Panama 1924 : Millésimé
Boellis (2010)

Stardate 20190820:

This is so much better than Declaration. A sophisticated and refined version. The musk, Ambrette and coriander add a good deal of skank to it. The beauty is the balance. The spices and jasmine tea counterbalances the skank and you get a smooth, almost dandy, fragrance.
Jasmine, tea and vetiver play same role as they do in Palais Jamais - which is another great fragrance.

A hidden gem.

The first thought I had while first sampling it was: Very familiar, I know this scent.
Second thought I had: Oh, it's very, very close to Cartier's Déclaration.

For me the similarity comes more from the coriander seeds (to my nose amongst the most dominant notes), paired with the woody cedar note, musk and vetiver.
Is it a redundant and overprized copy of a designer fragrance after all?
No, it is not. Will tell you why I think so.

I bought it because it was heavily discounted in a perfumes shop that closed its doors forever. I wasn't too sure if I would need it, as I didn't like Déclaration that much. Was okay, but nothing I planned to buy.
Three or four days after my first test (on paper) only one bottle was left in that shop, and my hunting instinct forced me to buy it. For 30€/100ml it wouldn't be a big loss after all.
Well, the bottle stayed untouched in my collection for some months. From time to time I took a sniff off the bottle, but never worn it.
Never felt the mood for this scent and always had Déclaration in my mind, when I had to decide my SOTD.

But the day came and I gave it a full wear.
As it appeared on paper as weak as it's cousin from the great house of jewellery, I took quite some sprays (I think about 8 to 10) and man, I was so wrong.
This scent is far away from being weak. I felt kind of awkward when I entered the tram 20min later, as I was surrounded by a thick cloud of woody, powdery spiciness that even was a bit too much for myself (and I wear 5+ sprays of Interlude Man.. In the summer!).
Not only that it was intense and projected very well, no, it lasted surpricingly long on my skin (longer than Interlude Man, which my skin eats up in about 5 hours).

This could have been bad, if the similarity to Cartier's fragrance would have been too close. As said, I didn't like Déclaration that much. Surpricingly I do like Millésimé, maybe will start to even love it some day.

There's a tiny bit of freshness after application which I can't tell where it comes from, as all the other notes are there from the start, too. Maybe the lemon or the tea or both?
It doesn't matter, as it is soon completely covered by the coriander (seed not leaves), cedar, some powdery note I feel must be iris (even though not listed in any pyramid I've seen) and some faint cardamom and saffron with a rather warm musk joining in a bit later.
In the far drydown some earthy elements show up, that strangely contribute to the warmth of this scent.

And to me it is more versatile than I first thought. I could wear it with jeans and pullover (if I'd wear jeans), with a suit, to got to work, to go shopping or to go to a fancy bar to dring expensive 'niche' whiskeys. Casual meets sophistication. But this scent may bring some class even to a very informal dress.

It is a lovely blend, warmer, thicker, more balanced than Déclaration.
If the intention really was to copy a (rather unknown) designer scent, I'm glad they did. Because the result is so much better than the 'inspiration'.
But actually I'm not sure if it was ment as a copy. Does a perfumer know every perfume created by other noses? Can't believe this.. They'd be too busy to sample other stuff to make perfumes on their own.

This perfume deserves to be there. And it deserves to stand alone and not being discussed just as a copy.

I surely agree with the reviews comparing Panama 1924 Millesimé with Cartier's Déclaration, as the opening is very similar and plays more or less the same chords – spicy cardamom, elegant crisp musky woods, a whiff of masculine flowers (jasmine and carnation for me, or something similar to it, maybe rose too), saffron and some very light tangy citrus. But the similarity doesn't really last long, though: from the very beginning in fact, Millesimé does have some more richness, smelling at once more refined and more natural than the Cartier's. And a bit warmer too, thanks to musk and ambergris – the same, quite good dusty-salty musky ambergris base you get in nearly any scent produced by Profumitalia (Boellis and Hugh Parsons, just to name two brands they manage – just compare two random scents for each, you'll smell the same base notes).

During its evolution, and this is a quality product with some elegant and shimmering evolution, the initial spicy notes – except maybe saffron, which lasts longer – tone down progressively, leaving the stage to an exceedingly pleasant, classy and soothing floral-vetiver core accord still with some subtle pungent spicy edges, musk and some nondescript sort of “juicy” feel which I guess it's that “tea” note – more a sort of a greenish rose for me, actually. Vetiver gets an increasingly prominent role, and it's basically the star of the drydown, tinged with some floral nuances and a dusty musky-ambery base accord, which soon becomes a bit leathery too (I think it's a side nuance of saffron).

So, basically another winner from Boellis in my book. As for the others from this brand, this is really nothing overly creative, and surely it does try to “emulate” a certain type of established crowdpleasers: but it does it with great class, great understatement and great quality. It feels just very mature, distinguished, yet informal and totally affable. To the point it, say, “exceeds” its masters and becomes actually better than them – so yes, for me this is quite better than Déclaration or similar scents. Same tones, same chords, better class and better quality. It has that same soapy “barbershop” vibe of other Boellis fragrances, that effortless Italian class, a shade of musky-amber refined melancholy well paired with some more luminous spicy-green nuances, and it's just more fascinating, richer and more sophisticated than the Cartier's in my opinion – also getting rid of that “sanitized” sort of artificial designer feel. The name is a bit pretentious perhaps as I don't get the “millesimé” factor, but it's surely recommended nonetheless.

7,5-8/10