Globe
Eau de Toilette, Rochas (1990)

I bought a mini 15ml splash bottle a couple of months ago. At first, i found it similiar to Insensé (that fir balsam, more precisely) but a bit weak, although, i decanted to a sprayer and now i can fully appretiate it. It's fantastic. It doesn't have the florals and freshness of Insensé, but it shares the green fir balsam.

Ellena told that the briefing for this fragrance was something like "i want a fragrance that it's smelled right when one enters the room". I dont think it is that potent, but even Ellena didn't want it to be. He seemed to be a bit frustrated with the result because, at the time, the market had changed and this type of fragrances were not the ones who people reach for. Later on, the guy from Rochas admitted to Ellena that he was wrong.

But, although the fragrance is a bit old fashioned for the time, it's not the type of fragrance that nowadays it will be perceived as dated because it doesn't feature strong patchouli, oakmoss, animalics or dirty leather. It's all very "natural", with a french sophistication and the touch of Ellena.

He changed his style after this one, with the Eau Parfumeé for Bvlgari in 1992, but this one has some mild and fresh spices that he later start to use in high amounts. The coriander and cumin are very well blended, never too strong and heavenly melted in sandalwood and fir balsam.

The result is a longlasting woody spicy fragrance with some florals (carnation is quite evident) and greens. Soft, charming, inviting, divine. A fantastic fragrance that can be worn at every season and that i will have to find a bigger bottle to enjoy it for more years.

Globe is a dreamy, contemplative, not-so-outspoken experience, with nuance that can be easily dismissed or scoffed at in modern times. Similar to Hermes Rocabar, this one requires a few wears before it can be truly appreciated.

Conifers, flowers, and resins: I feel at home.

A floral fougere and a true gateway scent, one of many fine men's fragrances from the class of 1990. The herbal aspect could have been the inspiration for Cerruti 1881 and to my nose makes Globe unmistakably masculine although I agree with many earlier reviews in the sense that this could be worn by a person of any gender.

The predominantly floral bouquet at the heart of the composition is wonderful, especially when coupled with a traditional but very well done base of leather, woods and a pronounced hit of vetiver. A marriage made in heaven one might say.

This is a powerhouse as befits its year of release, but one that if applied sparingly would work well on most occasions, certainly in the office or at a more formal affair.

Sadly discontinued some time ago, this lesser known creation for men from Rochas is a majestic floral which 30 years after release provides a fresh blast from the past. Highly recommended.

O, what irony
That globalization wood
Fell this base of tree

That in travesty
Discontinuation wood
Befall its timber

Lest good Cedar Oyl
Escape Earthly destiny
"Et tu, Cedramber?"

For only Karma
Wood dare a smile, knowing she
That on other Globe

Where Cedramber trees
Please others' other senses
Cedrol bears the knife

Of blood brotherhood
Spoken first and foremost by
Imagination

Where in larger Truth
Beauty recapitulates
Volatility

As permitted by
Schrödinger's periodic
Isles of Innocence.

Take me then, Fake Wood
To distant star and forest
Show me Beauty now

And Truth thereafter
When some cedric oxide lie
Speaks Truth once again

Brave Pocahontas
All our jokes and lies then lost
But truths remembered.

juxtapose the more bracing elements of a fougere (artemisia, pine) with florals and you have an androgynous effect that becomes its own thing.

'globe' is not the tepid midpoint compromise that more feckless unisex scents can become . It is a bold speculative leap into new territory.

fantastic and worth sampling if you're a fan of either traditional fougeres or spicy rose-carnation scents. Just as Atlas himself is a bridge, 'Globe' marries its halves with panache.

