Grafton (1983)
by Truefitt & Hill

The citrus top notes seem to disappear almost immediately, leaving the lighter tarragon and lavender to enjoy. After a couple of hours, I noted the incense, which stayed with me for the entire day. What a nice summer day change of pace from my staples from Tom Ford and Creed !.

This is a prime candidate for layering. Working in unison with the other Grafton products available from T&H, this would work wonderfully. The citric top notes begin to burn off very quickly, providing a dry almost Rive Gauche feel. The warm and herbaceous middle notes provide a distinct warmth and ease that propel this effortlessly into the pantheon of excellent barbershop fragrances.

My favorite Truefitt & Hill scent, and perhaps more importantly, my partner's favorite when I wear it. This is barbershop at its best for 21st-century life. Those who lament synthetic qualities risk sounding like French wine producers with a fetish for "terroir." Yeah, France prizes terroir, but California makes dependable wines you more often want to drink. "Grafton" is clean without being too soapy, fresh without being too bright, and masculine without becoming down-market neanderthal. It is one of the easiest to wear scents I have ever known in my life. Confident, uplifting, positive, fresh, assured, and clean--all new morning with everything possible. Why wouldn't you want to smell like that?

First sniff I was blasted back to the 80's frags... then I came here and saw the release date listed in the database. Damn. Good to see a staple like this from an English company. Babershop fourgere that won't quit until you do.

I sampled this cologne because I considered buying it for my father as he loves barbershop fragrances. I am no expert, so take whatever I say as you wish, but I really do not think that this is a barbershop scent. It's a nice scent. It definitely has a fougere aspect. I felt it smelled somewhat like drakkar noir actually. But it's not barbershoppy. It's too modern smelling to be a barbershop scent. Pinaud clubman, lustray and all these old school plastic colognes / aftershaves that my father have lying around his medicine cabinet have something in common that this scent just doesn't capture. Don't get me wrong though, it's still a nice cologne.

Grafton wants to be the soul of the shaving cream smell, and one can appreciate that it is a nice traditionally-styled mens' fragrance. Unfortunately, it has two drawbacks IMHO: it's a little too forward and a touch synthetic. It is strong and long lasting, but just a bit too aggressive for me, kind of like a Brooks Bros. fragrance on steroids. This is not very subtle, nor distinctive for that matter. Trying to get the right application of this is tricky. It reminds me of the showers in some hotels that are either way too hot or, with just the slightest turn the other way, way too cold. Grafton is either too much or not quite enough. That's another sign of a synthetic product, to my way of thinking. Ultimately, it seems to be more American than English. I might get this someday, but for now, no, not really. Not when there are so many other great mens' barbershop fragrances out there.