that create complexity to this composition: the patchouli, immortelle, leather, and vanilla/sweet notes. The patchouli is the most beautiful patchouli I have ever smelled, I grew up around a lot of PBS hippy type teachers at my elementary school who used to wear that dirty patchouli that many don’t like. This patchouli is much more complex, sensual, almost like a dark chocolate and it may give some human-animalic flavor. The leather is also very well done, it’s more of a mixture between a leather trench coat and a nice pair of suede shoes also adding a slight animalic twinge. The Immortelle really brings complexity to this composition with notes of fresh cuban cigar although I personally don’t get much herbaceousness. It bridges that patchouli and leather quite well. The vanilla is very slight and in the background but it gives a a little lift to this perfume to prevent it being too heavy. I didn’t really get the sensual feeling but I could if you were a little sweaty maybe, I think it just evokes a place like de sade’s dungeon more than the act iykwim.

I've stumbled onto a layering combo that's about as close as I've found to Anubis without actually wearing it: Choco Raptor layered over 1740 Marquis de Sade. On its own, 1740 has that gorgeous dry, vintage leather thing going on. It's elegant, smoky, a little dusty, and has just enough animalic character to keep it interesting. The problem? Sometimes it feels a bit too reserved on me. That's where Choco Raptor comes in. Despite the odd name, the chocolate isn't sweet or gourmand. Instead, it adds this dark, bitter richness that makes the leather feel warmer, softer, and much more alive. It almost melts into the leather, giving it the impression of warm skin beneath a broken-in leather Indiana Jones jacket. The whole fragrance becomes deeper, sexier, and noticeably more animalic.

This beauty has a slight animalic warmth and is masterfully blended and balanced. It is not challenging in my opinion, but it's definitely creative and unique (which is important to me, at this point in my fragrance journey). Initially, I get an alcoholic fruitiness, similar to pouring a fine port. After about 20 seconds, the herbals start to build and I get a mild leather note blended smoothly with a clean patchouli (leather is not central to the scent in my opinion - more of a complement). If I had to sum the scent up in one word it would be: "beautiful". That being said, this isn't a happy-go-lucky affair; I consider it to lean slightly towards the dark side, which is right up my street.