Les Parfums Mythiques - Monsieur de Givenchy

ENVIABLE LEMON VERBENA FRESH SCENT WITH A MOSSY TOUCH [short review] The original Monsieur de Givenchy formula is now 60 years old. A lot of years ago I bought a bottle of Monsieur de Givenchy first generation. That bottle is long gone now. I always kept a nice souvenir of this lemony potion. After being several years apart from this fragrance I gave it another go last year. Now it was the turn of blind buying the actual version relaunched by Givenchy in their "Les Parfums Mythiques" collection. My memory may be tricking me but, scentwise, the current version seems to be practically identical to the original version. I confess I expected a big variation in the oakmoss note due to the current IFRA regulations. Oakmoss is a fungus. Since IFRA - a body that regulates the guidelines of fragrant chemicals and essential oils usage in perfumes - has listed oakmoss as a restricted ingredient, almost all designers turned to the synthetic version of this fougére dark forest note. Besides its herbal scent, moss helps a lot to increase the perfume's performance as well as its versatility. The fragrance opens with a pleasant sweet lemon that quickly grows to a more alluring citrus-fougére scent. The blending of lemon with lavender and a strong verbena builds up a remarkable opening-heart in this fragrance. The lemony-fougére accord endures till the bottom phase when moss makes an entrance. This phase reveals the true DNA of this fragrance. It's a very alluring scent with an acceptable projection that you get for two hours or so. After this phase, the lemon and verbena just lose their stamina and you get a woody/mossy dry down with some lavender hints. The global performance is under average for current standards. However, it is a little better than the vintage version. The only similar perfumes I suggest, are Armani Eau Pour Homme, Capucci Pour Homme and Chanel Pour Monsieur (this one without the verbena touch). All are old-school fragrances as well. My opinion: I recommend this fragrance if you feel like owning an elegant mossy lemon fragrance with just a little sweetness. Music: "San Francisco" by Scott McKenzie

This is my very first blind buy, and a great one at that. When I read lemon lemon verbena and Hinoki, I thought there was a good chance I would like it and for just over $30, I think this is a steal. the scent itself is exactly what is advertised...lemon, lemon verbena and oakmoss. There may be a tiny bit of Hinoki on the drydown, but I think it is barely noticeable. The blast of lemon on the top goes right into the lemon verbena middle note and dries down to herbal Oakmoss and a touch of lemon verbena that is left. Super classy scent that discreetly screams sophistication, elegance, and simplicity while maintaining a complex edge. This fragrance is a modern update to the original which was composed in the 1950s. The parallels to some of the other great/classic scents of the era like Floris No 89 and Guerlain Vetiver are hard to miss. There is none of the sweetness and extreme unisex feel that is so prevalent in ultra-modern fragrances, but it could theoretically be worn by women, as well. Sillage is mild and longevity is average at best. This won't last a whole day on your skin or clothes and it smells and behaves more like an all natural botanical oils fragrance than a designer fragrance. Yet Guerlain's frags usually have quite a bit more staying power. As does Floris No 89. So this will require 5+ sprays and for some of it to land on your clothing if you want to be able to smell it after several hours. 7 sprays may be more like it, and I am one who usually goes easy on the number of sprays. Overall, this is a sensational fragrance that harkens back to the 1950s in a good way and allows men to smell great without overwhelming their olfactory environment.

Les Parfums Mythiques - Monsieur de Givenchy is truly a stunning creation! Regrettably, I’ve never had the opportunity here in Australia to sample the original formulation of Monsieur de Givenchy, so I’m unable to compare between the two. However, if this modern interpretation is anything to go by, then the original must surely have been one of the greatest ever male perfumes. Comparisons could easily be made with Dior’s Eau Sauvage and YSL’s Pour Homme, but as the original Monsieur de Givenchy was created at least 5 years before Eau Sauvage and over a decade before YSL’s Pour Homme, I’d say that Givenchy was clearly leading the way in gentlemen’s scents in 1959. Chanel’s Pour Monsieur from 1955 is similar in construction, but where that has a herb/spice middle, Les Parfums Mythiques - Monsieur de Givenchy sticks to subtle florals. Although this is heavily leaning towards citric, even serial citrus haters could find something to love here. The florals do their job really well. They subdue and refine the citrus just enough to take away that ‘sharp’ edge found in other citrus based scents like Dior’s Eau Sauvage. It finishes off with a very gentle woody base that matches perfectly with the top and middle notes. It’s a very distinguished fragrance without being sharp. Overall this comes across as classic and elegant. Les Parfums Mythiques - Monsieur de Givenchy is a true gentlemen’s fragrance.

My first love when it comes to fragrances. Back in the mid 90's when I was in my early teens I've discovered that my dad had a gift set with the EDT, After Shave and a soap that he got in 1978 or 1979. I've stole a lot of the juice afterwards. Lovely citrus aromatic with fougere facets. Very green and bitter in a good way. When I've started collecting fragrances back in 2018 and I really wanted to have Monsieur de Givenchy in my collection, so I bought this Les Parfums Mythiques bottle and my memories went back. Still good, but of course reformulations watered it down a lot as the oakmoss backbone is almost gone. Now it's more on the citrus aromatic side, less green and less bitter. I've seen they've changed the bottle again (all the bottles in the men collection now look like the Gentleman line type), so I don't know if I'm gonna buy it again after my 40 ml juice that I have left will be gone as it was probably reformulated again. Still, I think the Les Parfums Mythiques is a good buy if found at discounted prices as in my opinion it's timeless, just like 4711, Guerlain Vetiver or Terre D' Hermes. Performance is on the light side: 30 min to 1 hour of medium projection and the total longevity is around the 5 hour mark. On skin. On clothes it will linger a bit more. Les Parfums Mythiques iteration gets a 9 out of 10 from me!

Fresh/tart bergamot and verbena combo in the top, shortly followed by a sweet lemon supported by lavender, and also a hint of incense or benzoin. In the base, the lavender leaves, the lemon tones down and leaves the front stage to moss, and a hint of woods (vetiver for sure, but also distinctively sandalwood in the late drydown, and even possibly rosewood), spices (coriander? pepper? a micro dose of cumin maybe?) and some musk (civet?) with subtle animalic undertones. Although it might appear as a simple citrus fragrance at-a-glance, it will unveil a controlled complexity later during the journey. Performance is not its strength, since it results being closer to an EDC than an EDT from that point of view, but that is not what is expected here anyways. Powdery? Yes, probably with some benzoin involved in it, providing also some sweetness. Soapy? Also a bit, but 'powdery' is the term that fits better, imo. How to describe it? I would say it's a mix of Eau de Guerlain and AdP Colonia, with a drop of Jicky in the base. It's classic without being dated, it's elegant without being boring, it's gentleman-y without being macho. It might not tick the uniqueness box, but it fits for sure the image of the house: It's very Givenchy. Masterpiece. Warm to hot days, 30+