Phul - Nana

Phul-Nana is the fragrance I have been waiting to find. Breathtaking and unflawed, like the stately Baccarat crystal flacon, cast and relaunched straight from the original mould created in 1919 as part of the "Serie de Luxe" range released in 1920. The house of Grossmith (one of England's oldest perfume houses) has recently fallen back into the hands of the family of the original founder after being out of its ownership for 30 years. And with the reacquisiton, the original perfumes have been relaunched and 'remastered' (wonderfully romantic word for 'reformulated') based on the handwritten formulae in books rescued from the original Grossmith premises in London in 1940. *** Apparently Phul-Nana was released when Jacques Guerlain was barely out of grade school, so you get the idea of the originality of this archetypal Oriental formula. Phul-Nana most definitely bears classic substance and would not be out of place amongst the likes of Shalimar, Coco and Joy. However, I find Phul-Nana completely unpretentious. That's not to say that loyalist of the aforementioned perfumes are not, but Phul-Nana has a little more of a chaste and pure botanic feel without the animal undertone. There is a beautiful arrangement of piquant flowers courtesy of geranium and neroli with the welcome. Patchouli and sandalwood give this such a lovely palpable quality, which in combination creates the most sensuous accord. Ylang-ylang and tuberose are seemingly animated and never languish heavily in the heart. A powdered touch of something rosey is also apparent (rose geranium perhaps). Opoponax (sweet myrrh) is quickly becoming one of my favorite base ingredients and in combination with tonka and benzoin, give Phul-Nana an exotic, incandescent depth without ever feeling heavy. A breath of cedar for clarity; vanilla and bergamot are well balanced and give a perfect, gently sweet luminosity; while a drop of orange furnishes a feeling of familiarity, comfort and joy. A very Indian feel indeed with a peacefully cultivated incensed accord, woven with immaculate flowers and high class opulence. I imagine Phul-Nana to be worn by a tender-hearted and dignified, high caste Indian woman, who has embraced British influence without being disloyal to her roots. Wearing this treasured and historically significant fragrance is a truly a joy for me.

Grossmith's perfumes are captivatingly beautiful. Grossmith is a heritage British house whose original perfumes dating from over a century ago have been recently revived, thanks to a descendant of the original family stumbling upon the original handwritten formulas. With these precious notes in hand, modern perfumers bottled Hasu-no-Hana, Shem-el-Nessim and this one, Phul-Nana for the 21st century, while attempting to remain as faithful to the original creations as possible. The result: high-quality, old-world beauties, expensive but worth their price. Phul-Nana is a spicy amber-fougère with a rich floral heart. Opulent, baroque and high-quality, it is a remarkable composition, vintage in style but wearable today. PN opens with orange notes, initially juicy, but with green neroli quickly coming to the fore. The neroli is fresh with a slightly green citrus edge, becoming increasingly sweet and floral as it develops. It is joined by spicy notes after a little while. The amber base, emerging surprisingly early on, is rich and balsamic thanks to the benzoin, complementing the other notes throughout. As it develops, the heady floral heart emerges, led by sweet ylang ylang, and tempered by green, peppery geranium. The tuberose is sweet rather than carnal, still reasonably strong, rounding out the florals nicely. Tonka bean emerges as it begins to dry down, adding its characteristic soft spiciness, giving a hazy sweetness to the drydown. The amber becomes more resinous here, complemented to perfection by some earthy patchouli. Smooth, rich sandalwood emerges at its late stages, opulent and regal. Some restrained, dry vanilla adds some sweetness here, complementing the sandalwood and amber to perfection. It fades to a sweet woody-amber skin scent after a while with remnants of spice remaining. Sillage is strong and longevity is long-lasting. A rich woody-amber-floral with a pinch of spice, PN is a dense yet radiant composition, intended for women originally but unisex by today's standards. It is transeasonal and can be worn for day or night. Old-fashioned in the best way, they don't make them like this anymore. Except Grossmith does. 4.5/5.

