Diamond jubilee bouquet is a gorgeous, a fresh floral accord atop a classy, naturalistic, creamy and rounded iris/orris powder, shocked with mild greens and purples. I say 'natural' because it doesn't seem to break up into sweet carrot slop or individual papery ionones, nor is it complete powdery, parma violets affair, it's strikes a lovely balance, as does everything Grossmith have put in a bottle to my recollection. It's a little timid in terms of lasting power and impact and perceived value, especially at these prices, but hey let's not crucify it for that, thank goodness Grossmith haven't resorted to keeping up with trends or making big noxious bombs, attempting to be the next big thing in luxury perfume, especially surprising as they strive to make it in the middle eastern market. A fine perfume then, the opening few minutes is nothing short of magic and is worth wearing for that alone, but compared with the other excellent offerings from this house it ranks somewhat lower.

This has a mad opening to me. I smell a discrete rose accord which is either tacky or the most accurate and refined rose I've ever smelled, I genuinely don't know which? lol. However, that's all irrelevant because the accord is oddly very fleeting and Putain is not about roses it's a powdery, musky fragrance with a sort of artistic bite, preventing it from being a completely friendly, cute affair. I wouldn't say it's animalic or anything overt but there's an undercurrent of something heading in that direction. It possesses that creative punky spark Etat used to have, but has been lost somewhat in recent years. I get an overarching femininity to it and that was set to be the final decider for me (not that I don't own any femme perfumes, of course I do) until the deep drydown of purely endulgent, beautiful musks, close to the skin a heavenly blend of ambrette softness and pink powdery tones. I mean, sure there's loads of fragrances which have great base notes where you might not necessarily get on with the rest, and I can't go around buying perfumes to enjoy after 8 hours, not that I didn't enjoy the start of this mind you. I actually loved the muskiness SO much that I would consider getting this one.

This one passed me by completely this release, Now that I've caught up frankly, I'm not enamored. I find it's a bit too balanced, as in the elements like eucalyptus, geranium and tea, could've been real players in the composition and are blended, almost beyond recognition. I mean, what a thing to moan about hey? feel like a right whinger, but this is a disappointing, albeit unique smelling perfume. So you do get this herbal, puff of spa retreat steam at first, complete with warmth and the sense of humidity in the opening gambit, somewhere between white musk and 'clean' associations, alive with 'products' and then a buttery undercurrent starts to develop. It's kinda bland, unpopular biscuit left at the bottom of the barrel kind of energy. I don't quite mean that as it sounds. I actually think that it gives some contrast and I'm glad it's there, because otherwise this fragrance would have little to talk about. It's just not my scene. I simply don't like it. Make it sharper even, the fact I'm advocating for more Eucalyptus or camphor (not a big fan) should tell you how bored I was with this fragrance, I just wanted to grab it by the lapels and shake some fucking life into it!

I was sent a sample of this by a friend as a much more palatable take on Tonnare by Beaufort. Other than the smoke, and the naval, military battle references, I don't get the connection particularly. Tonnare is a brutal mess of hairspray, seaspray, oppressive smoke and antique violence, This is for sure much more palatable, yet it's not particularly great, and not my cup o tea. The smoked ham/flint sort of note, swelling and pervading then retreating and revealing a much friendlier aspect. It's labdanum and sweeter toned perfume department stuff, accented with greens and a kind of incense accord. I get why my friend likes it. It's not heavy smoke, this is predominantly a resinous perfume with birch/guaiac phenolics over the top, a way more accessible, entery level, use of the smoky stuff, but if you like that you might find it a bit wanting, craving some more balls. Frankly I like my smokey perfumes to be even more subtley suggestive than this even, I think you can conjure smoke without having to go reaching for the birch tar or cade. In anycase revolution dries down much less smoky to me, far more perfumey and familiar It's a like. I can see what Lynn Harris has done here, not an avid though.

