Gala

Gala!! Another 80’s (although launched in 1990) animalic floriental, up there with the likes of Boucheron, Ysatis, Byzance..to some extent, also La Nuit by Rabanne. A gorgeous resinous and sticky floral that bathes in animalic secretions and then makes love to your skin all day and night long! What a pleasure to have something like this embrace you!! Review based on first release edt, sans barcode! What Gala reminds me of the most as soon as it touches my skin is Byzance; that same baroque sweetness from heady white flowers and resins. A sin for the senses. Dark and mysterious from the very beginning. I wouldn’t say the top notes are strong. They’re perfectly preserved, but Gala jumps straight to the point, aka, the heart. The carnation is in charge of spicing up every single note that comes; you have a red rose made even deeper. Jasmine that goes from virginal to night blooming and sweating honey tears. Isn’t there some tuberose and orange blossom? Because their heady sweetness is there. When the ylang ylang shows up, it’s when it reminds me vividly of Ysatis, with that buttery thickness of clotted cream. The dim lights of carnal pleasure aren’t far behind, and even though castor and civy are saying hi from the start, just like they do in Ysatis, they start menaging a dix with the rest of the notes. The drydown is long and very pleasurable. While the floral heart remains, it now allows my favorite animalic couple to take center stage, and all the while, while playing naughty games with the jasmine and carnation and honeyed (very!) orange blossom they start growing bigger and bigger, until all you’re left hours later, is a spicy and ambery cornucopia of lust. Gala remains very very dirty from this point on. The castoreum provides a leathery facet just like the leather in La Nuit. Civet brings forth a slight smoothness that becomes bigger and bigger and engulfs one and the same veil of perversion the above mentioned fragrances do. It might seem innocent at first but Gala is deep down dirty and carnal. It also shouts said carnality for everyone to hear before entering and after exiting a room. The rest of the hours it just seeps in your skin, making you feel and smell like mostly nobody does anymore. Gala won’t sit well with most people today. Bottles are scarce, and the only ones able to appreciate its beauty are us vintage lovers, former users, and perhaps someone who doesn’t want to fit in with the rest of the kids in the candy store. A real stunner! Silage and longevity worthy of a weekend Gala. Yes, the whole 48 hours!!

Amazing- it has already jockeyed its way to my top favorites. God Bless the nose who created this! Gala is intensely animalic, slightly resinous, and softly sweet. Later on in the drydown, the jasmine and perhaps a hint of the other flowers bloom, and the entire beautiful concoction wafts around you. It is the bottled essence of the elegant, upright, femme fatale you've always wanted to be. It is definitely reflected in the rich, inky midnight blue bottle with lace-like gold embellishments. Much more a formal fragrance than your every-day wear, I can only wish I had more well-dressed events to scent with this. What a pity that this is so hard to find! I accidentally ordered one vial just as I was offered another in a swap, so I now have two minis of this gorgeous perfume; I will cherish them both. Edit: I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS! GIVE ME MORE! I am now head-over-heels infatuated with this incredible work of art. It is only outdone by my Gucci EDP (though that one has strong memories tied to it) which is a significant statement for me to make.

EDP Vintage Gala I love love love it. I cannot stop sniffing myself because this is how my grandmother used to smell when we used to go to church and I was probably like 6 yrs old. It brings me back to those times and that's what I love about a fragrance and it makes me appreciate it in another level. This smells like dark magic like a cloak dusted with so many oriental notes that's been kept and set aside for the scent to get woody and u get that well developed jasmine too. I cannot get enough of it. Felt lucky to have the vintage version and will treasure the 25ml that I have of it. It is that precious. I cannot recommend this enough. I was fortunate to always smell this on my grandmother and now I will always have this to remind me of her :)

This is amazing and unusual :) A dirty soapy oriental powdery floral! It's quite difficult to describe as it changes from moment to moment. Well-blended, soft, cosy, carnal, soapy, in your face, discreet, powdery, strong in ylang-ylang and almost tropical, soapy and animalic at the same time, very very sandalwoody-y, simply a soft floral soap, it has gone through all these phases and come back always changing. Amazingly good. Advice to myself: don't be shy in spraying. This perfume needs some excess to show itself in full splendor. If applied with a very very discreet dab (just a drop) it is a well-behaved floral soap. You don't have to go full-on excess, but using 5 dabs instead of 1 seems to be a good balance point!

