Essence of John Galliano room spray

I bought this one from here : http://www.premiereavenue.fr/

I`m not sure if the spray is discontinued, but I wouldn`t be that suprised. It seems quite rarely available these days, and the thing is, that at least to my suprise the candle version of this seems to be way much more popular comparing to spray.

It is kind of sad that this has been put out as a room spray, since imo it does work on skin like a proper EdT. Let`s put it this way: if Diptyque decided to make EdT (or even EdP) out from this, I really do wonder if it would be that different at all to that room spray version.

Birch tar is a key ingridient in this scent, no doubt. Iris and incense are prominent co-stars, while the vanilla/musk combo is in very small dozes, giving this only a hint of sweetnes. Dry & extremely earthy fragrance in general.
All in all, this smells very much like a especially peaty and smoky Scotch whisky. And in fact, for that reason, I think this is one of the most booziest smelling fragrances ever made.

It is available in 100ml bottle only. On me the longevity is 5 stars all the way, and the sillage is totally satisfying.

Trebor, if you`re interested, I`d be happy to send you a sample of this. Just drop me a PM, if you`re interested.

I tried this today for the first time (thanks nsamadi). A big WOW! What took me so long to try this wonderful fragrance!?

My curiosity was piqued because in Helg's fantastic review of Serge Noire on her site (here), she compares the top notes of SN to Essence of John Galliano ('...Initially dry and spartan with the flinty, camphoreous aspect of gun powder comparable to Essence of John Galliano for Diptyque, ashes to ashes and snuffed out candles, Serge Noire by Lutens assaults the senses with the intense austerity of real frankincense and elemi...')

Wearing it this afternoon, I see exactly what she means.

The top notes are strikingly similar. I detect a much more toned down spice accord in EoJG, more woods. The wood is not necessarily burning, like SN, but it's dry, resinous and slightly tar prominent. When it dried down, it got slightly acrid, like Norma Kamali Incense, but then pulled itself back a little and went back to the wonderful woody accord. I get very little sweetness from this (no honey in sight).

I was always afraid of the allergic reactions I might get to this, since Diptyque markets it as a Room Spray. I'm glad to say, this feels just like an EdT on my skin. I also just learned that Giacobetti did this. Double wow!

I know what I'm putting on my Christmas List!

I like it a lot but don't own a bottle because it doesn't last at all, at least on my skin. It's a room spray and at most, an EDC.

One of my favorite so called campfire or gothic scents. I'm really hoping JG's first mens scent will be something like this. Candle also looks good.

Now in the very final drydown, it smells like Palisander (Series 2: Red) by Comme des Garcons. Lovely.

I wore this today as a personal fragrance and I have to say I'm very impressed. I bought it about 2 years ago and used it as a room spray; emptying the bottle in a year or so. I repurchased it yesterday and I tested it to see if it causes any skin irritation and thankfully it didn't. It didn't last long when I sprayed one spray yesterday. But today I went crazy on the trigger about five hours ago and I can still clearly smell it. I can say it's pretty linear but it does get sweeter as it dries down. I'm guessing that sweetness is probably myrrh or sandalwood (as Mike stated the drydown is Palisander-like). Crazy good!

EDIT: Ok this is weird...I'm now getting some ashy, moldy incense very reminiscent of my beloved d'humeur rien by L'artisan.

I absolutely love this stuff. Don't be afraid to wear it.

oh goody, just bought a bottle last week so this is getting me excited. Of course the whole Galiano-racist thing hasn't helps sales recently, but my nose doesn't have ears.

Scent just gifted this to me! Thanks scent!

I was planning on using it as a room spray but if you're all using it on your skin then i want to also. Butt I'm afraid to.
It's a room spray, aren't there any chemicals in it.

This can be sprayed on skin, no problem. Go lightly...this ones very tenacious.

Thanks mike.

This is a great scent, I have to admit. Just unique as hell. It really grows on you. Figures that Giacobetti did it - it had to be somebody really good.