Yes so I own this now. Frederic Malle would rather have me buy a 10ml and return if I don't like it, than simply supply a sample, but hey ho, jokes on me because when Celine did that with a full bottle, I ended up keeping it, looks like this will be the same. Is that because I love it? No. Uncut gem is not the most fascinating or creative olfactory artwork in the world, but artwork it is nonetheless. If this was released by a 'lesser brand' you might dismiss it as weak, high street, rubbish, hell some Malle detractors might feel this is par for the course. I don't. I feel he's (they've) very deliberately made a fragrance here which almost cocks a snook at those designer realm 'freshies' I mean perhaps I give FM too much credit but I always feel everything is deliberate and so close to the hackneyed stuff I'd usually moan about from some new indy brand, but somehow, low key parody, while also elevated. Malle has almost established a kind of immunity from criticism, and not because I blindly love everything he does but because the perfumes really are clear visions. I mean, anyone who moans about this was quite clearly told in the blurb that it was ambroxan heavy and kinda citrus, with a masculine twist, (Basically they prepared you for it not being all that exciting) and that's what it is. There's a strange effect when it's applied a kind of olfactory swell, where the sea has gone out and the waves are about to come back in all at once. It's a kind of anosmic void, you know stuff is there and there's a topnote of sorts but it's the effect of modern, aroma chemical affairs like this. I smell a kind of mandarin orange and grapefruit citrus which is extremely pleasant and then the relentless, woody powder of ambroxan and hedione, all diffusive and pushing a little twinkle of gingery spice on a breeze. I do get a kind of roughness and perhaps that's the 'uncut' element to what seems like a pretty clean, and precisely cut stone in the main. It is ever so slightly leathery, you might think I'm mad for saying that but it has those, kinda masculine, fumes that tenacious, fuel effect of woody ambers just finishing off this composition. I don't like looking at notes and the description so far is only by my nose and the initial marketing I read and swiftly forgot, but I glanced at the notes here and angelica is interesting because it's included in two other predominantly masculine Malle's Geranium pour monsieur and French Lover. I do get some of it's bright, slightly translucent green, charm in this. I could just be imagining that because I saw it listed though? Point is, (and striving to be as objective as possible here), if this was released by Davidoff or Burberry as some transitory outlier line to the flagship, destined to end up in bargain buckets before the years out, I'd give credit where it's due and say it's still a good perfume. Not hugely exciting but I'd give it credit for having a classiness and great use of common materials to make something more effective and appealing by doing LESS. However that's not what those kind of companies want in the main, they are committee'd into popping that bubblegum or 'EVERYTHING' note from Eros, or Dylan Blue or whatever?? Had it been made by Memo, (which it could well have been) I'd still accept it's appeal but I'd roll my eyes at paying some daft sum of money for the pretense of the 'world's finest raw materials', but at least you get a fancy bottle right? Malle strips all of that away, as a welcome artist who strips all of that away. Yes you're paying for the name, (outragously so with The Night...etc....) but that's the case with everything and I hold Malle in high regard even when he (and Roucel) make quite an average perfume, which is kinda what Uncut gem is. Just to speak to it's masculinity again for a moment (clearly part of the brief) there's something about these understated, fresh perfumes which seem to be popular with the bro crowd and Uncut Gem might just be a hit in the same way Luis Vuitton L'immensite or Dior's Bois D'Argent, you just never can tell what is going to gain traction. I suspect this perfume is one I don't immediately connect with as such, but think is very nice but will likely grow in stature and my affections.

Tragically, I overlooked this years ago, when I went 'meh, that's a featureless 'clean' musk, especially for SL' but that is precisely why it's so good, revisiting it today. A bright uplifting incense, haunted very briefly in the top notes by a sweet violet like note, but don't get me wrong it's not a violet perfume, It's about a very clinical incense accord, slight but ever present and then warm at the end. Dries down to a truly lovely skin musk. Yeah very good.

