Gratiot League Square

Bustling and flavorful. A busy market square, full of leather and vanilla. Sweet but masculine. Strong sillage and longevity, and it hits just the right balance between being interesting enough for me to love it and being chill enough I can wear it for everyday occasions. I like a lot of Chatillon Lux's line, but this is easily my favorite scent found so far among all the lines I've tried.

Rose. That damn rose. I know this is a beloved note for many- completely my cross to bear- I freely acknowledge it. If a fragrance has rose WAY in the background it’s ok, but this one does not- is pretty forward and always present. Just letting you know what you’re getting here. Otherwise, I believe I’d enjoy Gratiot League Square if the rose was dialed down. I love the other notes and the concept. But you will smell the rose note the whole way through, and that will influence your enjoyment of this one. UPDATE: ok, so as far as a masculine rose goes, this is pretty good. I like the lightly spiced suede smell that underpins the whole thing. A gentlemanly, well groomed, slightly foppish scent.

Rose, leather, tobacco, and cloves. It's bold and distinctive. A great choice if you want to smell like a biker in a flower shop. I can definitely see the appeal, but this doesn't suit me.

cloves then leather then tobacco, sandalwood and vetiver; a dry fragrance with too much clove

A 'safe' mildly spicy leather scent. A pair of gloves after a day at the spice market.

Gratiot League Square offers folks who value the easy to wear blending of mainstream designer compositions a chance to experience the more daring indie side of perfumery often reserved for the more seasoned noses who are looking for “interesting” more than pretty. Make no mistake though GLS is both sides of the spectrum. Shawn Maher has created a charming Black leather and Vanilla composition with herbal facets intersecting with incense and amber. The blending here is exquisite as no two notes stand apart from the affords that seamlessly start where the next stops although warm leather and vanilla seem to be the main players. Shawn’s amber accord seems to be a mix of bitter myrrh, labdanum and nondescript aromachemicals. On first spray you know this isn’t anywhere close to being natural but you don’t really care because it’s enjoyable. It seems like the sandalwood may be a mix of both real sandalwood and it’s more synthetic counterparts which lends to excellent performance and overall smoothness that would be missing had this focused solely on natural materials. For now I’d like to point out that Shawn seems like a true adept at blending. GLS falls somewhere in between two worlds and where most perfumers fail at mixed media presentations Shawn seems to thrive. If warm leather and spicy vanilla are your thing, for the price GLS is a no brainer. If you’re scared to venture into the depths of “artisanal/niche” perfumery, THIS is a great starting point. For all you performance junkies one spray is enough to last all day but be careful over spraying or else you might think this is a quiet perfume (due to nose fatigue) only to choke out whoever is in the room with you.

Okay, so this is the first one on my 'try again' list from the discovery set. This is indeed a soft, non-abrasive leather, with spice (mild cloves and warm nutmeg), as well as some smooth resin in the background. I like the way all components tie in together, and the scent functions as one, unified scent. It reminds me of a Rihaha (sp?) scent that was given to me when I bought something off someone once (bloke, the one where the guy ghosted me after a while...!), and I kinda gave up hope of ever finding out what it was (let alone how to get more of it). Second go around, Gratiot is a little too bitter for my liking, unfortunately. Leather scents can lean that way, unfortunately, and that is what happens with this one here. There is indeed a wonderful balsamic-fragrant aspect to this scent, and it’s there in high volume, however the leather parts kind of drown it out. Like, I need to focus when I sniff to get to it.

Suede leather hits first, mixed with this humid, watery vibe, like I’m standing near a body of water. After a while, it dries down into a powdery, barbershop-style talc, warm, clean, and with a solid presence. I really like how the leather and powder notes blend.