Greyland
by Montale

Comparisons with Gucci Pour Homme I are inevitable but where the Gucci is a bold peppery/incense laying on an woody/ambery base, Greyland strikes as much more starker and minimalistic. The main peppery/incense accord is immediately joined by a sharp cedarwood note that while it's perfectly executed at the same time adds even more severity to this extremely manly composition. Other woods, cumin and leather work as rough (but fascinating) refinements. Nice.

If you like bone-dry fragrances a-la French Lover, CDG Monocle Scent 2 Laurel or the aforementioned Gucci Pour Homme, give Greyland a chance.

Downside: zero sillage, weak lasting power.

1st November, 2011.

Rubbery. Scrubber.

I love Montale, both in terms of scents generally and how they develop on my skin, but this one just doesn't cut it. Too rubbery, too industrial, too synthetic. Nothing sexy or inviting about this one, other than ironically the decent sillage.

27th February, 2011. (Last Edited: 14th April, 2011.)

For fans of the voluptuous Gucci pour Homme who long for a variation of the same thing, here it is. The two scents have smoke, incense and a sweaty-crotch sexiness (the cumin?) in common, mind you a sweatiness of a well-groomed body; most pleasant. What I like about Greyland is the absence of a certain Bourbon vanilla note that was very gourmand and very gorgeous in GpH, but which verged on too-muchness. Greyland goes light on the vanilla, adding more musks instead, which makes for a pleasant, modern, heady masculine which is 'clean' enough for the office but sexy enough for after hours. A pleasurable scent that I enjoy getting compliments on.

22nd August, 2010.

Greyland has an arresting opening of lavender, sharp cedar, leather, and spices, including cardamom, black pepper, and cumin. It’s aggressively masculine, but also civilized and remarkably well balanced. The heart is still leather, cedar, and spice, joined by labdanum and dark incense. There’s nothing floral and nothing sweet about it. In this it reminds me of Yatagan, but without the astringency of artemisia or the animal reek of castoreum. The much-discussed cumin is not intrusive to my nose. It just lends a warm, toasty aspect to what might otherwise have been a very severe scent.

Greyland dries down very quickly to a crisp woody base, then disappears after two or three hours. I think I might like it if it hung around a little longer. As it is, it’s just OK. and just OK is not enough at these prices.

23rd December, 2009.

Montale certainly picks some odd names for fragrances: there is Sliver Aoud, which most people seem to misread a Silver Aoud; there is Chocolate Greedy, which doesn't quite sound right in English and to keep this list short, there is Greyland. The mental picture Greyland gives me is of a barren, parched land; or perhaps where the space aliens from Area 51 go on vacation. The name does not sell itself to me! Okay, but how is the fragrance? The opening hits with an intense spicy mix of black pepper, a cumin like accord, and elemi. Indeed, two reviewers note elemi and I think it is the most pronounced note in Greyland. The cumin goes away, the black pepper tones down, but the elemi lasts a good long while. I don't really get sandalwood or leather accords. I think it is an okay scent, a bit intense, but nothing I would wear. And I certainly wouldn't call it Greyland! I give it a neutral rating.

6th August, 2009.

Wood notes: cedar, sandalwood, vetyver, kayak
Spice notes: ginger, black pepper
Base: Arabian leather, musk, Tibetan rock rose
These notes are from the Montale site. I note that oud is not mentioned, and I believe it – I don’t detect any here. This is a woody scent through and through. The opening is a bit sweet, but not challenging. Lovely cedar notes emerge – they are woody and not suggestive of pencil-shavings. Pepper spices accompany the wood. And that chord maintains itself for several hours. So, while I appreciate the woody notes, I don’t think this especially distinctive in the world of cedar scents. Nothing wrong with it at all; it just doesn’t bring something new to the table.

3rd June, 2009.