Grain de Plaisir

Here is the transcript from my most recent YouTube video: A thought-provoking composition from the "Les Aromatiques" collection of Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier, Grain de Plaisir was composed by Jean-Francois Laporte, founder & perfumer of L'Artisan Parfumeur and subsequently MPG. Grain de Plaisir opens with a fanfare of lemon, more like preserved lemon, or even lemon curd, lemon tarts. A river of zest, all-encompassing, unctuous, soon being joined by garden herb and celery stock, not S.T.A.L.K. but rather, S.T.O.C.K. Cooked, with spruce and fir tips, maybe some rosemary and thyme. The conifers amplify on my skin, smelling more like their sap, the exudate sticky, tacky, dry, but then the attention focuses on spent pine needles, or pine straw, as it were, on the forest floor. Perhaps it should be collected for a flower bed? I have a strong connection with the scent of pine straw on the forest floor, as we had a grove of Eastern White Pine behind my house as a kid. There is visceral scent memory here, it really gives me a pause in the most wonderful way. Who would have thought that a celery accord could be perceived as pine straw to my nose? Nevertheless, I love it. It dries down seamlessly into vetiver and resins, further crystallizing the sensation of pine straw on the forest floor, heated by the dry sun. Magical.

The fresh scent I didn't know I needed. So wild to look at the note pyramid having tried this fragrance. What I got before looking was something fresh with Australian sandalwood underneath. Speaking as someone repelled by the very idea of fresh fragrances - a bunch of nasty aromachemicals that smell like laundry soap - this is a revelation. Even knowing the notes I can't pick out anything but the sandalwood and that part is close to the skin and easily avoided if I don't sniff the spot where I dabbed. Otherwise I'm enveloped in this beautifully blended cloud of what I can only describe as freshness. This is another one of those masterful MPG scents that you simply have to try. The notes are meaningless. I find it beautiful and completely unique.

Lemon green celery rooty vetiver... vegetable soup? Hmm.. definitely on the bizarre side of things, a woody aromatic veering towards vegetable stock territory. Sofrito, some may be familar with the combination of carrot, celery and onion as the foundation of italian cooking. Add watered down stock and squeeze some lemon at the end and there you have it.. a remedy for the seasonal cold according to my grandmother. The opening of this fragrance is very challenging to me, the tart lemon against vegetable celery and rooty almost onion like vetiver joining forces only gets more intensely culinary when even some salty facets start manifesting adding fuel to the fire. About 10-15 mins in it is definitely settles with more coniferous qualities surfacing, but at that point i am already done with it. A few hours later and woody vetiver is in the forefront. Thought provoking? Perhaps. Strange? definitely.

Incredible opening, musty dry down. But such is the curse of so many lemon fragrances.

I like this perfume a bit. It starts out quite promising ... fresh, green, citrus-y, but a unique take on it. The drydown stays pretty much the same, except the mint starts to come to the forefront with a vengeance and totally ruins it for me. It felt too much like I had spilled a mojito on myself. And with mint, it also verges a bit on the medicinal. So, it's a pass. If you're looking for something like this but without the mint, I'd say Bigarade Concentrée by Frederic Malle is similar and better. It's one I own and absolutely love. And the hunt for the MPG that truly suits me continues...