Grandenia

Update: I have since purchased Areej Sandalwood fragrance. So now I notice this has a lot of sandalwood and saffron. This takes me on a journey to an old age gone by. As Russian Adam says, it's made with old essences that he found, and in the style of 1930's vintage fragrances. I got this same ancient vibe, when I first smelled Creed Epicea from the 1960's. An old pine, clove and lime accord. Gardenia is a favorite floral along with Lilly of the valley. My mother had a flower shop. So I grew up smelling flowers. A few years ago I was on the hunt for a great gardenia fragrance that was gender neutral. A hard task. Tom Ford Velvet Gardenia was pretty good. This is what I was always looking for in a gardenia fragrance I could wear as a guy. Some say Gardenia fragrances are most always blended with Jasmine. This has a pure realistic gardenia. In the forest of herbs, dry woods and resins, the fleshly gardenia petals are a welcome bright spot! It's not a soliflore. I'm getting a bit of a beeswax note, often paired with gardenia. It is very well blended oriental fragrance, with a prominent gardenia, and touch of jasmine. Russian Adam could have easily drown out the gardenia with the powerful balsamic resins used, oud, frankincense and myrrh. The heavier notes are done with moderate projection. Although overall it is long lasting. All is balanced, and so well blended here. The black ambergris is a real ambergris note. It adds a great creamy animalic touch. True ambergris is a wonderful smell. I know it from Creed fragrances and Bortnikoff's Amber Cologne. The fragrance overall is bright and uplifting, especially for an oriental. Yes, it does smell like a great Guerlain vintage fragrance. Into my top 5 with a 10/10 rating. A note about the ouds here: I don't get any distinct oud, it's in the background. Or hidden in accords with creamy ambergris and white florals. This is also a great fragrance for how much it changes or morphs though it's life. Very good longevity. But not overly loud. In the dry down, after a few hours, it gets powdery. Leaning feminine at this point. All the base notes are together in the dry down. So it's a really nice dry down regardless of the slight powderiness. Rating: 10/10 God bless. John 3:16

How very strange... this is the one I thought I would enjoy the least from the 6th collection, yet it's the one that I enjoy the most. It's a bit lemony fresh and resinous up top, a bit heady from the gardenia accord in the mid, and there's a vague underlying sweetness in the base. This is not your average lemon. The lemon is suuuuper good and smooth, easily the best lemon I've ever encountered in a fragrance. Age has smoothed out all the abrasiveness that can often come with bright citruses. Even the lemon from "Acqua Viva" by "Profumum Roma", which is supposed to be one of the best, pales in comparison. The olibanum is of the more lemony-piney variety (boswellia carterri), and it lingers forever despite being listed a top note. Gardenia isn't as prominent as I was expecting, but it's light, full, smooth, and only slightly clean and indolic. Maybe the best white floral accord I've had the pleasure of smelling. Rosemary is the glue that holds everything together, rounding out the entire composition. Oud is not barnyardy in the slightest, extremely pleasant! In the mid, some skank can be detected up close due to the black ambergris, but in the air it adds nice character and backbone to the fragrance. Tonka bean is barely noticeable, even in the drydown, and its impact is more felt in the form of sweetness than it is smelled. It adds a mild slightly cherry-like sweetness, and the powderiness blends with the patchouli. Patchouli is beautiful, and it seems hard to distiguish entirely from the remaining gardenia accord. The patchouli becomes more and more prominent as the fragrance dries down, eventually becoming the star. The kind of patchouli used in this is similar to the one used in Chanel Coromandel. The notes and accords gently and wonderfully overlap. Masterfully blended. Projects at least moderately for many hours, but the sillage is better than the projection. Remains as a strong skin scent over 12 hours after application from one spray. So the longevity is approaching nuclear. 3 sprays is just right. What an odd collection of notes that somehow manage to work. Very complex without becoming too busy. I'm impressed. My favorite from the house so far. P.S. - DM if you're willing to part with your bottle.

Grandenia I had read that Areej had used vintage accords to put together Grandenia. My collection is about 80% vintage ranging back to 1915. So as a vintage enthusiast, to recognize some vintage components of the past brought back to life in a modern day formulation, is quite a treat. The vintage bergamot/lemon old chypre opening is lovely. Spices such as cinnamon tickle the throat, then the gardenia opens in the heart. Its a muted gardenia like its simmering in oud, incense, resins, aged civet and ambergris. A lot of these musks are aged, so theres a smooth warmth to this fragrance. Its a complicated, rich, thick scent that produces a whole-much like vintage En Avion by Caron if you want to talk about its construction. I also noticed this is better put together and interesting than Antiquity, which I liked, but left me flat. Grandenia isnt a large white floral say like Fracas. I did wish however a larger Gardenia presence, but that would be difficult to do as this is an aged gardenia accord and they tend to start blending into the composition over time. I read a lot of reviews and some got this scent, while others diddnt. I think that is true for this piece. If you are into amazing materials, vintage fragrances with new spin of oud added to the mix, Grandenia is going to work for you. If your the synthetic, candy sweet types this will make you turn tail and run. Its not modern, but it doest have to be. The materials make this a quality scent that last the tests of time.

I have waited to review this fragrance because, well its complicated. It's sour and sweet, and wifey doesn't like it. Myself on the other hand love it. Usually when she doesn't like something I wear like purple hat(which I love as well) I stay away because of the barnyard oud which I can understand why you wouldn't like it. This guy I pull at least once a week. It just smells niche and expensive. It's not one for compliments from the average nose, but if you run into another frag head they will get it. Now for grandenia. It opens potent af, it hits me and I am taken to a garden in Israel, with a market nearby with oud burning and people enjoying honey pastries. Don't know if any of that make sense, but to me it does haha. It lasts forever and others projects well. The base is tamer and people will not be turned off any longer. The oud here is not barnyard but also not western. It sits in the middle. Try it, if you don't like it @ me

Gave it a few wears, really enjoying this perfume. Start of it is silky lemon/vanilla custard, but this stage here is only for a brief moment. Right after first stage, you get a wave of smoke, but not any regular smoke, it is the oud. Similar smell i encountered from burning kyara incense sticks. Why fumigate? Spray some grandenia! Following smoke, as it starts to settle down after about 2-3 hours, base has its grand entrance. I mainly get spicy patchouli sweetened by the resins. At some point i caught myself on a thought that it smells like what people describe as mothballs?....but in reality, i am not sure how mothballs smell - so to me its excellent patchouli with vintage vibes. Longevity is great, projection as well. Easily unisex so let the name not scare you.