Galop d'Hermès fragrance notes
- Doblis leather, rose, saffron, quince
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Latest Reviews of Galop d'Hermès

30 mins later, fruity scent gone and replaced with the scent I could say "Classy". It is a subtle rose, hidden behind of strong dose of gasoline. From time to time I think of oud mixed with the best quality rose jam. There is a bit of vanilla combined with a soiled biker leather jacket. Shy and dirty on the same time. Not a love for me personally, but it's pleasant

The price may be a bit off-putting, but I still like the smell enough to give it a thumbs up.
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Case in point: Galop d'Hermes. This is not a mainstream, 'crown-pleasing' fragrance, but neither isn't completely inaccessible and challenging. It's fragrance symmetry with a few flourishes for interest. Classicism gilded with modern flair. From the top, we have this aromatic, somewhat astringent quince coupled with a plush saffron: sillage for days. Jammy osmanthus (perhaps a wee bit of the absolute with Apritone?) and a dash of rose oxide soon enters the scene, priming us for the supple suede leather. Here I feel like I am a leather book incarnate, and I kinda love it. It's as if I am announcing that I have some stories to tell.
This is reliably unisex and has a versatility that belies its style. For every season there's a reason to Galop. And for those hung up on performance: do yourself a favor and stop worrying. This one is meant as a sensual simmer for several hours. The Hermes minimalism (Nagel does follow the Ellena playbook quite nicely here) keeps the fragrance from feeling tired and nagging. Quite nice in my book, I must say...for a designer (wink).

As a horse girl temporarily away from horses during the pandemic, this is the most beautiful leather scent that I've tried. It's soft and really does smell like an expensive, clean saddle. But it's wearable. It's expensive, and it smells like it's expensive.
I held it up to my partner's nose after writing the previous paragraph, and he said: "It smells expensive." And he wasn't reading over my shoulder, either.

The drydown brings in a soft, gentle bit quite convincing suede note; Doblis leather of which some Kelly bags are made of. Kelly or no Kelly, this is a lovely, albeit a bit linear, suede: soft, smooth, and in the brighter side.
Later on a fruity quince comes to the fore, as comes a saffron that is rather bland and anaemic; maybe a crash course given by Comptoir Sud Pacifique about how they created Sultan Safran might help Hermès in that matter.
I get moderate sillage, good projection and eight hours of longevity on my skin.
This scent for warmer autumn or cooler spring day starts quite nicely, but the second half turns increasingly less enticing. Still, apart from the bottle design that is a bit naff, in all its simplicity this is quite an interesting concept that is not without a touch of originality. Overall just barely a positive score. 3/5.

Anyway, after a kind transaction with a fellow BNer, I am now in possession of a bottle.
I still hate the bottle, even if it is very well built and quality feeling. I still don't love the quince. But that rose, be still my heart. It's so natural, dark, and beautiful. The leather is a nice backdrop, though mostly before the drydown (weird).
You don't always smell a rose that smells so real, but not the pretty parts, the weird notes you only pickup on after smelling the flower too many times. It's damp, off-putting, and authentic.
This is where that annoying quince comes in. It turns the rose fruity, to the point of almost smelling of osmanthus (Rosemanthus(TM)). I love me some osmanthus, but I just want that stunning rose accord to dominate, which it eventually does once the fruity notes tame themselves.
I will say that I mostly spray this on fabric, because I find wearing it can be a bit intense, and the price is still absurd, but so be it.

Which the French mispronounce as Galop
Though I'd thought it a flop
Must now have me Galop
And its tacky and saddlery sheau.
xoxoxo
Horse girl valentines
Came in both candied leather
And bittersweet rose
Tried to remember
Took a deep breath, closed her eyes
Back on the ranch, and
Rose leather Sweet Tarts
Might as well be the smell of
Stainless steel stirrups
Holding glass bottles
Bearing mystery liquids
From future and past
Too small and glass-filled
For any step but into
Dreams and memories
Through projector lens
Infinite animation
Of horse-gait story
Riding like the wind
Until ev'rything made sense
And there's that moment
Rose bouquet dropped by
Tramp-stamped wild-child daughter of
Lonestar Memories
And fateful mistress
His own private Akiko
Rose Ikebana
And then she grew up
"Ain't go'n' ta no chypre school"
She texted DM
In Tex-ty Franglish
Stinging sheep emoticon
Too many summers
With broken man-child
Though the girl never forgot
The smell of crayons
Always thought she could
Smell them apart if she tried
ROY G BIV and friends
Accent on the R
whenever she smelled Roses
Tried to understand
Slowing her escape
Bringing her back to this here
Story factory
Art will find a way
Sneaky, patient, biding time
To corrupt the youth
Script written before
Rose's floating ball and chain
Watched new home prepared
From starry daynights
Waiting for time and sunlight
To stir up drama
Pretty rings and chains
Looking for toys, not just boys
To fold their paper
Drawing not allowed
And nobody asked the Gal
What she was thinking
Riding quinolines
Wearing nose-colored Grasses
In those Pinene Woods
Now just a second
You sure you want to hear this?
OK, well, you see
She was a smoker
Wore boots and jeans ev'rywhere
She was a looker
Lookin' for trouble
No chance of not finding it
Or it finding her
Kelly somethin' French
T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Said they was sisters
Only half a lie
Leathery complications
Never really die
Needed a wing girl
Who figured it all backwards
And never got wise
Flower Girl Kelly
Flushin' the game for the kill
With Pony Puff Kid
Soft cryin' shoulder
Wild nights of bad girl solace
Sure did pay those bills
Until they didn't
When some joker called her Bluff
Suede and black patent
Can lose their effects
On rougher holster leather
In dramatic arts
Resulting in some
Headlines, mug shots and stories
Not all being true
But then Killer Kel
Simply rebranded stood ground
Into fresh roses
And candy-filled hearts
Rich men paid to see that scar
Up in the French Alps
But back to our Gal
Sister Kel lied up a storm
Gal done lawyered up
Mama bailed her out
Had her right where she wanted
On that plane to France
Next to some old guy
Said he was in some kinda
Perfume insurance
Heard her life story
Like he already knew it
(It's called "déjà vu")
And so he tells her
"You listen to Yo Mama
Good stuff will happen."
So that's what she did
The Cowgirl Perfumista
Or somethin' like that
Say there amigo
Can you spare an old guy a
Shot of that cologne?
Yeah, that bottle there
That's the one I'm talkin' 'bout
That stirrupy one.