This perfume is magic! Absolute magic. The ultimate sepia toned fragrance, translucent possessing both resinous heft and depth, but has a lightness, allowing it to be light and nuanced. It does remind me of coke. Not cocaine before you Tuscan leather sniffers start, but coca cola (other brands are available) infact it's more like the syrup of an own brand or soda stream cola, or holding up cola bottle (sweets) to the light. That's highly reductive though because it has a blend of spices with gingery bite, cinnamon warm, anise character and much more. Leathery amber is a broad approximation of this fragrance. It’s MAD because I looked at the notes and reviews here and people were talking about almond notes etc… which I TOTALLY didn’t get at all. However as this dries down after several hours it goes almost floral, and lightly powdery and that sweetness becomes that cherry/almond benzaldehyde smell but really, really natural, not something forced in fact it smells like real tonka absolute which has those qualities and indeed I get almond sure, but like nearly 12 hours later on my clothes. I like it very much indeed, a fun fragrance to wear if you like sweet, piquant spices, cherry coke/Dr Pepper stuff like that but conveyed in an unusual and high quality manner. I want it but I fear it’s not gonna be easy to get as the sample is old.

Constantinople feels wierd to me. Like Rayaud and Salamagne had a blazing row during it's formulation and finished it in an angry, half arsed way. Call me a reductionist with an unsophisticated schnozz but I felt this was like a pale rose/oud with much of the rose bleached out of it and only the most translucent 'oud' accord left behind. However, I kind like the fact the rose is so muted, it sort of works in it's favour and reminiscent to me of Penhaligons (fuck I can't remember what it's called but I own it) Levantium that's it!!! A big, spectacle of a rose with earthen patchouli at it core and wierd twangs of saffron or something? but crucially the rose is ever present but feels, decayed and blunted with melancholy almost. This perfume has a similar feel, and actually probably from the listed geranium, but it's no where near as good. Could I get Iris or pine from it? (what else is listed?) Yeah I don't know, I don't care all that much.

Okay, Petra is a good perfume, let's get that out of the way. It's really not very trendy to make a populist myrrh perfume (well it's becoming a bit more trendy) many perfumes with myrrh in the title often don't overtly smell of myrrh, at least not mainstream Penhaligons types shit. Anyway this is a sticky myrrh biased amber with hefty woody tones and lots of discrete sweetness. Let's talk about the opening because that has the most overt, almost fruity and date like, caramelised, smell, I really love it and coupled with the most overt licorice which lasts throughout the entire perfume, I couldn't help but be wooed, in the initial phases at least. There's a bit of a downside here, clearly if you don't like licorice or anything verging on that, you're not going to dig this perfume or care about any other facets it might have, because it will plain put you off. Even me, someone who loves it, and thought licorice needed to be featured more in perfume at one time, could (and did) feel a bit fatigued by this because it is quite a heavy wear, and Licorice is somewhat of a recent trend in perfumery and I've definitely smelled it coupled with strong amber accords like this one before. (There's an Armani Prive one which is actually more subtle than Petra) However, I have to return to the fact that this is a really lovely, well made perfume, without any of the screechy, jarring BS of Halfeti or anything like that. Funny that tea is mentioned this does have some odd tea like quality, sandwiched somewhere between the resinous, tacky (texturally) myrrh and the dry, rooty, woody aromas, also the anisic quality of fennel (which I don't really get if I'm honest) IS actually a key component to creating that licorice feel. I'm onboard, I wouldn't buy it myself just because it didn't speak to me as loudly as I like, but I wouldn't blame anyone for being into it.

I mean for me, this is the greatest masculine Guerlain and probably one of the greatest fragrances for men ever created, so it's a little redundant to talk about notes and such but to me this is a vibrant powdery, carnation and quintessential mossy perfume. Elegant, aerated just perfect and can do no wrong in my eyes. One issue I have is the price and scarcity of the vintage bottle, (not helped by reviews like this one) is extremely prohibitive and I'm someone who has admired this perfume from afar for many years, just watching supplies dry up and prices skyrocket, so I've only got myself to blame. Another thing is that while the older bottles have all that vintage charm and aged, base body and depth, I feel as though the reissued Parisiens version has understandably brighter top notes, and more of the original intent that the old stuff probably had, when it was new, and just an overall appeal to me personally, so I guess that's why I'd seek that one out. And finally did.....but now that's been discontinued. eeek!!! Bottom line is this is an amazing, landmark piece of perfumery, and a friend of mine recently sent me a sample to reacquaint myself with the vintage version and it's just spectacular to wear and feel.