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Scents in a shade of Grey

post #1 of 28
9/29/10 at 10:35pm
Thread Starter 
It's time for another vague description and for noses to try and match it up to a scent.

I'm looking for something that smells like the color grey would.

Grey Vetiver does a damn good job but I'm never satisfied with one. Do you have any other idea's? Other words to help you associate would be grey clouds, chilled wind, steel, shadows.
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post #2 of 28
9/29/10 at 10:53pm
It is an interesting idea to equate fragrances with a color or a mood. Strange but colors really do work well to describe fragrances. These are some that might be "grey".

Preparation Parfumee by Andree Putnam - a fresh grey with notes: driftwood, grey pepper, water lily and coriander leaves.

Narcisso Rodriguez Musc for Him - a steely grey and soft musk.

Equistrus by Parfum d' Empire - Soft grey. Notes: Orris, violet, rice powder, chocolate, ambrette, sandalwood, vetiver, grey amber.
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post #3 of 28
9/29/10 at 10:55pm
I was going to suggest N Rod For Him as well.
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post #4 of 28
9/29/10 at 10:59pm
+1 Narciso Rodriguez for him

Amouage Memoir Man smells very grey, like the ashes that remain in the fire pit the morning after. It's not strictly grey though.. it starts out more olive/dark green, and becomes greyer over time, peppered with black.

I get a sort of dark/grey quality from Gucci By Gucci PH.

Both Bulgari PH and Montale's Musk to Musk are slightly grey smelling to me, but more of a bright grey, almost silvery.

Encre Noire is decidely grey as well.

Opus II dries down to a sort of grey/dry incense and woods. It's opening has some lilac/lavender and turquoise like tones to me - like the colors I used for it in my signature below. Opus III is a very very light grey, like the color of old, faded newspaper. It smells of paper to me, too (along with powder). Very old school.

Lastly, L'homme De Coeur is a silvery grey. Very clean, cool and crisp.
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post #5 of 28
9/29/10 at 11:25pm
Gris Clair (Clear Grey) - my latest purchase

“This wandering pollen, like ashes dropped on a dead city, deploys its humble crowning with despair in the name of light from an adolescent sky. This magic dust brought by wind, has come to this austere and arid landscape made of rocks, luminous and sublime. Inaccessible, surrounded by stones, this flower – is it really a flower? – has made dew its watering hole. Insensitive to the burning of the sun, miracle in abandon, it survives. A magician, soft, hanging from its fingers of lace… slender roots. Eternal nectar; in its poor king’s cloak, stripped of its honours, “Lavender” I call it… grey the colour I give it. Poetic, marvel, diamond silk in eternal exile, she deploys her dry fragrance in a heart of flames which carries inside, in the name of beauty, the point of a star.”
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post #6 of 28
9/30/10 at 12:06am
Thread Starter 
That last description just cost me the price of a sample. Interesting recommendations so far.
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post #7 of 28
9/30/10 at 4:05am
I'd say Encre Noire, Derring-Do, and maybe Dunhill Black (greenish black).
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post #8 of 28
9/30/10 at 6:33am
even tho the bottle is green, i think bleeker street does a good job of portraying grey!
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post #9 of 28
9/30/10 at 7:01am
Quartz by Moulyneux makes me think about a neutral, mineral quality of its fragrance notes and thus I'lle be likely to associate this one with shades of cool, stony, almost nondescript grey
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post #10 of 28
9/30/10 at 7:27am
+ to Encre Noire and Gris Clair, probably the ashy smokeyness.

Also, maybe more charcoal, but the CDG incense series ones
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post #11 of 28
9/30/10 at 9:57am
Grey Flannel
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post #12 of 28
9/30/10 at 10:08am
Coriolan
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post #13 of 28
9/30/10 at 10:16am
Gris Clair, definitely. I also associate Fleurs de Sel (Miller Harris) with a dark grey. For me, it evokes standing on a sea bluff on a blustery day, breathing in the salt air and the dry herbal scent of coastal shrubs.
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post #14 of 28
9/30/10 at 10:22am
  • cpk
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Definitely Gris Clair... (the three dots are actually part of the name :-) ), but I think it dark grey, contrary to the name.
Also agree with Encre Noire. Equistrius is too sweet fro me to be grey.
Ca' Luna (Aqua di Biella) is a pale, cold grey to me. I love this scent. Smells a little like Eau d' Hiver.
Santal Noble is like a steel grey to me.
Voyage d' Hermes is milky grey.
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post #15 of 28
9/30/10 at 10:31am
Grey Flannel - sobre and really grey and calming. I wear it too.

Gris claire - greyer than grey
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post #16 of 28
9/30/10 at 10:39am
  • cpk
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I forgot a major grey scent: Eau de Gentiane Blanche
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post #17 of 28
9/30/10 at 11:23am
Frederic Malle's Vetiver Extraordinaire.
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post #18 of 28
9/30/10 at 12:07pm
Guerlain Vetiver: Octogenerian wearing an old grey suit and a grey hat
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post #19 of 28
9/30/10 at 1:03pm
Dior Homme
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post #20 of 28
9/30/10 at 2:23pm
+1 Preparation Parfumee
+1 Bulgari PH / Soir
+4 Narciso Rodriguez

And I will add Comme des Garcons Artek / Standard. Smells like a drawer full of charcoal pencils in a drafting studio.

Also Jacomo de Jacomo, which smells like ash, nearly to the point of being more black than grey.
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post #21 of 28
9/30/10 at 2:26pm
I agree with Gris Claire, Fleurs de Sel, Musk to Musk and L'Homme de Coeur.

And I will add:
CdG - Odeur 53
SL - Iris Silver Mist
Narcisco Rodrigeuz for Him
Profumum - Thundra
PG - Psychotrope
Boudicca - Wode
TDC - Bois de Iris

Many iris dominated fragrances have a "grey" smell.
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post #22 of 28
9/30/10 at 2:39pm
SL - Encens et lavande : grey coldness of ancient church's paving stones
SL - ISM : silver mist
SL - Gris clair: lavanda and cold lava ashes
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post #23 of 28
9/30/10 at 3:24pm
Another that comes to mind:

Eau d'Italie Sienne l'Hiver is a complex mix of wonderful things with a smoky edge, but overall I associate it with a stony gray color.
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post #24 of 28
9/30/10 at 4:02pm
I think Guy Laroche Horizon is gray. It evokes a gray, stormy landscape on a waterfront. Kenzo Pour Homme conveys a similar sensation to me.
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post #25 of 28
10/1/10 at 10:07am
  • cpk
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Haunani View Post

Another that comes to mind:

Eau d'Italie Sienne l'Hiver is a complex mix of wonderful things with a smoky edge, but overall I associate it with a stony gray color.

I thought about this one too but the smell of brick in this one makes it more brown to me
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post #26 of 28
10/1/10 at 11:02am
L'Artisan Parfumeur Dzongkha - grey bleak landscape, craggy mountains, austere monastery
Ulrich Lang Nightscape - silvery grey cityscape in twilight

and +1 on Gris Clair : lovely great big pile of smouldering ashes
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post #27 of 28
10/1/10 at 11:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpk View Post

I thought about this one too but the smell of brick in this one makes it more brown to me

Hmmm... I see what you mean about Sienne l'Hiver. It's a warmish gray for me, perhaps with some brown mixed in.

I think Diamondflame has a good suggestion in Dzongkha!
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post #28 of 28
10/1/10 at 12:40pm
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Gendarme V smells of a cold synthetic green-grey, much like the colour of this
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