Grand Amour
Goutal (1996)

A very oldschool smelling floriental. It's not even that old though. Subtle. Nuanced. There is a floral beauty to it. I could get used and fall in love with that - but I would need patience, and patience is hard to come by these days.

However, this slightly wistful, softly floral perfume that smells of times long gone seems to move me a bit to the direction of becoming a better, more composed, more patient and more appreciative person, and this alone is quite spectacular.

Grassy hyacinth and honeysuckle with an under-lying note of a$$. (can I say that?) Nasty undertone ruins what could be nice. Not for me.

This starts with an ultra-floral opening blast: honeysuckle, honeysuckle, hyacinth, more hyacinth, and a good lashing of jasmine after a while. A gorgeous and intense bouquet, which is bright and positive.

In the drydown I get a lily impression very soon afterwards, and then the Turkish rose develops, but on me the rose is more of an accompaniment of the other floral players. A few moments of a muguet is detectable too at a later stage, as is a hint of a gentle spiciness, a myrrh mainly that has a gently musky characteristic, but is has a green side to it too.

There is always the bunch of flowers that is at the heart of this creation; is remains present until just before the end. In the later stages a very discreet ambery vanilla in the background.

I get moderate sillage, adequate projection and a very respectable overall longevity of eleven hours on my skin.

This is an intense floral scent ideal for spring evening events. It exudes rich and mature elegance with an aura of brightness, vividness and youthful quality - the ingredients are of a very high quality indeed. The performance is impressive in its balance and the blending is exquisite. 3.75/5

I sent for a sample of this out of curiosity in view of the review by Ayala below comparing it to the scent of mastic (lentisque). Mastic has a bitter green-woody odour akin to galbanum.

It shows how subjective is the sense of smell in that what my own nostrils picked up was a floral bouquet in the style of L'air du Temps, plus some hint of indole. A pleasant and very traditional perfume, from this respected brand.

I will have to look elsewhere for the green and woody notes I tend to go for.

A lovely floral oriental. Rich combination of hyacinth, lily, honeysuckle, rose, jasmine, myrrh, and Lydia broom. Great for early spring or late fall when you want something with flowers. Deep, dark flowery creation. Timeless.

This is a big, bright lily fragrance that dries down to a sweet rose! The base has a faint touch of clean, dry laundry, but it's mostly dominated by floral concentrates. This is something I could appreciate having a full bottle of, similar to the other Goutal fragrances I've tried. The house style suits me.

Update: Eventually, the laundry musks (is that the right term?) take over, but they're inoffensive. It's better than lacking longevity, and the florals hold on for a long time - 8 to 10 hours or so - and develop interestingly. As far as synthetic-smelling all-day longevity bases go, I can't recall one better than this.