Curzon (1882)
by Geo F Trumper

Curzon opens with a clean breezy lemon and lime accord which is herbal and soapy. It is light and never overpowers and projects nicely but it does not last for more then three to four hours on my skin.

14th January, 2012.

This one is much more dryer than the other traditional GFT offerings (Wellington, Astor, Marlborough) and unlike the aforementioned ones this one has no real smokiness to it. There is a subtle lavender in the opening and some light sweetness, though nothing too sweet. At the heart the oakmoss takes over with force and you are left with a natural mossy fragrance. Longevity is very short and overall though nice, this one doesn’t do much for me.

24th September, 2011.

Today I am briefly testing Trumper's drier, more leathery offerings Astor, Curzon, Eucris and Marlborough together. It took me a few tries to distinguish them.
Curzon is sweeter and woodier, smoke with honey. Drydown is a gentle, Preferred Stock type smoke and wood or incense, with judicious but effective spices. The sweetest of these, but well within reason. Improvement over Floris Elite.

26th March, 2011.

Dry dry dry. Curzon, one of Trumper's original classic scents, is now only available in aftershave form, the cologne having been dropped properly from the cologne range last year (at which point Trumper themselves were claiming it was one of only four scents NOT to have been reformulated from its original incarnation - take that as you will). This is a review for the cologne version, 30 and 50ml bottles and testers of which can still be found in some indie chemists here in the UK. Curzon is like a more subdued Aramis Devin. Surprisingly for a 19th century traditional English frag, Curzon is neither sweet and powdery, nor is it in your face. Opens with some citrus and bitter woods and settles down to a mossy and leathery base, with some very dry herbs all the way through and a hint of patchouli way down at the back. It's the weakest of the "Classic 4" (the other three being Astor, Marlborough and Wellington) in several senses (scentses!) of the word - it has the least longevity and silage, it's the least complex and is the least nice. But it isn't bad and, if you like the idea of Devin but find it way too strong, then Curzon is perfect. It's a safe and conservative traditional frag which is unlikely to offend anyone.

6th May, 2010.

Not bad but nothing to write home about either. Curzon is for the Victorian dandy in you - it's a heady floral masculine with a very strong oakmoss base, which I would assume makes this a chypre. A big, powdery English Lavender note segues into mildly spicy notes and what smells like pine, which is a nice touch but doesn't last long. The drydown is mainly oakmoss with some slightly peppery spice notes. I'm not crazy about the way the oakmoss drydown smells; it smells soggy and musty.

Overall, Curzon is just okay, with nothing that really stands out, other than its initial floral headiness and the dour, dreary oakmoss base. It smells very much like a cruder Cerruti 1881, without any of 1881's sparkle or cheerfulness. It smells like it came from the "Dandified Fragrances" recipe book and was thrown together in a rush. I expect better quality from G.F. Trumper than this.

MY RATING: 5.5/10

3rd May, 2010. (Last Edited: 11th May, 2010.)

Bergamot, Oakmoss, French Labdanum, Patchouli and Spices.


This is quite interesting, although I must admit immediately that I am not interested in buying an actual bottle of this. No, its not THAT interesting and my sample vial will do very nicely with this one.


Curzon starts off smelling like some vintage, dated bitter leather chypre with oily structure. There is a huge doze of oakmoss in this scent.

Drydown reveals fairly complex developments and changes, and eventually I am able to relate this even to Palais Jamais by Etro. (Although I like PJ much more as it is more natural with much more timeless and versatile feel to it)
Btw, I am surprised to see not pine wood lacking from the list of notes. At least I imagine I can smell something very pine-y in this blend.


Curzon is a classical woody chypre fragrance heavy on oakmoss. Very easy too detect that vintage-like, overripe bergamot note too that flows all the way from the top to the bottom.
Curzon is bitter-green and to my mind hopelessly dated. It smells very natural in way mixed forest smells when its thick and dry growth is seeking desperately some rescuing rain showers after some long bone-dry season.

There are much better and more vital fragrances of this kind available.

15th February, 2009.