Galop d'Hermès
Hermès (2016)

I've been ignoring this one for a while. No special reason, I just thought it's gonna be some soft-watercolor-washed out floral. Anyhow, I went on to try Galop d'Hermès and liked it. First, I got something fruity come along with plastic scent which is not new, a artificial sweet note, but no-no, it is caused by cassis, saffron and quince, which are fizzy, bubbly, sour and tart.

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

A rosier, sweeter version of Cuir d'Ange. I found Cuir d'Ange too leather-dominant, which is fine if you're looking for that, but I wanted something more balanced. The rose, which can sometimes lean a bit sour, seems to complement the leather in this fragrance. There are no conflicting notes, they just blend together nicely.

The price may be a bit off-putting, but I still like the smell enough to give it a thumbs up.

The ever thriving debate of designer and niche amongst certain circles continues to bemuse me: why is there so much emphasis on this distinction, and why are there so many attempts for a solid delineation between the two? In the multi-century history of fragrance, through most of that time, there was none of this nonsense. Whenever I am folded into this frivolity, I just mention Hermes as a prime example of where a so-called 'designer' house can release fragrances that runs circles around so many modern "niche" offerings. Hell, they have the budget for talented noses, quality materials, and they are a designer house that clearly puts effort into maintaining reputation.

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).

This is a gorgeous fragrance. My only wish is that the price point weren't so outrageous. I love the scent, I love the bottle, and I...haven't been able to pull the trigger to spend $220 on one perfume. Instead I got a small rollerball from the Perfumed Court, which I treasure. And meanwhile, I periodically look to see if the price has dropped. I'm obsessed.

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.

There is a rose in the opening blast, which is a bit unusual in that it is a rose, a rose that is a rose that is a rose (Sorry, Ms Stein). I mean it is focused on the rose blossom, but just the stem and the rose leaves, as is the case in many contemporary rose-based fragrances. An unequivocally pleasant rose impression.

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.

I totally ignored this one until Turin reviewed it. I hated the bottle, I hated the weird quince note....but mostly I hated the price.

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.

There's a leathery rose that I know
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.

Galop d'Hermès (2016) is the first official outing of house perfumer Christine Nagel, who took over for Jean-Claude Ellena in 2016 so he could retire from perfuming altogether. The fragrance is extremely divisive, and perhaps somewhat miss-marketed as a feminine parfum when in fact it sits quite unisex much like the venerable Eau d'Hermès (1951), but for an entirely different set of reasons. Jean-Claude Ellena has always been something of an emotional perfumer, preferring to capture places or snapshots in time with many of his creations for Hermès (particularly with the Hermèssence line), and uses more of an artistic approach as opposed to a scientific one. As almost the equal opposite to that, Christine Nagel is almost the "chemistry nerd" art-from-science type, playing with compounds and molecules instead of using ingredients like pigments on a paint palette, which makes her perfumes feel more concise, to the point, but not always as interesting to folks liking romanticism in their perfume. In the case of her appointment to Hermès and the subsequent Galop d'Hermès that was made manifest, it is clear that she chose to deconstruct down to the core leather theme that pervades most main Hermès scents, and like the mad scientist she is, build a fruity floral of all things on top of it. The bottle for Galop d'Hermès is almost more bizarre than the scent itself, being a metal framework with refillable atomizer that the sales associate proclaimed is "assembled from 22 parts", which I guess is supposed to be a selling point, but the custom colored lanyard you get to pick out when you buy one of these is a neat touch, I guess.

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.

Mouthwatering combination of quince and osmanthus with a sparkling rose. Now that is how you make a fruity floral which brings a smile on my face! From underneath all this, a fine buttery soft leather is adding some character; the leather is borrowed from the amazing Cuir d'Ange and I am happy about that. The heart is still pretty and it's focused more on the flowers (especially on the rose) while the osmanthus still brings a bit of freshness. I don't get any leather in the late dry down but I do get sort of an expensive rose soap feeling. I'd say this is unisex leaning a bit feminine, more so in the last part. It's a lively and happy perfume.

Genre: Leather (Floral)

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.)

Upon spraying Galop d'Hermès, the three main player of the fragrance - quince, rose and suede - gallop towards my nose right away. The quince exudes its rosy, ripe pear-like succulence, enhancing the delicate, honeyed sweetness of pink rose petals. The suede employed here, like previous reviewers mentioned, reminds me of the same plush, slightly cumin-tinted suede note in Cuir d'Ange too, with its supple texture occasionally evoking turkish delight along with the tender sweetness of rose and fruits.

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.