Santos Cartier 1981 Eau de Toilette

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7.9 / 10 332 Ratings

Santos (Eau de Toilette) is a popular perfume by Cartier for men and was released in 1981. The scent is spicy-woody. It is still in production. Pronunciation

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Main accords

Spicy

Woody

Smoky

Earthy

Leathery

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Juniper

Lavender

Basil

Lemon vervain

Bergamot

Heart Notes

Nutmeg

Geranium

Pepper

Rosemary

Vetiver

Base Notes

Cedar

Coconut

Patchouli

Sandalwood

Amber

Vanilla

Ratings

Scent

7.9332 Ratings

Longevity

7.9260 Ratings

Sillage

7.4255 Ratings

Bottle

7.9255 Ratings

Value for money

7.677 Ratings

Submitted by Sani, last update on 12.04.2024.

Reviews

12 in-depth fragrance descriptions

10/27/2019

9
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 9.5
Scent

Can777
121 Reviews

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Can777

Top Review 47

Character assassination

Or Assassinat de Caractère as the Frenchman says. Now that we're dealing with a Frenchman. That's a pretty bad word, isn't it? Didn't I? What did Santos get to say? Bad things! A fragrance that was very popular in the milieu and worn by dubious figures, they said. That may be, but why shouldn't such people, or rather men, have good and stylish taste? Santos played already in the 80s in the upper league under the men's perfumes. He embodied luxury and money. At almost every arm, finger or neck the house Cartier flashed or sparkled at that time. Be it the watch, the Trinity ring or the ever-popular golden panther. What could be more obvious than to gild yourself with a perfume? Santos was also very suitable for the Lord. The same goes for the unforgettable Must de Cartier for the ladies. Both are connected not only by the house, the reputation and the year of birth, but also by a very special fragrance. The two of us say very "special" made!

Santos
Santos is an incredibly beautiful and warm spicy and woody fragrance. He's got a cool bowl of steel, but a heart of liquid gold. The design of the luxury bottle at that time already shows this very clearly. A relatively cold, metallic entrance made of cool lavender and juniper berries with a metallic-cool appearance open his presentation. The dependence on steel is not so far away and is probably also wanted. After not too long, spicy warmth gradually breaks through. Santos slowly opens its golden heart of freshly grated nutmeg and a dry warm spicy cinnamon accord. A hint of rose geranium adds a slight herbaceousness but no real floridity. But what Santos always had in mind was the sensually charming and deep timbre of his base. Dry tones of unsweet vanilla blend with the fibrous wood of coconut and dusty notes of amber to create a truly devastatingly beautiful base reminiscent of the shimmer of gold. Santos was also said to have a certain very attractive physicality. Which is true, at least in the original version! It contains something that was never listed as a fragrance. Musk, that is It is exactly the same musk that was also present in a completely exaggerated and wasteful form in the unforgettable female counterpart Must de Cartier. The original Santos contains a minimal dose of it. But exactly this minimal dose gave him this sultry, soft-warm and extremely attractive aura. This note has completely disappeared from the new formulation and version. The new Santos is still recognizable, but he has been "disarmed" so to speak. Very unfortunate!

Conclusion
Everything they said about Santos is mostly true. He was a macho,a mobster,and a ripper. Although a charming and very gallant representative of this species and a true gem! He had a cultivated shamelessness, arrogance, and arrogance that sought his equal. Santos was never the loudest, but in his fine, golden Sillage was always luxury and almost shameless self-assertion. Which didn't hurt him. The opposite was more the case. It may be that his reputation has always been somewhat shady, but this made him even more interesting and attractive to men and women alike and a legend. Or how do you say it so beautifully? Once the reputation is ruined, it lives uninhibitedly!

And that... Santos of Cartier has always been perfect!

06/05/2021

8
Bottle 7
Sillage 7
Longevity 9.5
Scent

Salva
71 Reviews

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Salva

Top Review 42

A charismatic mafioso with heart and soul

Santos - What is the first thing you intuitively think of when you hear a name like that? At Brazil, football, samba, Tscha tscha tscha?!
Of tanned, well-trained, always good-humored people?!

Well, is vllt. obvious, Santos is after all an important port city on the sugar loaf. And indeed, the name refers to Brazil, but "only" to a Brazilian pilot named Santos Dumont. But basically to the world's first pilot's watch with the same name, Santos Cartier, which Santos Dumont helped to produce.

[...]

The French jewelry and watch manufacturer, which was founded by Louis-François Cartier in Paris back in 1847, is one of my favorite brands among other French brands. Not only can they fragrances quite outstanding, their history can also be seen.

