I'll keep this short and sweet, as I'm reserving a fuller review of this sort of scent for that which Cabotine copied - Creed's Fantasia de Fleurs. My belief is that Creed does green florals better than anyone. Still, this once-expensive French designer perfume is a real beauty, and in my opinion is deserving of a comeback. I gave Country Chic, Alien, and CK Shock for Her second (and third) tries the other day, but Cabotine was the first thing I tried, and remains the only scent that I genuinely liked.
Call me a contrarian, but this does not deserve the label "nasty floral." It doesn't deserve accolades either, but almost nothing does. Cabotine's fresh ginger and hyacinth opening is made a bit odd by extra-fatty aldehydes, which seem to illuminate and aerate its denser floral drydown. The initial burst of Chinese-style ginger is particularly bright and clean. Hints of hyacinth keep things fresh as ylang-ylang, jasmine, rose, and lily notes emerge and intensify, resulting in a pretty floral that is mercifully light on Calone.
There are stages in Cabotine where the scent veers away from fine fragrance and into room-freshener territory, but this is a $16 perfume, after all. What saves it for me is its sheer ginger, jasmine, and rose notes, which seem to presage the aquatic jasmine in Calice Becker's Tommy Girl. Cabotine is quite nice, and I see a bottle in my future. Speaking of which - I really love the bottle. Yeah, it's a touch feminine and has a crazy green plastic cap, but when I pretend the cap is glass it strikes me as being a uniquely modern design. Eh, what can I say? I'm a weirdo.