GFT (2001)
by Geo F Trumper

What a delightful pick-me-up! To my tastes, this, along with Balle de Match, is pretty much the pinnacle of men's semi-sweet citrus fragrances. It begins as grassy lemon, somehow capturing the brightness but not the sourness of the peel, with just enough soapiness from the blossoms thrown in to mellow it out. In a sense, it's lemon dishsoap, but only in the most delicate, ephemeral way, with just a hint of that sharp soap fizziness that irritates my nose when overdone. It also has a bit of the creamy headiness that I recently found in Creed's Royal Water, but it actually backs it up with something! As it fades, it manages to keep the ratio of tart lemon rind, sweet fruit, and soapy blossoms surprisingly constant, and slowly introduces woodier basenotes. It does venture closer to the brassy, golden metallic aura of Colonia Intensa or Lalique White, but like Burberry Original, GFT stops short of crossing over into that zone; I might call it an "organic" alternative to CI or LW. What's probably the most unusual here is that the stuff has superhuman longevity for a citrus fragrance. Even at the end of the day, I can still smell the quiet, soapy-citrus base, as almost a "clean linen" or "white musk" type of scent, but again in only the most natural, unforced sense, and with sweet lemon juice persisting hours beyond the point where you'd normally expect it to disappear. One of the best in its class.

1st October, 2011.

One of the best citrus based scents period. Opens with a nice lemon and citrus accord that actually stays present throughout, though fades a little as expected. With the heart comes the herbal notes based mainly on tarragon with the citrus ever present. Slight woodsy notes show up towards the end. Longevity on this one is excellent and this is hands down one of the best citrus fragrances in a crowded field.

24th September, 2011.

GFT is an bright masculine, highlighted by a fairly persistent lemon note and the herb tarragon, which gives this fragrance a unique character. Drydown is musky. I don't see this as cypress or cedar centered at all. A pleasant fragrance.

13rd December, 2010.

Straight up citrus in the opening volley—an excellent, non-synthetic accord that bubbles with effervescence. It reminds me a bit of a more refined, less minty Monsieur Balmain opening—it’s that bright and lively, and like MB, GTF’s opening is very long lived for a citrus. The herb utilized in the heart notes is the more rarely used tarragon, which makes it rather different from many other citrus / herbal fragrances, and gives the heart notes an atypical warmth —atypical for a citrus fragrance, that is. I must say that the tarragon is beautifully presented because I often have trouble liking accords with that herb. The cedar in GFT is a dominant note, second only to the citrus accord, but this particular cedar is not as domineering as cedar notes can very easily become. In fact, after the bright and lively citrus opening, this fragrance is quite warm, rich, and very well behaved. GFT is a clean and long lasting citrus fragrance with just plain wonderful accords.

Originally submited 24 May 2007, Taiwan

11th December, 2010.

Notes: mandarin, lemon, cypress, tarragon, lavender, cedar, moss, musk

I should like this. It has the sort of ingredients that appeal to me. It isn’t a bad scent, but it winds up as a Wellington lite clone. Like Wellington, it has that distinctive fusty smell of stale lemon drops. Unlike Wellington, it lacks a redeeming note of rosemary or pine. It is supposed to have cypress but I don't find any resinous notes. I don't see much similarity to Cypres-Musc.
It starts with lovely lemon and other citrus notes. These are good, and persist. Green notes appear, largely the tarragon which has a sweet hay and grass chord. Moss and musk appear, with hints of wood. And then those old lemon drops appear…

8th August, 2010.

This review is for the old formulation from a few years back. A quite brilliant modern take on their classic (and itself still brilliant, albeit short-lived on the skin) West Indian Limes, GFT is a lemon/orange citrus frag with some delicate herbs thrown in to compliment. The tarragon, often lending an unusual and almost gourmand accord to many juices it appears in, here is only just detectable in the middle and acts more as a supporting frame for the lemon to latch onto, which means that over four hours later the lemon is still there. Impressive for a citrus. Slowly, but surely, the whole thing melts into a light woody base, similar to Azzaro Pure Cedrat, slightly freshened by the "light musk" in the pyramid. Very well blended and balanced, GFT is probably the best frag Trumper have released since the 90s, specifically since Ajaccio Violets. The best thing about GFT, though, is the usual cloyingly sweet-powdery house accord, the down-fall of many a Trumper frag, is, by and large, a no show, leaving the simple notes to speak for themselves. The current formulation is, happily, pretty much identical to the original - the only difference I detect is that the citrus opening is not quite as intense, but otherwise it's still a five star frag and one of the most natural smelling synthetics currently available on the market.

6th May, 2010.