I've been pretty clear in the past that I hate most fruity florals and nearly all "fruitchouli" varieties for their candied sweetness and offensive nose burn openings, but there have been exceptions (mostly vintage ones) like Chanel Cristalle (1974) and Calyx by Prescriptives (1987). Galop d'Hermès rides in as another rare exception, because it holds off from being unbearably ozonic or sweet by keeping the fruit element in the background, and laying rose and saffron upon the sharp leather tannery note in the base. This combination makes for a rather pleasant and almost "summery" leather experience that can easily replace any of the older, and more traditional varieties of leather found in the Hermès back catalog when a hot day calls for it, but only for the open-minded. The bright bergamot and osmanthus that opens with a dry citric apricot accord. The leather comes on rather quickly as does the rose and saffron which follows, but while this development gives Galop d'Hermès a bit of a Middle East flair at first, the rose and osmanthus hang around with the dry leather which pushes the scent a little more to the feminine side in the end, merging the whole thing with a late-wear nondescript woods note to make Galop d'Hermès rather pleasant albeit a touch linear due to its simplicity. Wear time is appreciably long, and sillage is huge at first but soon goes busto after about the 4 hour mark to something more akin to what an eau de parfum usually puts out. Galop d'Hermès feels best in warm weather and casual settings, and although unisex to my nose, the average CISHET guy won't dig this ladies or anyone who has interest in obvious florals or rose needs to have a looksie at this.
Galop d'Hermès is nice, but nice may not be enough for some long time Hermès fans used to the kind of output Hermès is known for, including robust aldehyde woody florals like Amazone (1974), or stiff isobutyl quinoline leathers like Bel Ami (1976). Hell, even more-recent main line scents like Hiris (1999) or the male incumbent Terre d'Hermès (2008) have a lot more complexity and soul to them than Galop d'Hermès, which reads like a "let's play with genres that don't really go together because it might be cool" by mixing leather with a fruity osmanthus top and then keeping it precariously teetering between the former's dryness and the latter's shrill sweetness, but never really giving in to the tendency either have to dominate the accord by stuffing some Arabian rose and saffron into the heart for laughs. Well, Christine Nagel certainly got everyone's attention with this (if the complex refillable bottle in it's own metal frame failed to do that), but if she intends to keep that attention, she'll have to tow the line a bit more with Hermès, which she seems to have already done to some degree with her additions to the Eau de Cologne Hermès line. All in all, this is a hard-fought neutral to me, as it's difficult to make me like something in this genre from the get-go, but I don't hate it and found the time spent with Galop d'Hermès rather interesting. The creativity and overall vibe still feel like "Hermès" to me, even if not exactly "classic Hermès" nor something I would see myself wearing beyond sampling for this review, but what doesn't work for me might work for you. Sample before diving in, as this one is also a bit pricier than some others from the house.


On a fundamental level, Galop smells to me like a fairly straightforward juxtaposition of sweet rose and leather. However, there is a peculiar, almost meaty overtone to the rose note here, which segues very effectively into the leather accord. The result is a fascinating sort of fragrance chimera, neither wholly animal nor vegetable, but partaking of both. I find this much more interesting to wear than a literal description makes it sound. Unisex, by the way, if you ask me. (Ducks for cover.)

Galop is overall linear during its 8-hour longevity on my skin, with these three main notes rotating in and out from time to time and the vegetal muskiness becoming more noticeable about 3 hours in. The osmanthus and saffron sit at the intersection of fruity quince, spicy rose and suede, and they behave more like extension and overlap of these notes among themselves. The sillage is mostly moderate.
Compared to the Hermès fragrances released during Jean-Claude Ellena's tenure, Galop d'Hermès immediately feels richer and more saturated in colour. But at the same time, it's still lightweight enough to fit into the modern Hermès sensibility.
This continuation in style (relatively transparent aesthetics) with a more personal touch (with a more saturated palette) is promising in theory. However, certain aspects of Galop's execution left much to be desired for me. The main culprit is the syrupiness of the fruity note, which at times largely overshadows the rose and the excellent suede note. Moreover, when the tanned aspect of suede is mixed with the strong sugary fruity sweetness, it renders the fruity note somewhat more synthetic, which is not in accord with the luxurious image and price tag of Galop.
With its large portion of sweet, frivolous fruity note providing an easier entry point, Galop would have made an excellent choice for those who enjoy fruity floral gourmand in general and would like to start the exploration of leather/suede note in perfumery. However, with its limited distribution and high price tag, I'd hesitate to recommend it over other more available options on the market.