Grossmith

I got my hands on some new perfume samples from Sephora and Saks when I dropped by Galleria for Lady M's pop up. So here's my last remaining batch of impressions on Grossmith from my Bloom order.

Grossmiths Hasu no Hana
Lately every perfume has been reminding me of some aspect of my childhood in China. This one evokes the home where I grew up till kindergarten / spent after school at during elementary school. Why, maybe because it smells like this herbal water mosquito repellent (although I’ve continuously used it even after moving from that home). But this smell really does remind me of that mosquito repellent. I liked its scent a lot, and would pour it into other random stuff to make different scents haha. There’s a very fresh/aromatic component of this perfume that’s largely responsible for the resemblance, and perhaps also a background woody note. I did feel like there was some floral in the opening, but its not a dominant accord at this point. he few blogger reviews of this seems all over the place, one highlights the ylang-ylang, one highlights the rose and spice, my impression aligns the most with the accord votes on fragrantica, which says woody > citrus (absent for me) > aromatic. There’s also a significant different between my wrist ½ spray (what the previous text has described) and my inner elbow ½ spray, which is more warm and woody. After about 2 hours, the scent is turning more floral as the aromatics fade. It’s a soft, well blended floral bouquet. Never mind, the aromatics came back and pushed the floral to the background again at about the 3 hour mark.

It’s unfortunate that I really like this and want a full bottle, it’s stupidly expensive (~460CAD at the current exchange rate) ;o; This seems similar enough to Clinique’s Aromatics Elixir, will have to compare side-by-side.
I wore AE the next day and they are different. AE is more earthy, a heavier herbal than the lighter, more sparkling herbal of Hasu no Hana. The florals are also darker and more apparent. While they are both traditional chypre, I do want both on my collection.

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Grossmith Shem-El-Nessim
The opening is somewhat resinous to me, even tho it’s not a listed note hmm. Possibly the vanilla, galbanum + other base notes? It’s also somewhat sharp. I don’t get the impression of bergamot or neroli. It’s interesting that my wrist dab, after going through a hand wash, smells very nicely of florals. Comparatively, my inner elbow spray is still rather sharp and slightly less resin-y. About an hour in, the sharpness is settling and more florals are coming through.

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Grossmith Phul-Nana
The opening is vegetal-bitter-ish citrus and floral. Quite light textured. About half hour in and it still feels light. I’m surprised given that this is one of the OG oriental perfumes and I was expecting something very dense. Pleasantly surprised tho, I’m liking the lightness, at least now in the summer. 1 more hour in and the smell is predominately white florals with some spice and wood, but very smoothly blended together. Another hour in and the spice notes feel fresh. Like freshly crushed cinnamon. I keep waiting for the heaviness and density to appear, but 3 hours later its still light. The lightness makes this much more wearable..and modern I suppose. I’m not in love with this like I am with Hasu-no-Hana, but I will use up the sample for sure.

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Grossmith Saffron Rose
After an initial blast of rose (did not get any cinnamon), the woody notes became front and centre. The rose is still in the background, and I think the saffron is here in a supporting role as well (I’m not too sure how saffron smells like), but it is definitely predominately wood. Smokey wood too (the gaiac wood?), which I’m not a fan of. The scent is quite heavy, good projection too: I can smell is very clearly from an elbow distance. I can see this being a cooler weather fragrance, and I’ll retest it when autumn rolls around since the smokiness has receded somewhat, although it’s still prominent if I put my nose right next to it. More importantly, I don’t smell the amber notes at all, phew.

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Grossmith Golden Chypre
The opening is very orange, like the flesh of the orange. The spices come in after a couple of minutes, smells like cassia to me, but the notes list cardamon and nutmeg. The orange and spices remind me very much of the winter holidays (thanksgiving to christmas), kind of an unfortunate association with stereotypical potpourri. The texture is like a…pressed and starched cotton poplin. Sharp, but still a fabric. The projection seem moderate, I catch frequent whiffs from an elbow distance. As it settles, I smell the florals coming in. The spices has receded, so the overall feel is softer. The orange also left some of it sweetness behind. Overall I feel quite ambivalent about this.

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Grossmith Amelia
I finally smell neroli! Or what I think it smells like. Not sure if I can pick out the osmanthus since my only reference is the dried flowers. Cutting the review short since I’ve been laying close to my wrist and consequently feeling a little queasy. Will re-test in the future.