Bukhara

Gallivant scents are all named for cities, and I especially enjoy when they choose less obvious cities as the inspiration for a perfume. I disliked London, an ozonic lightweight rose (on-theme but dull and unpleasant), but Bukhara is one of my favourite Gallivants. Given that it is an iris scent, this comes as no surprise to me, but it is beautifully put-together. It reminds me of Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist, perhaps my favourite scent of all, being centred on an earthy, rooty orris. I have never ventured anywhere near Uzbekistan, so I can't speak to the inspiration, but this is truly lovely. Bukhara is orris-led from initial spray, earthy but smooth and rounded, an utterly delicious use of iris. Soft, peppery spice keeps things aromatic up top, and a subtle pear note emerges after a while, softly sweet and fresh. There is a clean, soapy feel to it here, but there are no aldehydes. As it develops, clean, powdery jasmine adds body, playing second fiddle to the iris. A nice saffron note adds its refined ambery quality to this scent, marrying beautifully with the iris. I get the dry apricot note as it progresses further, adding soft sweetness like the pear of the opening. It marries well with the powdery florals, remaining in the background. There is a lovely musky undertone that slowly develops in the background. Dry woody notes complement it further as it dries down. It remains airy, bright and clean throughout, the soapiness of the opening lingering without being synthetic. Sillage is moderate and longevity is long-lasting. It is a unisex, transeasonal scent, but is tailor-made for spring in my opinion. A bright, fresh take on orris that doesn't compromise its rooty, powdery richness, it is an approachable, everyday orris scent. My favourite Gallivant so far. Iris Silver Mist Lite. 4.5/5.

Discovering Gallivant right now. My perspective is quite different and "virgin", as I'm not a traveler and I've never been to any of the cities these perfumes are inspired from, so I have no references. I'm going in blind. This one especially caught my attention as a lover of iris. It is indeed a beautiful powdery iris. To the nose (on the strip), I get immediately olfactory pictures of Dior Homme: powdery iris with a tinge of spice and a odd fresh feeling compared to the more plasticky/lipsticky iris of Dior Homme Intense. I think this is from the coriander's citrusy nature and caraway's mint-like smell. Oddly enough, on skin it changes a lot. It does gain that carrot seed like vibe with a touch of something resinous. On strip it stays the same the whole way through. Sadly, I wish this lasted longer. On skin I get 4-5 hours max and it does not project much. That said, at 130$CAD, I'll gladly get myself a bottle and I might use it here at home or at night, as I feel this to be quite relaxing.

First impressions based on a few wearings from a sample - The opening smells like silk, reminds me of a silk coat I had many many years ago, it's a smooth and clean musky scent, the spices add warmth but nothing is jarring or screechy here at all. Smooth smooth smooth! Everything is so perfectly blended it's very much that "your skin but better" feeling, without being boring like that kind of scent can sometimes be. There is development, it becomes a little sweet for a time, then the sweetness gently backs away again. It's so fluffy, even makes me think of kitten fur. This is a fragrance that will bring the wearer an aura of mystery. Not everyone will think you're wearing a perfume but instead maybe you just emanate a beautiful other worldly aroma...

This one really grew on me! So different from what I usually wear, but it literally had me hooked and I think it is the first fragrance that has me wanting to explore other fragrances that have Iris. I'm actually unsure whether it was the Iris or the coriander that had me falling for this one.. I will be purchasing the discovery set to explore Gallivant fragrances a bit more. I love the idea of capturing the essence of a city in a fragrance, very clever. And at a time where we are restricted with travel, why not! In 2020 Gallivant won the Best New Niche Fragrance award at the Purebeauty Global awards. Well done Nick!

For me this is a spice fest. Not sweet. Not floral at all. Like walking through a spice market . I love it. I wear this on a warm summer evening in the UK but then again it also works on cold winter days. The spices are warm and seductive and have come from far away. I don’t know why some mention carrots? I grow carrots and I know their aroma. This is a unisex scent I believe. Complex and clever. It works very well on me and eventually fades to a soft remembrance.

Great dry iris with cooling spices, a touch of citruses and lovely dark base. I feel like it develops from a very light and airy iris into a beautiful earthy woody scent supported by the Oriental mix of spices that create a nice feeling of the Eastern bazaar. It also has a beautiful lispstick-y aspect to it. My ig: scent.guide

It's difficult for me to describe this, but it's like a spicy, earthy iris scent. Smelling it directly on my skin is not as good as the sillage. I sprayed this on in my office, went into the kitchen for a while, and then returned to my office and it smelled gorgeous. Love it.

