Ginsberg is God

I love this so much. It manages to be both fresh and cozy at the same time, with a mix of notes that I never thought I would like so much. The first blast is strong on tomato leaf, fruity fig, and resins. It is warm, yet green and aromatic - the tomato leaf is herbal but balanced nicely with the elemi and amber-like notes and a touch of fig. After the first few minutes, the scent begins to cool with the wormwood, which make it feel like a autumn woodsy dark potion, especially as the woods, black pepper and leather kick in. The tomato leaf is still there, but the scent has gone from an aromatic to a green woodsy chypre by ten minutes in. Elemi - wormwood - woods being the dominant notes with a touch still of tomato leaf, although it warms as time progresses and the wormwood/artemisia calms down. I would consider it unisex, but not all women would be into this. I love it on cashmere. In fact, it reminds me a lot of Donna Karan "Black Cashmere", which is also dark, aromatic, and woodsy with some pepper (although this is notably less spicy and more cool in tone due to elemi being stronger here than the amber in BC). I also get incense and a bit of smoke, without it detracting from the overall freshness of the scent. That is to say: it's fresh enough for spring, but cozy enough for fall and winter. It's just my cup of tea, really. The website says: "This unisex fragrance is inspired by Allen Ginsberg, the tousled headed poet surrounded by books and papers - the scent of green leaves and spring drifting in through the open windows." I dig it. It's green, outdoorsy, smoky -- but experienced through an open window, crisp green air wafting into a warm log cabin with a roaring fire. This is sexy and addictive. Too bad it's discontinued. Why are they always discontinuing good unisex woodsy aromatics? Not all girls want to wear fruity flowers every day.

The potions master is dressed in black, and silently trudges into the forest in search of ingredients. The scent of dried herbs and bitter potions cling to his robes. A spicy, resinous freshness lingers in his wake as he crunches through dried leaves and pine needles fallen on the forest floor. Hearing a noise, he turns, and meets your gaze with smoldering eyes. I bought this on a whim, and out of curiosity due to the somewhat strange juxtaposition of notes (all favorites of mine). I wouldn't have tried it if it wasn't on sale, but I'm glad I did. On my skin, it's primarily a sort of frankincense, elemi, "green", resinous sort of scent, with a smoky undertone. Initially there's a somehow both dry and green, bitter note (there's the wormwood), which lingers in the background. There's also an almost "fizzy" sort of feeling on first spray, which doesn't last. It becomes more smoky as it progresses. Longevity is ok (maybe 4-6 hours), but I can get a whiff days later on clothing. I'm a woman, but I prefer unisex scents and I love this. It does lean slightly more masculine, and it's definitely not for everyone. I love outdoorsy, smoky, green, herbal, and dry resinous scents--some favorites are l'Encre Noire and le Labo Santal. I'm clearly a fan of Severus Snape, and I could absolutely see him wearing this.

This is a nice perfume. For the first few minutes, it's heavily focused on elemi, which is related to frankincense, mixed with some smoky woody notes. I find elemi to be consistently more tangy and somehow more green than frankincense. So the tomato leaf is really perfect in this blend. It intensifies the green-ness and keeps the whole fragrance bright. But there is also a resin in the base that is sweet, might be a touch of benzoin. Something also seems a little powdery and floral, pushing this fragrance into feeling truly like a proper perfume versus just wearing church incense on your skin. The longer it's on my skin, the more I enjoy it. It's like straight-up church incense that has somehow been softened and femmed up a bit. Avignon for women. Very different from most incense perfumes I have tried. I might need to seriously consider buying a bottle.

Sampled this yesterday at a John Lewis store. The opening is very incense-heavy, with some resin and wood notes peeking through. It really smells like a church, which feels appropriate considering the name of the fragrance. After about an hour and a half, the frankincense dies down, and the smell becomes somewhat softer and warmer with the woody notes becoming more prominent. Unfortunately, it did not last an impressively long time on my skin, as I could no longer smell it five hours later, yet I could still smell a different Bella Freud scent which I sampled on my other arm. This may just be a fluke though, and I will aim to test out it's longevity the next time I come across it, as it is really rather lovely.

