Golden Chypre

Golden Chypre is a beautifully modern interpretation of a chypre, while still staying true to the traditional character of the classic scent profile. It opens sharp and zesty with a tart bergamot and orange, with a touch of spicy nutmeg. A refreshing heart of floral accords begin to shine soon after, including rose, geranium and heliotrope. Alongside this, a slight green earthiness of patchouli and vetiver make their appearance. The fragrance then dries down to a musky, woody base of labdanum and amber which smells truly classic and regal. While some could argue it’s not a true Chypre due to the lack of oakmoss, it follows the traditional Chypre structure of citrus, floral, earthy and definitely lives up to the name. Grossmith is a renowned example of spectacular British perfumery and this scent is no different - it brings to life the beautiful flowers and regal power of Great Britain while staying true to the traditional French Chypre family. This is a true masterpiece and a stunning creation.

Mmm...stunning. Golden Chypre is the perfect name. A bright glowing bergamot opening with a kick from the geranium and a teeny bit of sweetness from the orange. This eases off a touch and now the Chypre shows itself in all its glory. The sun is just rising for another bright intense day in the desert. Intense oakmoss, spices and a bit of rose now become apparent. I think the heliotrope and Amber add a little warmth but that has gone by the end. A true Chypre and gosh isn't it glorious. Totally timeless and unisex. I get good sillage and longevity.

A classic chypre, beautiful, elegant, completely bang in the middle unisex and the term timeless most definitely applies. The opening is stunning the drydown is gentile and complex vetiver, oak moss, geranium citruses, musk. Nothing earth shattering or ground breaking just really really well done and smells quality. Major drawbacks are price and performance, I could let the price slide if it was potent and long lasting but golden chypre ain't.

This just oozes style and class. It is unisex, however when I spray this on my skin, I am Marlene Dietrich in a sable coat. If there is such a thing as an essence that defies time, it is Golden Chypre. Absolutely one for your desert island stash. 8-D

Absolutely delightful. I will be investing in a bottle of this.

Scent of a slightly formal Duchess all alone in an immaculate but dated stately home. Perceptibly high class, with authentic ingredients and old-school polish; quite warm at heart, but with a surface so buffed to a perfect sheen that it's hard to tell whether you've really broken through or not. Not animalic at all, so free of the civet or musks which can make vintage-style chypres hostile to me. The citruses at the beginning are lovely and the dry down is impeccably well-mannered (in fact it's my favourite bit - there's a beautiful, soft, almost furry spiced amber at the bottom which will hang on for up to 8h, but it's going to be a very private pleasure as you'll need to be sniffing hard at your own wrist to get at it.) There's much to love; it smells opulent without being vulgar, feminine without being frilly or silly, vintage-esque without being dusty or dirty. Done with a light hand, so although its projection and sillage are medium-firm at first they die back pretty quickly - with an hour or so - and then it's all just a bit too conventional, a bit staid for my taste apart form that whispery presence on the skin. Above all - and maybe this is unfair - it's not even in the same universe of swooning, gorgeous, over-the-top retro drama as Grossmith's astounding Hasu no Hana, which is truly a thing apart. Golden Chypre is absolutely civilised, wearable, appropriate and high-quality - but I just kept thinking 'I wish I was wearing Hasu instead' on the occasions when this sort of genteel-aristocratic-floral-Edwardian-England mood hits me. (That's not very often.) Seems to me that if you have the aristocratic means for Grossmith, try others from the house before this. All the same, it's unarguably well crafted and worthwhile stuff. One to wear while watching "The Crown", perhaps. It's not really my world but it can be fun to travel there in imagination, or in scent. I give it a curtsey and my thanks.

Since falling in love with the trilogy of masterpieces that Grossmith initially released (Hasu-No-Hana, Phul-Nana and Shem-el-Nessim), I have been sampling their modern offerings. Those were revivals of century-old perfumes, a labour of love by a descendant of the original owner of this heritage British perfume house who happened upon the handwritten formulas. No expense was spared, and these baroque, vintage creations were recomposed for the luxury market of today, and are as opulent and sumptuous as can be imagined. As regards Grossmith's modern releases, they have failed to reach the heights of the aforementioned big three (with the exception of Saffron Rose). Golden Chypre is a surprisingly light modern chypre instead of the opulent, vintage-style mossy beauty I expected. It is pleasant and wearable, perhaps making for a nice introduction to classic chypres for young/modern noses. Ultimately, it is slightly underwhelming in my opinion. I am a chypre lover (the richer the better!), so this is not what I would choose. GC has quite an aromatic opening, leading with citrus and a warm, softly spicy nutmeg note. Peppery, green geranium follows, nicely fresh and herbal. Some powdery rose follows, soft and sheer rather than rich or jammy. Patchouli follows, forming that classic accord with the rose. Woody notes follow, complementing the soft florals nicely. Grassy vetiver and the aforementioned patchouli give a mossy chypre effect to the base, coming to the fore as it begins to dry down. It fades to a musky, earthy skin scent within several hours. Sillage and longevity are moderate. Perfectly unisex, this is a light, subtle chypre for everyday use. It is transeasonal and versatile, classy and subdued. A little underwhelming (and overpriced) for me, but pretty decent overall. 3.5/5.

7.5/10. At first did not like. But then it grew on me. Pine and then tangy citrus peel. The labdanum and herbal come through. Natural, soothing. Similar feminine lightness to Diamond Jubilee which has hawthorn. More feminine than most of the line (Hasu-no-hana I am looking at you). A little spicy nutmeg, and my husband smells incense. Unusual, a little weak but I do not think this would work well as a strong fragrance.