One of my favourites from the Gallivant house. A gorgeous, slightly powdery iris and saffron. Unisex but probably leans more feminine in the way that Dior Homme does. Lasts a good while on my skin. I have the sampler set but will definitely be buying a full bottle. 9/10

Smells like Iris & carrots. Not bad!

Smells like carrot, must try :)

Category: Aromatic (fragrant), citrusy, soapy Notes: Very soft and intimate from the get-go with a bergamot that is more zesty than sour, a fragrant perfume-y coriander, and an exceptionally earthy & woody iris. Not sure if it’s the coriander or the musk in the base, but something in here is quite nicely soapy - perhaps the combination of the two? With time, this soapiness grows stronger and is also joined by a pleasant and warm spiciness from the clove. Vibe: Spaday. White linen. Dewdrops on green leaves. Quiet luxury. Wet clay. Tropical rainstorm. Tailored suits. Arched brows. Sillage: 5/10. With a modest spritz on the wrist, I’d say this is quite modest, but it is by no means shy. As I’ve been working at my computer throughout the day, I’ve been catching whiffs from about half an arm’s length away. With a more heavy-handed dousing, I’m sure this could project decently. Longevity: 10/10. This lasted me a good 16 or 17 hours; genuinely impressive longevity by all means. Granted, it does become quite intimate after about 7-8 hours, but I still find the performance here fantastic and way above expectations. Wear: The brightness makes this a strict daytime wear for me. Perfectly suitable for all year round, but ideal for spring and summer, again due to that brightness. Very pleasant, inoffensive, and subdued to the point where it is not only office wear approved, but office wear recommended. Admittedly, I expected this to be quite masculine, but I was surprised to find this perfectly unisex. On me, this doesn’t lean in either direction of masculine or feminine, but sits right in the middle. I’d say this works on quite a sizable age range of 20-55, although I think a majority of wearers under 25 might struggle with this scent profile, and it might run the risk of skewing slightly too youthful on wearers above 40. Overall rating: 7/10. I bought this completely blind on sale from Sniph, and frankly only purchased it because the discount was too good to pass up. Based on the scent notes alone, this is not something I would normally be drawn to or curious to try. Iris, clove, coriander, caraway, saffron... I mostly see these notes appear in deep vintages and/or men’s colognes, and to me, there was just no world where these could add up to something unisex/feminine, even less so something modern. As I also tend to dislike powdery scents, that prominent iris and the main accord being “powdery” made this a particularly unpromising blind buy. Well, jokes on me, because this is nothing like what I expected. It is surprisingly bright, clean, and – in some weird way I can’t quite put my finger on – quite mesmerizing. Throughout the day, I found myself continuously putting my wrist to my nose, unable to stop sniffing myself. There’s a bright citral quality without any of the typically astringent aspects, a clean musk that, together with the violently fragrant coriander, creates an almost soapy impression. Mind you, I’ve got the gene defect that makes coriander taste like soap, so perhaps that’s why my nose also detects it as soapy here. In Bukhara, the iris certainly isn’t the typically powdery floral that I am familiar with, but rather a woody, earthy character, bringing an unusually natural finish that makes me think of wet clay and tropical rain. As the clove emerges more and more with time, it adds a gentle warmth and spiciness which I’d have a hard time attributing to cloves had I not known it was part of the composition, as it is so well blended. The overall scent impression is bright, clean, fragrant, and luxurious. A modern take on a vintage composition – this feels like a nod or homage to the fragrances of the past, keeping the parts that make it feel classic and dumping those that would make it feel outdated or out of style. Before testing, I was pretty certain this was going to go right toward the swap shelf, but now I’m not so sure anymore. Bukhara might just be a keeper. Will have to test it out a few times more, as I am not typically one to reach for cleaner scents, but will say I do enjoy this way more than I ever expected to. A genuinely pleasant surprise to say the least. Who would wear it?: Alan Cummings. Sophia Loren.