The handmade jewelry pieces were at that time in great demand among the population and so, for example, the then French Empress Eugénie had the pleasure of being the happy owner of various pieces. After the rapid success, the company took with the time watches in his assortment.

As the years went by, Cartier's sons joined the company and the family managed to open their first branch in London in 1902. It wasn't too long before word of the company's reputation spread among the British. Consequently, one became the court supplier of the British royal house.

Rapidly one expanded in the direction of Russia as well as the USA and attained at the beginning of the 20th century world-wide large admittingness and acknowledgment.
After the death of Louis-François Cartier and his sons, the company disintegrated and has belonged to the Swiss Richemont Group since 1997.

[...]

Parfumtechnisch stands the house for my opinion a little (unjustly) in the shadow of its French "brothers" Dior or Chanel, so at least my impression. Because I personally find the fragrances of Cartier at least just as noble and classically beautiful.

With this Santos EdT, I recently got to know one that I was fascinated by the first time I smelled it. It opens ultra masculine and is very aromatic-spicy to begin with; while the spices are prominent here, led by nutmeg and pepper, they are backed up with a certain freshness. I attribute the freshness to the hesperidic accords.

Until the base, however, this mysterious fresh-spicy aura maintains the upper hand. The aroma that this perfume exudes, I find irresistible and seductive. And what additionally makes this fragrance so brilliant for me is its progression, because towards the base it changes to a soft-soft and slightly woody gentleman. Here I perceive a mix of sandalwood cedar, which is framed by a touch of amber accord.

[...]

To me, this fragrance seems best suited for fall and slightly cooler spring days. With about 5-6h on mine it has a decent endurance.

Compared to other early 80s published classics such as YSL Kouros or Chanel Antaeus is the Santos EdT but no so-called. "Powerhouse fragrance", as I find (all three appeared in the same year). On the contrary, despite the initial strongly distinctive notes (or probably because of it) he stands out by a charming and very charismatic charisma, the wearer and the environment (at least mMn) does not scare off and frighten away.

[...]
Conclusion:

Santos EdT seems to me at first glance (or smell) from the outside like a mobster, but in truth he is at heart a noble, well-read and classically-chic gentleman with heart and soul.
Immediately after testing a bottle has moved in; not only because I appreciate Cartier in itself immensely and love, but primarily because the fragrance has grabbed me immediately and I have been very taken.

Cartier - Alone the simple and plain logo with the cursive font looks mMn very noble.

An extremely intoxicating and sexy-seductive fragrance after French chic, this Santos EdT.

[...]
Thanks for reading!

03/27/2021

9
Pricing 9
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 8
Scent

Simi74
2 Reviews

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Simi74

Top Review 40

No fire burns forever!

December 1993 Tunisia.
A newly married couple on their honeymoon get ready for the disco.
He grabs a sample he got when he bought her a
Gift.
"Hmm! Smells like a good shaving soap!" he thinks to himself and spreads
four drops on his neck and wrists.
After the soap withdraws a bit he recognizes a scent that looks very familiar to him namely the smell of his favorite
Drinks Gin and Tonic with a slice of lemon here but embedded in lavender. A little later join still cedar and sandalwood in addition
and make this fragrance a unique warming embrace.
This embrace remains throughout the evening and even when he wakes up the next morning, the scent has only slightly weakened, he would have had to evaluate this perfume at that time, he would probably have given a 9.5 in all points.
After they are back home he immediately makes his way to the perfumery to get a bottle of it, but when the saleswoman tells him the price it is like a slap in the face and he leaves the perfumery saddened with a bottle of Joop Homme, his signature at the time.
Two years later.
He stands in his former teenage bedroom and unpacks his few
Belongings, she apparently felt there were better men for her and broke up with him.He finds the sample tube and looks at the clock. "The perfumery is still open for half an hour and the few marks more in debt don't matter now" he thinks to himself
Since he is henceforth very economical with this for him so valuable perfume,
at the beginning only for himself now and then a splash on the wrist to be comforted and warmed by him and later then only on very special occasions two splashes on the neck, this flacon lasts a full 20 years with him.
Present.
When he holds his nose at a friend a flacon Joop Homme
and thinking about great events in the past,
he remembers his warming, fragrant friend.
In the evening he sits down at his laptop to look for him and finds him also quite fast at a clearly more favorable price than he would have expected. When finally almost two weeks later (great performance DPD) the package is in front of the door as he comes from work he can hardly wait, he opens the package and finds a new quite appealing Flacon before. "Chic! is good for you"
he thinks to himself and jumps under the shower.
Afterwards he spreads 4 spritzes on his neck and wrists like the very first time.
"I don't remember you being that soapy"
he thinks to himself. The soap goes back significantly slower and releases only hesitantly the other fragrance notes but after 30 minutes he is almost back, only the wood note and thus the warming embrace remains almost absent, it is rather just a friendly handshake.
After he has tested the fragrance for a few days, among other things, at work, where he does not fit times at all but also already got 2 compliments, the initial disappointment has
somewhat settled and he sits down again in front of the laptop opens Parfumo.de and gives for the fragrance 8, durability and sillage 8,5
and the bottle with the well-dispensable spray head 9 points.
While he starts to write a review he decides, while he is sure that this fragrance can never again warmly embrace him, that they nevertheless remain friends, especially since the fragrance now also fits much better to his age with his now 47 years in addition, the fragrance is still unique.
I hope my first review has pleased you, if not, then I am always open to constructive criticism.

