Gdańsk

Gdańsk is what first drew me to Gallivant. I had heard a lot of buzz about this scent online, and decided to save it until last as I made my way through my Gallivant discovery set. I like that Gallivant frequently takes inspiration from less obvious city choices, this being a case in point. I have never been to Gdańsk, so can't speak to the inspiration, but this is a marvellous scent. It can be summed up as a honeyed amber scent, rich with spices and fruit, with a leather backbone. Gdańsk has a bold, plummy opening, sweet and boozy up top, the plum note luscious and ripe. The warm spices balance it, with biscuit-like nutmeg adding body, while the saffron paves the way to the amber-leather accord. The honey permeates this scent with opulent sweetness, but without overwhelming it, giving a jammy texture. The leather at the heart slowly emerges, smooth and realistic, formed mainly by labdanum. It is a seamless development from the fruity opening, with the rich sweetness complementing the leather to perfection. It becomes increasingly dry as it progresses, with a nice sweet tobacco note becoming prominent, an inspired addition. Some incense adds to the leather-amber accord while giving some smokiness to the tobacco. There is a medicinal edge, dry and herbal. Dry woods ground things in the base, with a herbal green nuance in the background. The leather persists, but fades with the scent, segueing to a vanilla-amber musky accord in the base. Some spices linger, but it fades to a dry, sweetly musky skin scent. Sillage and longevity are moderate. It is a perfectly unisex, autumn/winter scent. A masterful composition, Gdańsk is rich, dense and complex, but delicately balanced; each component plays its role beautifully. It's not a crowdpleaser, but it is an exceptional scent. A real gem, and the best Gallivant. 4.5/5.

This is an overdue proper sampling of Gallivant Gdansk from 2022, the house’s second-most recent release as of today, a diverse mix of plum, saffron, leather, tobacco, amber, and ambergris, per the official note list. With the saffron, leather, and plum in the lead, I almost get a bit of rosiness, probably more because it reminds me, in part, of other fragrances with the common notes than its actual rosiness, but the blend is a warm, sweet blend that feels midway between light and dark. It smells like its rich diversity of notes, and intersection of a few different aspects—sweet, spicy, fresh, leathery, floral—all together in a superb ensemble. It’s an instant love, poetic in a way that is most reminiscent of Istanbul in this house, I’d say, both being provocative enough to be interesting for a night out but cozy for hanging around. Gdansk is priced like the rest of the house, both in then original $95 for 30ml travel size (the pricing of which has continued to remain the same for years) and in the somewhat newer $200 for 100ml larger size, very reasonable for niche perfumery, particularly considering the high quality and utility of this house’s catalogue. Sold at great boutiques like Perfumology as well as the house website. Also, the fragrance seems to perform among the best of the house. 8 out of 10

It’s not everyday there’s a perfume launch dedicated to Poland. The world is full of Russian leathers, Paris roses and mysterious desert ouds. How about maritime Poland? I absolutely love it’s opening spicy, leathery, warm like light through amber. Amber the gold of the north, the gem of Baltic. What a vivid image I get smelling this. I also get a lot of spices, sandalwood, patchouli, tobacco, vanilla - all the treasures that could have been transported through this port city back when - another beautiful nod to Gdańsk. And the star of the show an ambergris note - a product of digestive system of the sperm whale - the floating gold. I also love how this starts and how it lives very politely on my skin several hours without offending anyone around me.

Fruity + Leathery ✨️ This reminds me of Changing Constance by Penhaligons without having that underlying playdoh note! It's such a beautiful fruity musk, that doesn't cloy on the skin and gives me a little bad*ss vibes😎 Like it gives me a hot biker chic coming to the bar and just winking at ya across the table. I feel the leather note really accentuates the other notes in this perfume rather than weighing them down- especially with the sandalwood and incense. Sillage is impeccable as well with longevity. Release the inner bad*ss with this perfume💋 Zodiac Trio ⬆️Saggitarius ☀️Taurus🌙Scorpio

Gdansk is a beautiful amber-rose composition, it has a fullness to it that makes this perfume a delight to wear as your nose unfurl all the different spices and resins used in here. It reminds me greatly of Amorem Rose by Shalini but at a fraction of the price and it's just as beautiful.