Raised my hopes to the highest heights - that it might be an affordable, available stand-in for the excruciatingly exclusive excellence of Iris Silver Mist. Carroty, rooty iris is my favourite thing and yes indeed, Bukhara does deliver that - or a close analogue - with some flair at first. But in the end, "ISM on a budget" is just too big an ask, and this begins to swerve in other less welcome directions. Yes, there's a strangely mineralic, ozonic, almost metallic edge to it, and the charm of the carrot-seed aura begins to morph into something a bit more artificial, almost plasticky. The mimicry of apricot is a little too synthetic to really work, though (thank gawd) it's mercifully not-sweet and not too overdone. (For me, after a very brief bit of sweetness at the start, there's almost nothing here to remind me of Irisss - it has none of that expensive, lush diva femninity - and even less of the candied-violet vibe of Olfactive Studio's Iris Shot.) If anything it's an almost-savoury iris, as weird as that sounds - the spices give it an appealing, constant earthiness and the pear (again, not too big and not too fruity to be obnoxious) throws a pleasant pepperiness into the mix. Longevity isn't great, and as it fades, it gets yet more chemical-ish, tending to cheap grey generic musk as the sweeter and more floral aura of the opening burns away after 60-90 mins. Its muted after-shadow is just (jusssst...) classy enough to be bearable, hands on for a few hours more, and so it's definitely worth trying for iris completists of limited means. In the end, maybe closer to a discount Iris Nazarena than budget ISM - and given my great love of Nazarena, that's a compliment. It's modern, unisex, well priced, restrained and respectable. But somehow not the incredible find I'd hoped when I first smelled it and thought it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Something about its rather chilly, more chemical later phases made me cool on it. Don't buy a full bottle until you've given it a full, extended wear and seen how it behaves and how long it lives on you.

A long-overdue proper sampling of Bukhara, the 2020 release from Gallivant that celebrates the Uzbek city, and its second-latest release (to the newest, Naples). For me, Bukhara blends a dry, soft, musky/woody side with a slightly fruity and spicy outer-ring, though the center still smells largely of the orris, jasmine, musk, and woods, highly agreeable, and in that respect, while akin to some of the house’s earliest releases, it feels closest to Toyko in its dry, sober center accented by interesting touches. I like it! It’s not among my very favorites of the line but like everything in the line, it’s wearable, rather unique, and quite interesting. Priced at the standard $95 for the convenient 30ml travel sizes, Bukhara is sold at great boutiques like Perfumology, from whom I’ve bought other Gallivant perfumes, with individual spray samples available. 7 out of 10

I received a sample through the post as a previous customer of Gallivant. The opening is all about the bergamot and with it comes a real soapy quality. It honestly opens with the smell of Bergamot scented washing powder, pleasant and clean smelling. I don't really get the pear note but the spices are there from the opening and throughout the life of this fragrance. When I first sprayed this I instantly thought of Breath of God by Lush/Gorilla. It's not the same as BOG which doesn't have that really bright bergamot top note but it feels like it's in the same ballpark. Interestingly both of these perfumes were inspired by their travels in Central Asia (BOG being Tibet) It softens down to the amber and woods. Its not sweet even though there is benzoin, amber, apricot. Its nicely balanced and blended however I don't think I'll be jumping at buying a bottle though.

Wow, at first sniff I got a real familiar scent. Whatever it was, I didn't like it. Let me check the notes...scrolled down. Ah, iris. Yes, that same carroty iris as in Iris Silver Mist. I really wasn't expecting to identify this note as iris, but it is the same but with added floralcy and spice. Now that I know what I'm smelling, I will let it do its thing, for I love ISM. I will wait for the all important development. Hopefully it will soften and give me more of the memorable iris of that scent. I do own another Gallivant scent and it remains more or less the same with little development. Looking forward to the dry down.

When I first spray on my skin I get a blast of saffron and alcohol, metallic and unpleasant. However, one minute in and it has completely dissipated, and the smell that remains is one of dry wood with underlying hints of jasmine. Around 1-2h in it completely transforms into a soft, resinous musk, close to the skin and very pleasant. The only iris I get is on the overall dryness of the composition, but I'm used to very iris-heavy perfumes. Luckily no carrot at all

The clove in the opening is a bit too present and harsh in the opening. Luckily this blooms rather quickly into a lovely iris scent. I do smell a lot of jasmine after 20 minutes. Very flowery, soft, balsamic scent. Perfect for a spring day or summer evening.

This is a very interesting scent, cosy and warm. The iris has a carrot undertone, which is so peculiar, and oddly to me - nice, and I usually don’t like perfumes that are reminiscent of kitchen garden.