I'm not feeling on top of my game at all currently, and definitely not feeling especially articulate so I apologise for what I imagine will be a fairly badly written review! But I wanted to leave a review as I am so surprised that only 12 people had reviewed this and only 30 people listed as having this. This scent is simply beautiful and I think would be well received by those who like classic timeless scents. To me this feels unapologetic opulent and feminine. That said my husband (we'll get him into perfume yet!) today commented how beautiful this was, and added a tiny dab on top of the Givenchy Pi decant he was wearing (I am making progress with him!) and it actually worked astoundingly well together to make a kind of floral masculine rich exotic heady aroma, that I have to keep going to his neck and inhaling! To me this scent is perfect in all conditions - it doesn't become cloying or heavy during summer, yet radiates warmth and beauty in cold weather. While it would be suitable for a posh night out it also works equally well on days like today where I have been home ill in pyjamas all day. Basically, this perfume makes me feel good and smell amazing. I get a lot of ylang, bergamot, resins, geranium from this but it is one of those scents that seems to become more than the sum of its parts. I don't feel inclined to analyse and breakdown the notes because such if the beauty that I just want to be enveloped by it, and stop thinking. Good longevity for me, getting wafts clearly after 7 or 8 hours wear, and nice sillage too - I can still smell it and it leaves a pleasant yet not overpowering trail. I really do love this perfume and I am surprised more people do not know it. That said the price point is somewhat offputting - £145 for 50ml is pretty steep. Yet, this is beautiful that it really is one of the few worth that price tag in my opinion and only really in line with some of the much more well known Tom Ford scents. I currently have a good size decant but will be for sure getting a bottle when I have the money! Please try this scent, it is gorgeous! Don't be put off by my poor reviewing skills!

Baroque and beguiling, Phul - Nana opens with the peppery verdure of geranium and sweet, buttery ylang-ylang, with just a tint of neroli like a glint of light. There is also a notable candied orange in the early stages of its development, while a medicinal herbal element feels a bit wintergreen. I would compare its timbre to that of an English horn, simultaneously sharp, buzzy, but deep and reverberant. It has an incandescent, arresting feel, making me stop and ponder while wearing it. There are two things: where I am, and where fragrance takes me. This is all the latter, this all "elsewhere," anything other than the here and now, almost as if I am getting flashbacks of memories from past lives lived. The heart of Phul - Nana is full of garnet opoponax, warm, bittersweet, softened just somewhat with benzoin and tonka, anchoring the piquant floral heart in its illuminated cloisters, trails of warm spice and whispers of woods. Throughout all of this, what's most notable is its restraint. Be that as it may, there is a corporeal undercurrent further into its dry down, just the slightest utterance of lustful profanity, ensuring that this is not entirely candied and dandy. Overall, I feel pretty confident that this is faithful to the original formulation as it can be given modern restrictions, and while I by no means want to suggest that its essential to the vintage lover, it would behoove a diehard to at least sample it to see if it moves them in much the say way as it does me.

I have a longstanding fascination with old perfumes, probably trying to recapture something from a hazy past. By my age, I should be nostalgic for the seventies, but the yearning is for times I never lived through. So this nostalgia is imaginary, sort of à la recherche du temps jamais vécu. In my quest for nostalgic, retro perfumes (not talking here about vintage, these are ‘fresh’ bottles), this one seems the most authentic, uncompromising and best quality so far. For me, this really makes time travel happen. Not sure if anybody remembers an old film called Somewhere in Time with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve where he ends up travelling back in time to 1912, to an Edwardian boudoir and to the lace covered bosom of a belle époque beauty. This is the scent of that boudoir and bosom! Now coming back to reality, this is a potent, interesting and long-lasting fragrance. Starts with a bracing spicy geranium, with a bit of citrus to lighten the punch; this initial phase is much longer than the top notes we usually get these days. The next stage is fairly constant, a woody floral, slightly ambery mix, very tenacious and with strong projection. I would say that it is unisex, but as a man you need to be quite brave to wear it, while on a woman it would be less eccentric. I had to buy the bottle and I usually wear it for my own sake, enveloped in its potency and capacity for dépaysement, in rêveries of other times. But I am getting bolder and started wearing it more often.