Grain De Plaisir by Maître Parfumeur et Gantier, 1998

I was really looking forward to this one. I'm an avid fan of niche novelty scents like Piment Brulant and I Love Les Carrottes and I enjoy the celery notes in Yatagan and others, so I had high hopes. First sniff: Lemonheads candy. ** sigh ** So I lowered my expectations - this is going to be one of those dated chypres that gets the citrus wrong... Then, just a hint of licorice underneath. After a while, we left the candy store as the sweetness burned off, leaving the smell of those citronella coils you burn to scare away bugs. Finally, the celery came through, but it was the dank smell of celery boiled beyond recognition, harshly over-salted and over-cooked into a shapeless grey/green mush with all of the vibrancy and life force long since burned away and replaced with fusty, dated-smelling bergamot. Given time, a subtle geranium came in, another note that I usually enjoy used here as an unappealing source of dankness. I can enjoy a good, old-fashioned chypre, but some of them seem to wallow in their own dank and just get everything wrong. Grain de Plaisir is that dank kind, and it so perfectly highlights everything about that style that I find vaguely unpleasant that I find it just gross. That being said, despite my thumbs down review and the fact that I really haven't enjoyed Grain de Plaisir, I'll happily take unpleasant historical weirdness like this over MPG's silly fruity florals. I might not like it, but at least it's clever and interesting.

Maitre Pafumeur et Gantier Grain de Plaisir

Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier was formed in 1988 Jean Laporte, after his stint at L'Artisan. M. Laporte's vision for MPG was to create a line that hearkened back to Paris of the 17th century. These scents almost all have that sense of being from another time. Grain de Plaisir was one of the last scents M. Laporte designed before turning over the reins at MPG to Jean-Paul Millet Lage. Grain de Plaisir feels like a blast of freshness that one could belive being worn by a male courtier of the 17th century. The top of Grain de Plaisir is the most amazing citrus herbal mix. It is mostly lemon but I also detect some grapefruit along with a very green note which according to the note list is celery seed. This is the bite of lemon with a blend of green that is beautiful. The top of this lasts for an amazingly long time on me, which is unusual for citrus scents but this top is still in control on my skin two hours after application. Since the top is the best part of this scent, this duration is a good thing. The descent in to the heart begins with an almost minty pine accord which mixes with the remains of the citrus and celery quite nicely. The base is a sweet amber which is nice contrast to the tart beginning. Grain de Plaisir translates as a "moment of pleasure". For me this is much more than a moment of pleasure and the top notes of this are spectacular.

Top: lemon, mint, lavender
Mid: celery seeds, myrtle, fir
Base: vetiver, musk, sandalwood.
Grain de Plaisir is really interesting, in my opinion much better and more successful than its sibling Baïme. Both are herbal scents, but in Baïme the thyme dominates, is linear and not particularly attractive in and of itself. Here, the celery seed is surprisingly subtle, mysterious, and blends well with the other ingredients. A lemony-lavender opening quickly is augmented by complex herbal notes. They are dry, aromatic, and slightly dusky. There is a hint of celery, but it is mild and nutty, more like celery heart than strong bitter old outer stalks. Myrtle gives green aspects, and there is the hint of something coniferous. Later, vetiver emerges with grassy dusky elements. There is also a nice mild wood tone of sandalwood. This is a DRY scent, no florals here at all. The amber is used well, to give a resinous rather than a rich or sweet tone. GdP is dry... but not bitter! I dont find it challenging at all, I like such dry and aromatic scents. Admittedly, this is not what everyone is wearing. It is distinctive, an outdoorsy scent that works well indoors because of its subtlety and freshness. Very good!