Now that it's been a while since I first smelled this, I realize how very birch prominent this fragrance is, I mean it smells JUST like burning birch wood. Which is such a unique olfactory experience it's amazing that Giacobetti was able to capture it in a bottle. I found it a bit tiring to wear some times, so I really had to be in the mood to wear it when I owned my full bottle, but then this is the case with me for most extremely woody fragrances (Chene by Serge Lutens comes to mind). It conveys a feeling of 'warmth' when I smell it, that I enjoy.

Enjoy spraying this in my home just prior to receiving guests. It always gets compliments.

I can believe it.

My bottle resides in the bathroom

i order this after reading reviews here on BN. My bottle is on the way...a 150ml for $60 is surely a bargain.i am wearing Gucci pour home 1 that i just received by mail today and i wonder if there's any similarity.

No none at all IMO. I bought this room spray and was hoping for a nice church type incense scent to wear. To me it smells too much like the straight up potpourri scent you get from walking into Pier One Imports in the 80's, and just doesn't work to wear for me. It smells just like an expensive potpourri room spray. And really has a Christmas vibe. What I get is that there is this distinctive 80's potpourri coloured wood chips scent and I just can't get past it. But it does smell nice for a room spray, as a scent I don't want to smell like the coloured wood chips that my mom had in a glass bowl in the family room in the 80's. It really just smells cozy cozy cozy to the max. Cozy was designed for room sprays and I understand this now after buying this. I wear lots of good Incense fragrances, but this was made for rooms and it is quite clear after I smelled it. It's not dark or gothic or liturgical, just real cozy.

It does seem to work quite nicely, actually - tried a shot on my wrist a couple of hours ago. Unusual.

I don't want John Galliano's "essence" anywhere near me. Thanks

Don't be silly.

I still really enjoy this scent but mostly use it as room spray. It doesn't smell anything like potpourri (no eucalyptus or bay leaf in it) but I don't think of it as incense either. It has birch tar leather with a warm smokey campfire like finish. The closest other fragrance I would compare it with is Or Black from Pascal Morabito which is quite similar to this. It is excellent as a personal fragrance, but it is an incredibly unique room scent. I like it best as an atmospheric room scent and the candle version of it also very good! Tis unlike anything else I've smelled.

I've tried wearing this a few times and also found as a personal scent it's overwhelming. Solid room scent but be warned when applying to yourself it's STRONG, so maybe keep it below the waist and on fabric?


I believe they also do a Feux de Bois room spray too so that's a related option.

buyers remorse hope this stuff turns out well....

Hey you may really like it. I just had high expectations and was looking for something that was an incense church scent, and this is not. I have looked for almost every church liturgical scent out there, and was told the JG wanted this scent to resemble a Church type scent, and read it in some reviews also. So at $60 for a 150ml I decided to go for a blind buy because it was discontinued and wanted to get a bottle before it became hard to find one.

I really was let down, as I know it was Olivia Giacobetti who created it and she also was behind the creation of L'Artisan's D'Humeur A Rien and Passage d'Enfer. So seeing I own both of these scents and love them I was expecting something special from her, and H'DAR is one of my favourite scents. But really it smells like christmas time to me with the scent of potpourri, so just a cozy scent my mom would like the living room to smell like during Christmas.

I find it very thin or watered down also as this is why it is obviously is a room spray, and I don't mean it has poor longevity or fades quickly, but you can tell that it is only a room spray as I can tell it doesn't have the richness of a true fragrance or it doesn't have a mood that I associate with wearing but get the mood it was designed to make a room feel cozy. I really wanted to love this and still try it on from time to time hoping I'm missing something or will get something to make me love it, but always just cozy christmassy room scent that smells like Pier One.

I was hoping for strange, perhaps melancholy, but the mood that I get from this was designed for a room not the body, so this is where I get put off by it as well. And it's not because I know it's a room spray, but it really smells like it was made for a room to me, and I think Olivia Giacobetti may have kept this in mind when she created it and I can really tell, but it's still nice though. I hope I will see something in it that I am missing and my nose detects something that will make me change my mind, I really want to, but I can't seem to, no matter how hard I try. Honestly I hope you don't get what I get, and you like it as a fragrance. I am going to keep trying to see if I can lose the christmassy Pier One vibe it gives me, I will let you know if that ever happens.