I absolutely adore this perfume, and I treasure my mini bottle. WHY is it nearly impossible to find it in a larger size? Has it been discontinued? (Please say it isn't so!!) Unfortunately when I search for it, I am shown too many bottles of that other stuff in the green packaging but very, very few of the desired black bottles. Update! It cost a great amount (for me) but I now have a REAL spray bottle of this scent!!! It had to be sent to me from Hungary which I am sure contributed to the price. But now I really, truly know how this long beloved perfume smells on my body! It bears little resemblance to how splashes from my mini bottle smell, but it is still very very good.

Gala, as its name implies, is glamour, luxury, and drama in a bottle! This is no gathering, get-together, or even dinner party. This is a GALA - replete with ball gowns of velvet, brocade, imported silk, and hand-sewn sequins. Harps are being plucked and masks are donned. But amidst the sea of sparkle, you stand out in your simple - but impeccably draped - black gown...because you sprayed on Gala before you left the house. Gala is a beautifully blended oriental-animalic, whose floral blend rises above the balsamic and feral notes to create a heady, serious perfume. It is similar to My Sin...a bit less complex tho, and heavier on the patch. Perfection.

I think this perfume is really pretty, and the bottle is amazing! This opens citrussy and becomes smokey and ambery quickly. When it settles down I also get some sandalwood and some nice floral notes (white floral and roses). It starts quite heavy, but when it settles down the floral notes add some lightness to this perfume which makes this perfume very interesting and a bit complex. The sandalwood makes it powdery and the amber gives it warmth. Very well balanced notes! I think this is beautiful for special occasions.

Yes Yes Yes castoreum and civet in a same bottle, and they are complementing each other rather than trying to go to the top on one of the other. I truly hate Aire from Loewe! I believe if you like Aire you will not appreciate Gala which is very FRANCH, no fruits and woods to detect. If you like Leonard Balahe you are going to love Gala.

I have only just discovered this fragrance and it is AWESOME !! I LOVE IT. So classy, so beautiful - really divine. This has now become my favourite for evenings out and everyone comments on how lovely it is and asks what it's called and where I bought it. This is definitely the best fragrance ever.

For all you ladies out there, I am very sorry to say, but it leaves Shalimar in the dust. I was a Shalimar lover for decades, but my taste evolved further to this type of Oriental. Extremely classy.

Well, Imoore, we agree once more! I LOVE Loewe perfumes so much, but Aire is the ABSOLUTE Exception. But Gala and the masterpiece Aura....AMAZING!!

OMG XSX, you found the notes!! I do not know how much to thank you!! This is one of my favorite Orientals ever!!! Love you, Action

Used to wear this beautiful rich and classy fragrance - loved it.

Yes, this transcends Shalimar-not derivative of it. At times I found it to have a touch of a spicy oriental vibe but not lately-and sadly I'm finding it less lovable- The longer & more often I ware it the less complex it seems because one note drowns out the others the more I smell it-how odd- usually that's the reverse. I'm finding a particular synthetic amber note increasingly dominant-overbearing- the more I wear it. I did love it but now not sure what to make of it- growing hyper-sensitized to that note and not a big fan. Still fond of it - will need to follow up on this one.

That is what i call A REAL, SERIOUS perfume. Took me half a day to figure it out- this is a masterpiece. I slowly fall in love. This type of perfume from 'antique' range like Shalimar and 24 Fabourgh....Strong, heavy, heady, very articulate - WOW!!! makes a firm and undisputable statement, I would class it as a special occasion - well that would be for me at least, as I got not much of it in a great swap! Pity it is impossible to get it anywhere...otherwise would stock up.... U consider urself a lucky one, if find a bottle!!!

It reminds me of D&G with the red cap. Those aldehydes, sandalwood and carnation. Maybe it ́s placebo, but i even smell a hint of coriander in Gala too (which is probably patchouli along with labdanum) While D&G smells almost vulgar to me, (TOO much musk smelling like female body odour with mega sillage...) Gala is a real Lady. Light sweet veil of flowers, ylang soap, velvety sandalwood and a trace amount of civet. EDT

first smell too strong and a litle weird but left for 1 hour and magic covered me. I love for special time, my gala time.

Woody, smoky, and leathery with animalic dry down. Love the flacon, it’s so gorgeous!

There's a lot of HONEY in the drydown!

In my opinion, it smells like old potpourri. 5/10