Must de Cartier Cartier
It is a Oriental fragrance for women, was launched in 1981. Must de Cartier was created by Jean-Jacques Diener and Nathalie Feisthauer. Top notes are Galbanum, Brazilian Rosewood, Aldehydes, Bergamot, Lemon, Green Mandarin, Peach and Pineapple; middle notes are Leather, Carnation, Vetiver, Orris Root, Ylang-Ylang, Musk, Yellow Narcissus, Neroli, Rose, Jasmine and Orchid; base notes are Amber, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Tonka Bean, Civet and Vetiver.
Must de Cartier EDT vintage available at a price – 9 EUR/ml
Must de Cartier Eau de Toilette is a timeless fragrance that exudes elegance, sophistication and charm. It is the perfect fragrance for the confident and sophisticated woman who appreciates the finer things in life. The scent is warm, spicy and exotic, making it ideal for evening wear or special occasions. Each note of this exquisite perfume contributes to its unique sensory experience, creating a captivating scent that leaves a lasting impression. Top notes of galbanum, mandarin and neroli instantly captivate the senses with their fresh and citrusy aromas. These invigorating scents, like a flash of sunshine, illuminate any room and create a cheerful and optimistic mood. The combination of these notes is uplifting and energizing, making Must de Cartier Eau de Toilette the perfect choice for the woman who radiates positivity and charm. As the fragrance develops, heart notes of jasmine, narcissus and rose add a touch of femininity and romance to the composition. These floral fragrances are delicate and alluring, evoking a sense of beauty and grace. The floral bouquet captivates and captivates, attracting those around her with its intoxicating charm. A woman who wears Must de Cartier Eau de Toilette is like a flower in bloom, radiating a sense of timeless elegance and sophistication.
Base notes of musk, vanilla and vetiver give the fragrance depth and complexity, creating a rich and intoxicating scent that lasts long on the skin. Warm and sensual notes of musk and vanilla add a touch of sweetness and sensuality, while vetiver provides a woody and earthy touch that underlies the composition. These base notes create a sense of mystery and intrigue, leaving an unforgettable impression wherever a woman goes.
Must de Cartier Eau de Toilette is a multifaceted fragrance that is both timeless and modern. It is the perfect choice for the woman who embodies sophistication, confidence and charm. The warm and spicy scents evoke a sense of luxury and splendor, making it the perfect accessory for any elegant and sophisticated woman. Whether worn for an evening out on the town or for a special event, this captivating fragrance will leave a lasting impression and make a woman stand out from the crowd.
The house of Cartier was founded in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier. Known for its exquisite jewelry and attention to detail, the company’s reputation grew in the late 1800s with the help of Cartier’s son, Alfred, and grandsons Louis, Pierre, and Jacques. Cartier gained notoriety in 1904 when Louis Cartier created the first wristwatch for aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. This famous watch was known as the “Santos.” Crowned persons and aristocrats from all over the world flocked to Cartier for their jewelry and watches throughout the 20th century.
For French jewelry and accessories brand Cartier, it has always been about more than just creating good pieces; the company has always strived to break new ground and keep up with the times, no matter what. Our story begins in the very distant year of 1847, when jeweler Louis-François Cartier became the head of a small production, under his leadership the company began to develop rapidly and by the mid-1850s the royal family became interested in it. In particular, the niece of Napoleon I, Mathilde, bought herself a necklace. It was a ticket to the new world. Success allowed the family to open a store in London and receive the status of royal jewelers in most courts of the old world. But the real glory came to the company in the twentieth century, when the grandchildren of the founder of the brand took up the matter. In 1904, one of the jewelers’ friends complained to them that a wristwatch for flights was bulky and made piloting difficult, and then Cartier produced the first flat watch, which became the brand’s calling card. At that time, Cartier was the most successful watch manufacturer in the world. In 1917, the brand moved to New York with its production facilities. In 1964, the successors of the Cartier family sold the family business, but retained the right to exclusively produce jewelry.
Family ownership of the business ended in 1964, but the company continued to expand its business and reputation, opening boutiques around the world.
