Grand Amour (1996)
by Annick Goutal

This reminds me of Paris, where I first purchased this delicious scent. When I spray it on, I am immediately on the Champs Elysees. It is powdery, flowery and all that I want in a perfume. I just love it. I bought it first around Christmastime, so it reminds me of Christmas too. Memories just too good not to repeat time and time again. It smells good all day, with a little extra squirt in the evenings.

23rd August, 2011.

Starts as a patchouli balanced with a big white flower
patchouli goes slightly powdery
which it becomes a woody patchouli.

27th May, 2011.

Grand Amour, on my skin, opens with lush, dry florals and roses sprinkled with aldehydes.

While labeled as a feminine, I actually believe Grand Amour could be unisex. A prominent rose note.

While a bit fleeting than other floral fragrances that I've tried, Grand Amour does last longer on me than other Annick Goutal offerings, e.g. Eau d'Hadrien.

I'm a guy, and I like Grand Amour. Certainly not my favorite floral or rose, no, but it smells nice.

16th December, 2010. (Last Edited: 10th January, 2011.)

It's not the most impressive woody floral but it's overall nice. At the opening there's a dry wood and smoke scent. I initially thought this would be too dry for my taste. But then it started to sweeten and warm up on my skin. Most prevalent to my nose were the honeysuckle and hyacinth notes. Still dry and woody at this point, but with a leafy, grassy and earthy background. As stated in AnnS review, it's like working in your garden on a warm spring day. But I think this fragrance is most appropriate for evening wear.

31st January, 2010.

Time to hear from a guy on this one, I suppose. I had high hopes for Grand Amour after reading various reviews and descriptions, but things never did quite work out.

Grand Amour is sultry, dense, and heady from the very opening, yet somehow unsure of whether it wants to be a soapy, aldehydic floral or a rich, dark oriental. The complex assemblage of notes never manages to settle down and get itself organized, and the heart seems at once bitter, overbearing, and chaotic. This is a heavy, dark accord, but not something I find at all seductive.

A somewhat bitter rose note eventually rises to the top of this stew, but it’s not enough to tame the cacophony that wells up underneath. I have decided that Grand Amour is not something I'm going to enjoy, though I do admit that it has plenty of strength and character.

13rd December, 2009.

A hyacinth soliflore, that's what it seems to me. I love the scent of hyacynths; I'm just not sure I want to smell exactly like one. Cool chemistry, neat artistry, I'm just not sure about wearing it. In fact, I haven't worn it yet, just too nervous. If tomorrow is a rainy day and I stay home to clean, I will give it a full-blown test run. Then, I'll see if my opinion has changed.

8th May, 2009.