11/24/2019

9
Bottle 8
Sillage 9
Longevity 8.5
Scent

Taurus
308 Reviews

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Taurus

Top Review 18

Lifted but down-to-earth

At that time Santos and Pasha de Cartier had the most beautiful flacons for me far and wide - at least as far as men's fragrances were concerned. I had bought the Pasha at that time, but in the end I wasn't as convinced of the fragrance as it seemed to me from its stylish, apart container. Santos, on the other hand, was less an option to buy. Probably he was too overblown and exhausting for me, after all, in his young years people preferred something fresh or rather sweet.

If the bottle had continued to be used in its original version, I would probably have been more intensively occupied with it again. Its appearance was strongly based on the Cartier Santos watch model, which in turn was a tribute to the world's first pilot's watch "Cartier Santos" from 1904. Among other things, it was also the first wristwatch with a leather strap and was co-developed by none other than the Brazilian motor aviation pioneer and inventor Alberto Santos Dumont. The reading of his pocket watch while driving his airship was just too difficult, whereupon he and his friend Louis-Francois Cartier thought about the improvement.

Although the bottle is still chic at the moment, it no longer has this extraordinary mechanical proximity to the watch model. This would also suggest that the scent may have changed.

What you get is a still pompous start with plenty of dark lavender and muscaty-peppery spice paired with rose geranium and juniper. It's still quite exhausting, but in the drydown Santos gets a fine soapy-masculine note, tart rather than sweet, with sandalwood, some patchouli and warm amber. Even the coconut can be skillfully woven into the fabric without being perceived as disturbing. Probably for me one of the very few fragrances with coconut that I find extremely pleasant.

In my memory it has been a bit wilder and more dominant, yet Santos is a masculine fragrance with plenty of stamina, but which requires maturity and character from its wearer. On the wrong people, the shot could go back properly and lead to a crash landing.

Too bad because of the beautiful bottle, but I think also so he has hardly lost his radiance and knows how to convince.

07/24/2018

9
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 9
Scent

Konsalik
81 Reviews

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Konsalik

Very helpful Review 15

It's true. It's true: Michael Knight is alive!

I have a certain soft spot for the '80s - at least in fits and starts. Then one RetroWave playlist after the other is being pashed through and Adorno's thoughts on the culture industry and the problem of escapist nostalgia are pushed aside.
When I now read in a comment to "Santos" that a spontaneous association had been "Knight Rider", I simply had to start a test.
To make a long story short: it could never have been formulated more precisely. The warm spicy nutmeg (belongs on every 80s cauliflower dish), the spicy cinnamon lace (at that time there were petit bourgeois desserts without?), the woods polished with Pronto or its American counterpart in Devon's office (perhaps only veneer?), the somewhat cheap, but all the more stubborn leather-smelling leather in Michael's TransAm... Yeah, he must have smelled like that. With good durability and not too exaggerated Sillage.

No, wait, not an American counterpart. It must be pronto. As always, this projection is also tied to the own circumstances of the time to which one refers. I don't know if cauliflower is eaten with nutmeg in the USA. But I know that even in my childhood (born 1985) on the Lower Rhine this 80s bouquet has survived for a long time. Way into the '90s. And I have rarely experienced this time capsule effect so perfectly. At most Tabac Original (grandfather). Even the smell of juniper from the local Schützenfest can be found here...
In short: I will have to buy Santos - not least to be able to return effortlessly now and then to a time in which - and this is the bitter core of many nostalgic spleens - in which many dear people were still there who are no longer alive.
I don't care what Adorno thinks.

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