Tried this both fresh and woody scent at Liberty London, a few weeks ago. It was longlasting - stayed on my arm all day ! If it will stay around in the market til my large collection has become handy, I will be delighted to buy it despite it's heavy pricetag. Interesting perfume and lovely bottle !

Got this recently, love it. Hear it is to be discontinued :-( Not great projection. Works well on clothing.

Absolutely bizarre - unless I got a mislabeled sample, my experience of this is absolutely nothing like anyone else's, and it was a long strange trip indeed. Most of the notes listed above are real favourites of mine - but I didn't recognise any of them when blind-smelling this. Instead, it opened on me as a sharply fizzy, alcohol-heavy thing, underlaid with a powdery sort of alkaline-soda note. Thought I smelled loads of citrus, Thought I smelled cleanish laundry musk. Then I thought it turned to vetiver with some earth (perhaps the leather-tomato leaf phase?) with shades of Bal d'Afrique. Then thought I smelled coffee and marijuana (wormwood and pepper perhaps?) NONE OF IT MAKES ANY SENSE! Even when I didn't have this list of notes that I wasn't smelling, the perfume as a whole just left me deeply confused and a bit uneasy. Seemed completely non-linear and to wander all over the map in its evolution, with none of it unpleasant, but none of it really familiar either, and never settling - or allowing me to settle - into true comfort. Maybe that's what it was aiming for - expand your puny perceptions, you square! - but it kind of leaves me at a loss. I promise I wasn't under the influence of anything else (perfume or otherwise) at the time. But this one may have broken my nose or my brain. Will try again. But sheesh - what a weirdo.

I bought Ginsberg is God blind because the descriptions intrigued me! I've now smelled all three of the Bella Freud fragrances and am sort of wishing I'd purchased Je t'aime Jane, but oh well. I like Ginsberg is God; I'm not sure I can pull it off. On me, it is spicy, tobacco and resin heavy. I do think this is perhaps the sort of fragrance that wears you somewhat, so I'd recommend trying this before you buy, as I think it doesn't 'match' me - the way I dress, look, etc. There's no denying it's a beautiful fragrance and very well delivered.

If an aromatic, woody, resinous scent with a bit of green is what you're aiming for, "Ginsberg is God" will satisfy expectations. It has the definite feel of an author - leather chair, wooden bookcases, sharp ink, wafts of a slightly unkempt garden, and lofty pretensions. It's a bit masculine, but I love carrying off its cool androgyny.

Tried this by chance in a store. The scent caught me by surprise when I sniffed the cap. The opening was quite strange but at the same time somewhat familiar. A quick spritz to the hand and it is very clear that this is almost identical to CdG 2 Man, which is an incense-rich and cedarwood scent. It's packed full of ISO E Super, which gives the pencil shavings-like odour that is all too often referred to as 'cedarwood'. All in all, this is a love it or hate it scent. I get no leather or incense: just a slightly aromatic 'cedarwood', albeit a strong one. For me this is a thumbs down as it fails to deliver something unique or even something with a development of some kind. Other than a brief opening and a long-lasting strong cedarwood, this is nothing to write home about. If you really fancy this, you are better off getting the much cheaper CdG 2 Man scent.

Costly and hard to get hold of. I had high hopes for this. To me this smells like the donner kebab shop I go to. It has that citrus, pickling vinegar smell the chillies are poached in and the slight smell of charring meat and a bit of the wooden block which he cuts the naan bread and stuff on. It probably smells really nice after several pints and stumbling out of the pub, but for £75/ for 50ml no thanks. The box it comes in is nicer than the bottle and fragrance in just an after thought. Ginsberg is God? I think the ancients had it right though shall not worship false idols! 2/10

The best of the triad. This is green, incensey goodness in a ala Comme des Garçons manner, taking a different direction though when it reaches it's dry- down. The frankincense is of great quality, running through the composition from top to bottom. It might remind you a few others already out there, but iIt's beautiful, it's honest and what it is not, is pretentious including the price tag.

I sampled this today and I love it. I keep smelling my wrist and can't wait to own a bottle. Yes at first it does start off masculine but it soon settles into a beautiful warm sandalwood and leather scent that I find irresistible. I'll be saving up to get this one soon.