Like jewels, Cartier chandeliers have never faded. Richard Burton gave Elizabeth Taylor a flawless 69.42-carat pear-shaped Cartier stone. Prince Rainier of Monaco chose Cartier to create a 10.47-carat emerald-cut engagement ring for his proposal to Grace Kelly. But in the 1970s, Cartier became a little more accessible with the advent of Must de Cartier: lighters, jewelry, luggage, and gifts for those who turned away from luxury conventions and revolutionized the street. And then, of course, came fragrance. And while they weren’t the first jewelry house to launch a perfume (the first was Van Cleef & Arpels with Jean-Claude Ellena in 1976), they are the first and only jewelry house to have their own perfumer, Mathilde Laurent.
Mathilde Laurent (who previously studied and interned at ISIPCA and Guerlain, where her first works and reworkings gave birth to the Aqua Allegoria collection) became the first perfumer of the jewelry house in 2005. And, in my opinion, she managed to decipher the codes of the brand and beautifully translate them into perfumes, with a perfect modern expression of the classic Cartier style. Total artistic freedom is what any perfumer dreams of. But understanding a brand and owning its essence, as she does, requires a different level of work, dedication and deep immersion in the core values of the house. And that is where she started. Placing her office in the middle of the creative team, observing, immersing herself in the soul of Cartier.
“Shortly after arriving, I realized that the longevity of the house stems from its capacity for innovation and its courage. This led to an idea that is very important to me: true luxury imbued with fantasy, audacity and even humor. In short, freedom!” – Mathilde Laurent, “The Sense of Smell”. As she recalls, when she first saw the technical design of a necklace by Cartier for the Maharaja of Patiala with a description of each stone, each carat, nuance, color, quality, so precise and documented, she truly saw the formula of perfume. She saw the connection between perfumery and jewelry. And that is what I love about her way of creating, her ability to interpret the abstract into the material world, her passion and the way she treats art.
Even before the advent of her own perfumer, Cartier stood out and left its name in the history of perfumery. Whether with creations such as Must, Declaration or Pasha, Cartier has always offered bold and audacious formulas for its time.
We owe the birth of the Cartier style to Louis Cartier, but we can’t talk about the house without mentioning the contribution of Jeanne Toussaint. Working alongside the men of Cartier, a bold modern woman, Jeanne Toussaint, made her mark in the 1930s. Louis Cartier’s “muse” (and lover), she sent designers to the zoo to observe big cats, capturing their feline power in jewelry collections featuring panthers and tigers. The Duchess of Windsor commissioned a 3D panther brooch in 1948, centered on a 116.75-carat emerald cabochon. Although Cartier had already been offering its customers perfume bottles since 1866, with various Art Deco designs in the 1920s, it was not until 1938 that Jeanne Toussaint registered the name “Cartier Parfums”. “As stylish and elegant as her clients,” writes Vogue, Toussaint was nicknamed “The Panther” – and from that moment on, the panther became the symbol of Cartier itself. A new idea was born, and it took another 43 years to launch the first Cartier perfume.
Being Cartier, these are not just any fragrances: perfumes designed to “adorn the skin like invisible and intimate gems.” So naturally, they must be created with true olfactory mastery, with rare and luxurious ingredients. And the bottles, by definition, must attract attention. In the 1970s, the brand’s range expanded to include leather goods, pens and scarves.
The company’s perfume history begins in 1981, when the first fragrance, Cartier Santos de Cartier, was launched. In terms of mood, this is a rather nostalgic, but very beautiful fragrance for the stronger sex, it includes dozens of components, but they sound surprisingly harmonious. For decades, eau de parfum has remained a favorite among the older generation, who value their own status and public opinion. The perfume opens on a wave of trembling juniper in close connection with basil and bergamot, which creates a feeling of touching oriental motifs. Then vanilla and coconut ingredients come into play.
Must de Cartier (1981) – “the aroma of desire”, as it was advertised, created by Jean-Jacques Diner (Givaudan). The name of the perfume was taken from the “Must de Cartier” collection, and the bottle was inspired by the famous gold lighter. These were the first “rechargeable” perfumes, if I may say so, because “you don’t throw anything away from Cartier” (Johan Cervi said it well during a conference at the 2025 Paris Perfume Week).
