Merry Christmas!
Waiting to go to a Christmas dinner (where I think I'll be wearing Nuit de Noel, just for the sake of it), I put on two more Goutals.
Chevrefeuille: citrusy and mixed herbs of the parsley family, a touch too sweet as it goes. Not bad, but not a fan, too close to both functional and foodie.
Grand Amour: big radiant floral. Nice sharp green up top, then hyacinth, which I like a lot. But then there's some hazy, round note (lactonic? who knows) that reminds one too much of florists, and not necessarily in a good way. I looked at Sanchez's review, she mentions Chamade, I didn't really get much of it - this smells more modern and full. She also mentions silvey sheen, which I agree with.
cacio
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After a long pause, a few more scents:
Heure Exquise: perhaps my favorite feminine in the line. Green chypre-ish, but somewhat warm. Comparisons to No 19 have been made, but this one is more relaxed. Great.
Ce Soir ou jamais: watery floral with fruits. Not great.
Eau du Sud: pleasant, refreshing green cologne. A good member of an eau de cologne rotation. I prefer it to the (current formulation of) Eau d'Hadrien.
Duel: nicely anisic, slightly bitter-woody. Very pleasant, though not very strong on me. A good, relaxed masculine nonetheless.
Songes: beautiful rich jasmine.
Sables: this one I didn't try because I own it. My favorite in the line. Beautiful immortelle: rich, long lasting, smooth, pleasant. Smoother than other more striking or angular renditions of the material, and likely the one to try for those who don't really like the material.
Matin d'orage: it took me a couple of wearing to pay attention to this, somehow it just seemed to get lost ... Greenish scent seems to turn a little bit soapy as it goes. So so. TS laments an unbearable woody amber - uncharacteristically (since I also tend to strongly dislike woody ambers), but I must be hyposmic to this one, which also would explain why I find it soapy and not, presumably, woody. Curious that in the similarly named Bois d'orage by Malle, instead, I do perceive the strong woody amber.
I think that's about it - unless I forgot some of the scents (so many of them!). Thanks again to the organizer and to those who have donated samples. Overall, I found the Goutal line very enjoyable. Typically well done scents, pleasant, floral, vastly preferable to the sharp white floral scents prevalent now. Still, this is not a genre I tend to gravitate towards, I like florals, but prefer more substantial ones. The only one I own is the least typical of the group, Sables, and probably the only one, right now, I see myself owning is Vetiver (not in the series). Heure exquise is also very good, though somehow it doesn't feel essential if one already has other green chypres.
cacio