Beautiful, subtle and well mannered. Too much well mannered :)

Very pretty and super powdery traditional scent for a lady. The opening notes didn't last long and never detected any spices only a slight citrus floral blast. Middle is dry powdery rosey and soapy floral. Not for me.

This should have been a love story. I love chypres. And I hoped so much from Grossmith. The first blast was pure Mitsouko, which I enjoy very much. Unfortunately the heart part for me is purely composed of oranges and vetiver. The problem I have though, is that I find the combo resembling the syntethic powder-juice I used to buy when I was a kid, you know - you buy an orange powder, pour on water and get a "juice". The resemblence is so huge, that it simply annoys me, because why would I want to smell like that? It's not very bad, but it is not also good. For the first hour I am purely annoyed by "Golden chypre", but the dry down brings it to a new level - here it is, the musk so is dominant on my skin, that I start to gag, musk + "orange juice" = feces covered with orange air freshnerer. Seriously. I cannot say it enough. The good thing though is - with many niches, especially high end ones - it is all about the chemistry. Mine sucks combined with "Golden Chypre". So sad, I was looking forward to try this chypre.

This is just ok for me. The beginning is bright; luminous and uplifting. I was very excited and wish that part would have lasted longer. Then it gets too heavy for me with the oakmoss. I think if you love oakmoss and chypres you would love this. Why isn’t oakmoss even listed as a note? I *think* I can pick up some cardamom. I love cardamom and was hoping for lots more. You win some you lose some, but I am glad to have tried it.

This is a light floral-woods perfume with what smells like a natural palette. The name is misleading to me, as I don't smell any oakmoss or anything that approximates the standard mossy chypre drydown. Interestingly, the notes pyramid does not have any moss either, which perhaps indicates that Golden Chypre is sort of a reinterpretation of a chypre rather than the stuff itself. It starts off rather bright, even summery, with a seamless blend of citrus and mild spices, before moving on to a floral mid phase which quickly develops into a very light base of vague woods and musks. It smells very natural, but there is not a lot of development, and as noted by others it is too meek and quiet, and somewhat underwhelming. Even as a (very loose) interpretation of chypre, Golden Chypre is underwhelming when one can have stuff like Chypre Palatin, Dryad (which is closer to a classical chypre) or several other vintages. I appreciate the how it smells very natural and pleasant, but given its shortcomings and price tag, I see it rather pointless. 2/5 (negative)

Before I start writing this review I have to remind myself: I"m sniffing a $300 chypre!!! Ooh baby, this is what I live for, high quality chip-a-roos. It's better than a shirtless scene from the Game of Thrones.... IN a side by side comparison, the opening is so similar to Mitsouko it would be hard to differentiate. I"m sorry to see this phase end. Phase II is drier, spicier; Geranium is one of my favorite florals, and if you've ever smelled this in aroma therapy you'll know how earthy and untamed it is. Along with the spice notes it energizes Golden Chypre, filling me with warmth and inspiration. We move into the lingering dry down much too quickly, finally saying adieu much too soon. This is a soft, subtle scent, and I was hoping for more oomph from the price tag. I've never said this before but aldehydes would do wonders to help set this off. It's just too beautiful to squat near the skin. Try it if you can!

I love this perfume soooo much, but it's so darned expensive...I have only ever had teeny -weeny decants of it/sneaky sprays from a department store in London. It doesn't have a huge amount of staying power eiither which is its major drawback. However.... I LOVE the fresh, citrusy opening a lot, it's so juicy and clean. And geranium is one of my favourite notes in perfumes and I can really detect it quite strongly, for once. There can not be enough geranium in anything, in my humble opinion. And the beautiful woodsy dry-down is like catnip to me...Again, it must be a scent memory from my childhood or something, but fresh, floral chypres always make me feel at-one and complete in some way I just can't articulate. They make me feel so happy and content, and this scent evokes the same feelings in me, so I adore it. But I could never justify spending so much money on a bottle of perfume, that way madness lies!

orange = yes Bergamot = absolutely Vetiver = no Geranium = yes Carnation = yes Musk, Roses, woods = yes patchouli, Amber = Yes X2 and no cardamom at all it's a great creation and blend, it's ok for me but i need to retest it on my skin cause his fragrances mingles with skin and plotters hides it's magic. note: the main drawback of all Grossmith's fragrances is the spray, the top piece that sprays the fragrance. however, after few sprays that piece on top kind of wears down or melts, in another way the smell of it turns very metallic. this could be because of the quality of the spray itself, or maybe the fragrance itself is quite strong in away that the spray material can't handle it's strength or density. so i wish they take this into consideration cause this might ruin the essence as it has direct connection with the fragrance.

It smells synthetic and geranium greeny - in other words, cheap. Then you get the musk and vetiver, and that made me feel quite nauseous. Yet it is so expensive! Horrible. They should have left out the geranium for a start, with more aldehydes added. But really this is such an olfactory mess that it would be best to start all over again and quietly take it off the shelves.

I was unimpressed with this especially after building up high expectations from Grossmith through a few other (great) scents like Floral Veil...this one smells cheap and old. A bit like one of those fizzy candies that have been left in grandma's pocket for too long and melted but she insists on offering it to you :D

I sprayed generously on my arm at the store, rolled my sleeve down, and forgot about it for hours. I've missed the evolution of the scent, and its several hours later, but my god the drydown on this is glorious.