Usually cumin smells terrible on me. Truly horrendous, but in this it's fine. I'm getting a spicy, iris-y pencil case vibe and it's very pleasant.

Carrots all day. Smells like a spicy iris dream. Powdery but not excessive. Lovely. -

The coriander and caraway in this combine to give the central iris accord in Bukhara a very carrot-like feel. Although usually the ancient Uzbekistan city might conjure up images of glamour and intrigue in the minds of Westerners, this is probably much more like what spice bazaars in this part of the world are more like. (Although I can only conjecture, since I've never been to the city of Bukhara, and have little expectation of being able to visit it.) This is a surprisingly down-to-earth that projects a more earthy image. As such, i would like to say that this would make an ideal perfume for people who don;t like perfume, because its projection isn't much, and so you wouldn't have much fear of offending anyone. But because the longevity is also disappointing, I can't see much of a reason for getting this, although I do like that so far it's so different from everything else Gallivant offers its customers. I still love the idea of a perfume house basing all of its fragrances on evocations of foreign cities, but this is not the most interesting of the Gallivant fragrances I've tried.

a juicy, cold carrot with soil still clinging to it. slightly boozy, too.

Bukara Galavant-- Top: Pear, Caraway, Coriander Bergamot Middle: Iris, Jasmine, Clove, Apricot Base: Benzoin, Saffron, Amber, Woods, Musk Bukara is apparently a town in Uzbekistan. On open I was surprised with this kind of obvious carrot smell--kind of like one of those organic carrots that you pay ridiculous. I read many reviews on this sight that say the same. I never picked up the Apricot. Montale Sweet Vanille is just Vanilla and Apricot. You can really smell that apricot. It is one of my favorite notes. Montale does really good Apricot. Actually, Montale really knows what they are doing in general. I can't find the Apricot here. I am really bummed-out. Other reviewers on this site point out that it is the Iris that 'brings the carrot'. I just got a small sample of Ohrmonde Jane Iris and I am learning about it. I do not detect Carrot. I am not really 'set-up' for the Iris scent. However, I used to absolutely hate Vetiver and now I like it. You can kind of develop your senses. I used to hate pizza as a child and now I make it from scratch and just love it so much. It seemed a certainty that the note profile would guarantee a delightful, bright, spicy fragrance with my beloved Apricot and a dash of Musk. I love Musk. On the Positive Side as the Coffee Kicks In: Galavant is a very impressive house and I will not give up on finding its treasures. Unfortunately, this Galavant Bukara is a 'crowded' scent. It lacks definition, yet it also lacks 'edgy' ambiguity or reckless daring. Mostly it almost immediately dries to a Carrot Skin Scent. Worst of all with this scent, I am spending my time talking about a carrot and I'm $40 lighter with the decant purchase. If I win on a decant I like to have 10-15mil on first purchase so I can enjoy it freely. Really, alot of niche is so fun, but maybe I should buy smaller. Sorry: This is a niche dud. I am not sorry.

Bukhara starts out tinny and almost lemony with dried spice. A few minutes in, it's also very legibly caraway, savory like rye bread. Then we get into carrotty iris, and I do mean exactly like a fresh cold carrot, with only the barest touch of more classical iris butteriness. It blends oddly with the dry caraway. Definitely not for me. We're in the Iris Silver Mist or Racine Carrée zone of rooty, relentless iris. When the iris calms down, at about 1.5 hours in we've got woods and caraway again, making a sort of light-brown dry aura. There's nothing outright wrong with Bukhara, I suppose, for people who like smelling like raw carrots and rye bread, but I can't see much point to it. (or much reason why this should be the scent of the Silk Road stop in Uzbekistan. If anything, I'd say the chilly carrot/caraway combo is more Scandinavian.)

This fragrance makes me think of the scent of fresh cut celery (or fresh cut carrot without sweetness). Slightly bitter from the spices, very faintly sweetened by the fruit and benzoin. The iris is really dry and kind of lacking in character. Kind of bland. The note breakdown made me think this would be an interesting iris but honestly it's kind of forgettable in the same way that the scent of celery or carrot doesn't especially evoke any strong feelings. This is a fairly fresh and simplistic fragrance, not especially masculine or feminine.

What a strange scent on my skin. Opens up alcoholy, metallic like the smell of hairspray. Dries down to a weird carrot, fruity dusty and woody smell. Its quiet unique but not in a good way. Comparing this to Dior Homme Intense is an abomination!

