Grass

My first review here, so I’ll try to do this justice. This is a lovely green scent. When first applied, you definitely get the “someone just mowed the lawn” smell you get when you open the windows on a warm spring or summer day. In fact, its made me sneeze a bit when I first put it on. That does not last long though. After only a few moments, it softens to something more like the scent that surrounds you as you lie in the soft grass of your yard, or a field, or a meadow... the sun is warm, and the grass is cool against your skin. It has just a bit of a sweetness, like an “almost hay” smell, but not musty, not hay that’s already been cut and dried, but tall, tall grasses that are just about ready to become hay. After about an hour, you’re left with a hint of the above. Just enough for you to personally smell it on yourself, but not enough for it to project that scent unless someone is standing and whispering in your ear. I love this fragrance – definitely a unisex – I can see this being worn by anyone, really. I wish it had better staying power, and a bit more drift. Wish it traveled a bit further from my skin. I even put a bit of spray on my clothing to see if I could increase the longevity and – it might have, but not by much. Its been about 1.5 hours since I applied it last and I can barely smell it. Maybe I’ve gone nose blind but... I think its just that *soft*. I’m thinking I want to layer this with some Demeter Lilac or even Dirt. I’ll need to try that another day though, I want to devote this day to this scent all on its own. Hopefully in the end, I don’t love it *that* much, or I find something I love a bit more, since its discontinued and I bought a partly used bottle off ebay just to give it a try. It’s a bit expensive for something that isn’t very long lasting and stays so close to the skin. But, I may just have to bite the bullet because it is that lovely!

I recently was at a Gap outlet with my 13 year old daughter and going through the checkout line I spotted it. Gap Grass! I almost shrieked I was so happy and surprised and my daughter nearly died of embarrassment at my giddiness. I picked up bottle took a sniff just of the atomizer and swooned! Plunked down the money for it without even a second thought. After leaving the store, I started to explain my excitement to my daughter. How this was the scent of my very late teens/early 20’s. It was the mid 90’s and life just felt so full of potential. This scent was both nostalgia for my childhood and forward looking to my future at the same time. With its scent of freshly mown grass while playing outside all summer long and having adventures in my neighborhood and not coming home till the street lights came on, in my early 20s I already missed those innocent days and the nostalgia was powerful. But it’s crisp, bright freshness also gave me a feeling of anything possible for my future. It was just so good! When my daughter and I left that outlet , I whipped open the bottle and sprayed myself right there (it was an open air mall) we both swooned! She loved the scent too. Now for the sad part... within 30 minutes of the dry down, this changed. For the worse. No more fresh cut grass. Now it was some woody, floral not at all fresh scent. I really wanted to cry. I returned it immediately. I went home that day looking on eBay for a vintage 90’s bottle. Cried some more tears at how expensive it is. They always say “you don’t know what you got till it’s gone “. Oh so true.

I wish I could return and give my 13 year old self this beautiful fragrance. It was after days camping at a concert festival in blazing hot Eastern Washington (State), on the way home...late July 2003. This was at an outlet mall, my family and my best friend stopped to shop. We had just spent 4 days in the literal desert. I recall how this smelled in my mind (this is a memory snippet, not a true review)...but the situation couldn't have been more striking. It was likely partially due to the experience of heat, dryness and camping (also concerts, sweaty bodies, greasy food...) but this was the freshest, cleanest, most wholesome scent to ever assail my nose. Wet grass, and yet, freshly mowed. Ozonic, aquatic, dripping wet clover sparkling with dew. Clean laundry, windy crisp air, and sunlight. I mean....it was a fragrance *moment*. But my friend?...She exclaimed - "Oh ewwww!!! It smells like you stepped in mud!" I was so embarrassed for loving this, I quickly sniffed it again and said something like - 'Oh yeah, it smells so gross...' I had no self-esteem at the time, I was an idiot kid. I wish I had stuck up for my taste and bought this when I had the chance. I've forgotten about it for years. This was surely excellent, and my impression of it certainly was, but the memory fills me with a pang of regret.

The summer of 1998 I think it was, dropping into Gap Paris after marauding Virgin Records. I grabbed a tin of Grass at the counter before we ventured out to Notre Dame, a small dab of the inexpensive gel on my chest, adding to the late afternoon vibes. Then walking in the rare air of the cathedral it suddenly came alive, projecting it’s fresh and urgent scent, enveloping me in a fragrance I’ve not experienced before or after. The smell of summer ‘98 on it’s way. Back home and a year later, the gel started to turn and I knew I’d never get it again. Gap wasn’t in the UK yet and so only another trip to France would get me closer to that experience again. Years have passed and I’m made up that this page exists at all, it has a fanbase, and not for no reason. It must be an accidental classic - a multinational dip into fragrances that actually had critical success, if only they’d listen. I’m here if that ozonise blast of comforting grass, lemon and fresh air ever materialises again, like something freshly picked from the Tuileries itself... a work of art.

I have a bottle of the new 2020 version as well as one from the early 2010's and compared them. To tell them apart: the new 2020 bottle is short and rounded at the top like a dome with a small silver cap. The 2010's bottle is tall and perfectly cylindrical, like a tube, with a clear plastic cap. I sprayed the 2020 on one wrist and the 2010's on another and compared. At first I was convinced the 2020 was no good because I didn't get a huge hit of that grassy note right away - the one that lives in my scent memory and is almost green-fruity like a green banana (to my nose anyway). But as I've used the 2020 more, the original Grass fragrance does come through, and I like it more and more. So if you're looking at buying one of the new 2020 bottles on eBay, or the 2010 bottle I say go for it! They are both true to the original.