Question:
I'm hoping someone in the know will be able to help me with my question.
I found Cartier Must (the women's version) in a 30 ml. (1 oz.) EdT size packaged in a black box. The scent is different from the 50 ml. silver-boxed EdT I tried in the same store, and they were asking about $15 more for the black-box version. The SA claimed it was a "hard-to-find" product. The silver-box scent was sharper and had more projection and more woody notes right off the bat, whereas the black-box version stayed closer to the skin and had deeper, slightly fruity ambergris notes. The black-box scent also lasted much longer on my skin and dried down to a very clear ambergris-vanillic note; also, the color of the juice is much deeper, a sort of orange-rust color.
The question is: Does anyone know what the difference is between these two? My surmise is that the black-box scent is the original 1981 version or perhaps a limited edition. Even though the box and bottle both say it's an EdT, it seems to have the persistence of an EdP.
Please do help me with this if you can. Thanks in advance for your kindness!
Sorry about cross-posting, but my query on the women's side didn't get much notice.


Answer:
Seems they just dumped a lot of amber/vanilla in the new one. The original comes off as an almost entirely different fragrance, 70% less sweet, a prominent civet note. One of the great ones.

Answer:
Originally Posted by JaimeB I'm hoping someone in the know will be able to help me with my question.
I found Cartier Must (the women's version) in a 30 ml. (1 oz.) EdT size packaged in a black box. The scent is different from the 50 ml. silver-boxed EdT I tried in the same store, and they were asking about $15 more for the black-box version. The SA claimed it was a "hard-to-find" product. The silver-box scent was sharper and had more projection and more woody notes right off the bat, whereas the black-box version stayed closer to the skin and had deeper, slightly fruity ambergris notes. The black-box scent also lasted much longer on my skin and dried down to a very clear ambergris-vanillic note; also, the color of the juice is much deeper, a sort of orange-rust color.
The question is: Does anyone know what the difference is between these two? My surmise is that the black-box scent is the original 1981 version or perhaps a limited edition. Even though the box and bottle both say it's an EdT, it seems to have the persistence of an EdP.
Please do help me with this if you can. Thanks in advance for your kindness!
Sorry about cross-posting, but my query on the women's side didn't get much notice.
Your surmises are correct Jaime.
The black box is the classic 1981 formulation. The silver box is the reformulated juice.
The 1981 formulation is an astounding piece of work; it puts niche offerings to shame. One my all time favorites and, IMO, one of a handful of truly great women's fragrances ever made. No wonder they reformulated it; in today's climate and market, there's is no way Cartier could sustain the quality of the ingredients used back in 1981. This is way of all great classics, unfortunately.
P.S. Will post about the differences between the two in a longer thread about reformulations sometime in the near future.