Bukhara smells like nothing I've ever smelled before. This is not a compliment. This perfume is, by far, the worst thing I have ever put on my body. It came as part of the Gallivant discovery pack, which is fortunate because the idea of actually choosing to buy a whole bottle of this reeky, soapy back-alley dumpster water is offensive. If I had to describe it, I would say it smells like a funeral bouquet dropped into a puddle of vomit produced by a troubled individual who's eaten nothing but carrots and bottom-shelf tequila for the better part of three days. With a hint of iris.

I don't smell anything but carrots. Freshly cut, strong, organic carrot.

I love iris but in this case it is just a bit to carroty for me. I do not mind earthy or Rooty iris, in fact I love it, but this one's carrotiness comes not from earthy Rooty facets but from a sharper carrot note so pronounced it bites as if mimicking a spice. In fact the spices here do a good job bridging the sharp carrot with ultra smooth suede iris. Now this may be a strange thing to say but I believe carrot would work best on a woman. It seems to clash with the masculine body aroma imo. I enjoyed smelling this on my girlfriend on whom it smelled rich, sultry, very alluring all while being extremely subtle, smooth, and unobtrusive. Recommend a sampling. I will not be buying a bottle.

Proper, quite realistic orris root opening - which obviously has rooty, earthy aspects recalling carrot seed oil, likely used here to support orris as well. A certain purple, oily quailty of violet note (ionones) is lurking at the background. The cucumber facet is also slightly there, so not like a musky powdery muted effect but quite refreshing, earthy, watery start. In about 10 minutes on skin you notice caraway more, slightly minty and cuminic. The contrast to cinnamon spiciness is not something I enjoy but it doesn't ruin the experience so it's agreeable. Dries down to a musky, powdery nondescript scent. Very nice actually.

Goes on nicely rooty orris, with that cool, smooth feel, and dries to orris in its leathery-suede mode for a long time,with very little of the supporting notes in evidence. In a few hours, it’s nearly gone, but I can smell the pear and saffron just a tiny bit if I press my nose to my wrist. It’s a very nice scent at this stage, feminine with fruit and flowers but also very low-key and soft, just a little tart bite to keep it from being over-sweet. I don't like the leather stages enough to look for more, but overall I have enjoyed sampling this one.

I have never tried any Gallivant before. I had a sample of this one and I really liked it, so I bought a small bottle from someone. I don't get the negative comments. To me it's a great fragrance. It smells fresh and earthy in the opening, with the carrot and coriander seeds, then the typical powdery iris in the background. It reminds me of Iris malikhan from frederic malle. I really love it! A perfect spring fragrance.

I agree with jlitingtun — this is revolting. Bukhara reminds me of the smell when you accidentally melt something plastic on the stovetop when you're cooking. But it's also moldy, acidic, and damp. Neither female nor male but more suited to the back of a refrigerator, this might be the first unwearable perfume I've come across.

This smells overwhelmingly of high quality Scotch to me. I was so confused when I first applied this as that’s listed nowhere in the notes. But this is a smell I’m familiar with as my husband collects and drinks them and Bukhara smells to me like a peaty glass of Scotch. Overlayed with a stark silvery Iris.

This is a really lovely, soft iris perfume. It's a little bit sweet from the fruity notes, and the musky floral base makes it smell very clean to my nose. I'm a huge fan of anything iris/orris in general, but this one is a little bit unique and I really enjoy it.

It smells much better on paper than on my skin. It's a very woody, earthy, ozonic(!) take on iris. It's cool rather than warm and sensual. It's like taking some of the earthy facets of ELdO's Herman(...) and mix it with iris unstead of rose. It's not for me.

Carrots?!? Where? I do not get carrots. I get a creamy Iris with a sprinkle of saffron and musk. I can’t compare it to anything I own, and it’s nothing like DHI. I needed a bottle and now I have it. Top four from the house IMHO.

What I Smell: coriander, iris, caraway Association: a spicy, creamy soap you find in an expensive hotel that gives you a slight headache Overall opinion: Great if you want to smell like the soap version of Dubai mall. 5.5/10

Beautiful fresh iris love it. I get a hint of carrot even though it's not listed the pear and apricot make the scent fresh in the opening but gets more spicy in the dry down.

Yep, this is a fresh woody carrot!