Frapin 1697 Revisited

I remember a few years ago that Frapin had announced that there was going to be a new perfume to be released. That perfume's name was 1697 and since I had already fallen in love with 1270, I wanted to try it. When I got my hands on a sample, I was so excited. I promptly wore it, reviewed it and decided to not get a bottle. At the time, I was confused with the whole absolu thing and I still don't know what the hell it is. It's not exactly high on my priority list to fund out. I remember saying that 1697 was pretty much a toned down, less boozy version of 1270. While 1270 and 1697 are boozy, 1270 has more booze and stewed fruit than 1697. And since I had gotten another decant of the absolu, I stand by that statement. Wearing a decant of 1697 a few years later and knowing that the absolu isn't being sold anymore makes me want to take another look. I remember taking a look at the price tag for the absolu and saying that I don't love it enough for the price tag. Frapin's price tags are still a little scary to me even though it's a 100ml of perfume. I still stand by my statement that if you like 1270 but find it a little over the top, 1697 would be the better bet. I do love 1697, I don't love it enough to have a bottle since I have 1270. I wouldn't mind if 1697 were dropped in my lap but I am not going to buy it anytime soon.

I still don't know why I decided to visit 1697 again and look through it with new eyes but I did. I think that shopping my collection has something to do with it and being on a no buy. I have been wearing perfumes that I haven't worn in a while and some of them have been waiting over a year for me to grab them. Now, I need to rectify that and hopefully this no buy will help me use up a couple bottles. It's horrible to have almost no space because my collection is large. Maybe not the 700 bottle type of large but the 60 bottle large.

Frapin 1697 Absolu Review

I keep meaning to review Frapin's 1697 but I always get sidetracked with something else. When I first heard about this being released last year, I was kind of excited. I was going through an odd phase of just randomly buying full bottles of Frapin perfumes. Espirit de Fleurs and Passion Boisee left me underwhelmed and one of them left me a little nauseated. I'm guessing that I was so enamored with Frapin's 1270 that I thought that the others would be in the same vein. Passion Boisee and Espirit de Fleurs were nowhere near the same vein as 1270. Then, I got my hands on a decant of 1697 when first released. I was reading a lot of perfume blogs to see what other's were saying about it and the results were mixed.

On first contact with skin, there is a massive blast of booze along with what I can maybe identify as pineapple. I've never had a huge liking of fruity perfumes but Frapin did a fine job with fruit in 1270 but in 1697, I think it (the fruit aspect) was overdone along with the boozy aspect. I've noticed after three hours of wearing, the fruit and booze mellows out but still packs a huge punch. After 12 hours, 1697 is still going strong with no signs of slowing down. To tell the truth, I find this to be a much harsher and louder version of 1270. Would I buy? No, not when there is the mellower and much better 1270.

**Please note that 1697 is no longer sold in absolu form. The current version is an EDP.