Orphically, the perfume was inspired by Shalimar by Guerlain, but with a modern Cartier touch. An ode to Jeanne Toussaint and her nickname – La Panthere, which became a symbol of the house, the perfume opens with green galbanum, mandarin and orange blossom facets in the top notes, very modern and popular at the time, and then contrasts with a very rich, sensual floral-amber-animalistic body.
Ambrée, which broke olfactory norms: a play between refined galbanum and sensual sweet vanilla and jasmine. Spontaneous, luxurious, seductive and wild, it was no less wildly successful.
The legacy of Cartier cannot be fully depicted without mentioning Declaration (1997) – a perfume that would become a classic and a benchmark for men’s perfumery. A perfume of true elegance, following in the footsteps of Bulgari’s Eau Parfumee au The Vert, master perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena offers us a different interpretation of the tea accord. A perfume of perfect harmony, sophistication and sensitivity, in his characteristic style, where fresh, spicy notes of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, aromatics, tea, wormwood and a woody-chypre accord of oakmoss, vetiver and cedar are perfectly balanced, without one ingredient dominating the others. For many perfume lovers, Cartier De Lune eau de toilette is like a frank conversation with a beloved interlocutor. Extremely pure, naive and unlike anything else, the pyramid calls into the distance, giving the best only to you. Pepper, carefully mixed with juniper, create a special aura, while lily of the valley and rose add femininity and naivety. With this creation, the old French campaign slightly diluted its own status as a men’s brand.
Eau de Cartier, a cologne-style fragrance that can be shared, was launched in 2001: cool, clean and sensual, it combines cedar with violet, “a flow of sensations from cool to hot.”
And back to men, Cartier Roadster eau de toilette, recently turned two decades old, with its design resembling an expensive car that stands at the start, and after a couple of seconds is already carried over the horizon. Sweet labdanum flower with bergamot slices and refreshing mint filling create a special mood, consonant with luxury and a special style.
Since then, we have Baiser Volé, Cartier’s homage to the majestic lily. “With this perfume, I wanted to recreate the scent of a bunch of flowers on the neck,” explained perfumer Mathilde Laurent. (She also created the lipstick-inspired Baiser Fou in 2017.) In fact, with Mathilde Laurent’s appointment as in-house perfumer, Cartier has entered a new era in fragrance; she is undoubtedly one of the most interesting “noses” on the planet. Mathilde launched the Maison de Cartier into the world of “high perfumery” with Les Heures de Parfum: fragrances (many of which are “shareable”) that transport us around the clock with their different moods, and which have earned her several awards from the Fondation Française de Parfum.
Mathilde Laurent’s Cartier La Panthère has been particularly well-received: a truly modern interpretation of the refined chypre family, with gardenia at its heart. “This raw yet warm, wild yet fruity-floral chypre captivates me,” commented Katie Chatspa, a Jasmine Award-winning blogger, calling it “a sophisticated beast.” The review continues: “Gardenias explode and are tamed with a single stroke of the whip, while chypre notes of moss and musk combine to make this blend a true seductress…” La Panthère for Must the Cartier is what Chanel no. 19 is for Chanel no. 5 in terms of cult status, and yet they are so different that they do not compete with each other. For La Panthère, she chose the structure of a chypre fragrance because for her it is the most elegant, noble, intellectual expression of femininity in perfume, as an interpretation of Jeanne Toussaint’s sophistication, and the panther as a symbol that she brought to the Cartier universe. So when she began working on the perfume, she sought connections in perfumery to express all these concepts. She used musks to represent the animal side and the myth of the fragrant panther, and then the floral aspect—the radiant gardenia—that evokes the Art Deco era and the personality of Jean Toussaint.
Mathilde Laurent has designed over two dozen fragrances for Cartier, including the masterpiece L’Envol in its unique “floating” bottle. As she explains, “It’s fresh and light. It’s a masculine scent, but also one that a woman can wear or buy for the man in her life…”
Over the years, Cartier has launched a series of successful fragrances, many of which share the same names as the company’s jewelry and watch collections. At the launch of Cartier’s debut fragrance, Must de Cartier, Alain-Dominique Perrin (then president of Cartier) simply said, “Perfumes, like jewels, speak to us about love. They provide a connection to charm, style, elegance and a certain way of life.”