The end of the 1980's and beginning of the 1990's was a tumultuous time for masculine perfumery, as schools of thought became divided over the future direction such perfumery should take. Many houses jumped on the new "clean and fresh" bandwagon made popular by Davidoff Cool Water (1988) and Calvin Klein Eternity for Men (1989), but some went in floral directions all their own, while some just kept in the same stiff oakmoss or animalic powerhouse rut that had started up in the late 70's, and a few combined the two. Rochas seemingly was the latter case here with Globe, and joined that ultra-elite but completely unsung short-lived evolutionary spur of masculines known as the floral powerhouse. Those who follow close to their perfume history of the period already know that Balenciaga tried this with Ho Hang Club (1987) and then again with Balenciaga Pour Homme that would release alongside Rochas Globe in 1990. Parfums Salvador Dali would also have a dark take on this idea with their debut masculine in 1987, while Paco Rabanne would join in with Ténéré (1988) alongside Bogart's Furyo, and Azzaro with Acteur (1989). Most of these mentioned would rush in with a strong rose note as their prominent floral, and some would have a heavy animalic base that made them growl alongside other powerhouses of the day, while others would come across as old-school chypres in their finish. Globe seeks to separate itself from this pack by downplaying rose and focusing more on a balanced floral bouquet led by artemisia, balsam fir, and finishing in a crisp, almost modern clean base. Globe is the clean and sober Antaeus (1981) for men that want to come across powerful without seeming predatory, as it has a similar labadnum and leather punch in the base without as much dirty castoreum getting in the way.

Globe opens with artemisia, and lots of it. There's a bright bergamot jolt too, spiky coriander, sweaty cumin, token lemon, and a dusting of galbanum to keep it sharp and green. The cumin is not very strong and you have to search for it, but it turns up after some sniffing. I feel it was added to "man up" the scent rather than add the sexy funk it usually imparts on a scent, so it's a rhythm player instead of a lead instrument. The middle is where the floral character is most present, which brings us around to carnation, geranium, jasmine, muguet, rose, marigold, with the balsam fir as mentioned and thyme keeping this from being too dandy. By this phase, anyone not okay with a masculine floral is running for the scrub brush, as the opening is fairly classic 80's while this heart is where the weirdness for this brief upstart genre begins. Again, this isn't a rose-dominated floral composition like it's peers, and draws comparisons to something like Givenchy Insense (1993), which was probably the last straggler out of the gate for this style, and also the "cleanest" of the bunch. Globe rests more between this clean and the muscular gym rat approach of the early 80's, especially in the finish. Base notes are par for the course if this was a 1980 release, featuring cedar, token labdanum, sandalwood, token leather, musk, barely perceptible patchouli, vetiver, oakmoss, and very muted castoreum note. Once the day is through, a person wearing Rochas Globe will feel as though they are wearing a lighter and friendlier Antaeus holding a bouquet of flowers, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but brings nothing new to the table outside of the attempt to "clean up" the styles it merges. Globe feels like a good compromise between the conventions being left behind in the 80's, the daring, yet failed floral direction taken by some of it's rivals near that decades' end, with just a slight nod of respect to the new "fresh" direction more widely-accepted in it's time.

Globe won't impress the person who has well-versed knowledge of 80's masculines and a wardrobe full of nothing but, as even though it was released at the cusp of the 90's decade, it is indeed firmly planted with both feet in the beginning of the previous one. It's only bit of real fascination for this kind of person is it's own moving of the florals forward in the mix, and cleaning up the dry down so it's own animalic subtext is just that: subtext. It will come across to the lover of the aforementioned Antaeus or Yves Saint Laurent Kouros (1981) as an anemic floral bridge between that alpha-male style and the washed-out tones of the "fresh revolution", a compromise in a bottle they can't get behind. Other more adventurous palettes (and lovers of gender-flirting florals), will find this exceptionally unique like many of the others in it's small category, and a real contender for the niche market if re-introduced because of course, it's very discontinued. The average Joe with no taste for this particular era or style will just find Globe bizarrely sharp and uncomfortably dry, without the benefit of a reference point to label it as "old school" or "modern", since such is the relative obscurity in which it lives. I think it's a great scent that benefits from it's florals as a more-wearable version of the 80's style it mostly apes, making it a more "comfortable" powerhouse for the office or meetups with strange new friends, when you wanting something that isn't run-of-the-mill, but won't downright alienate anyone getting within sniff distance. I like a scent that draws out questions from people, and this will certainly do it. Stick to mid-temperatures for this one however, as it is too stiff for heat and not rich enough for cold. Also, for those seriously looking into full-bottle purchases, there is no difference between first edition and later releases of Globe besides the metal band around the bottle.