Gentleman Society 
Givenchy (2023)

I really like Gentlemen Society for one simple reason- it immediately transports me to working at Hollister in high school and just blasting the store down in 'Jake'

Giant commercial spray bottle and everything

And I mean that, this stuff hangs around. Real thick like

Varanis kept referring back to a vacation vibe and to get more granular I would say hanging around in the pool connected lobby

The clinical sterility of an expensive hotel in constant struggle against the ravenous Summer air and parade of beach accoutrement families keep dragging in and out of the double automatic doors

There are too many smells, you don't hate them but the fern next to you is a reminder of fresh air

Sampled this today in Macys. Very generic IMO. Didn't get any sage in this. This was so generic, it seemed like something I've smelled too many times before. Nothing special at all with this one. I will give it a neutral because it is not offensive. 6/10

I've always found the Givenchy Gentleman line to be inoffensive and generally pleasant, and this latest release is no exception. As Varanis Ridari points out, there's definitely an artificial amber woody note that dominates the composition, with no iris to be detected. I also get a subtle coconutty scent, although it doesn't seem to be an official note.

While it's not particularly unique or groundbreaking, the performance is surprisingly decent with 7-8 hours of longevity. All in all, I'd say this fragrance is a solid choice for those who prefer a safe, non-offensive option over more popular fragrances like Invictus or Le Male flankers.

Gentleman Society by Givenchy (2023) is a departure from most of the range, which varied from sweet and ineffectual like the original Gentleman Givenchy (2017), to overtly sharp and formal with notes of orris, like the Gentlema Eau de Toilette Intense by Givenchy (2021). What this means is new territory not yet staked out for the line, which some love as one of more-diverse ranges among recent designer masculine offerings, and some loathe as a perversion of the iconic packaging and nomenclature of the original Givenchy Gentleman (1974). In a nutshell, this is a very sweet and thick fragrance, cloying for some and sexy for others, marrying what to my nose feels like tropical opening notes with a heavy vanilla and vetiver base, boosted by "amberwoods" as seems to be the rage among men's market designers heavier than a typical blue bottle freshie. Not sure how I feel about this one myself, although it isn't unpleasant.

The perfumers Karine Dubreuil-Sereni and Maïa Lernout come from opposing oil houses, which is unusual in this industry as only one usually wins the brief for a perfume; but perhaps a merger of the ideas their submissions represented requited a rare cooperation of perfumers from competing firms. In either case, both firms are relatively small compared to the conglomerates like Firmenich, IFF, or Givaudan, with Karine belonging to Voc Profumi and Maïa to Takasago (former home of Pierre Bourdon), respectively. Together, they have concocted a man's fragrance that goes on like sun tan oil, with coconut and jojoba oil nuances in the opening, eventually leading to cardamom, sage, banana-like ylang-ylang, and narcissus. The base is amberwood to the max, dipped in an ethyl maltol sugar glaze of vanilla and atlas cedar, recalling Versace Eros (2013) somewhat.

All told, Gentleman Society felt like it should be called "Gentleman Vacation", as the beachy nature of the sun tan lotion elements, crossed with the vanillic sweetness of sugary cocktails enjoyed on an evening at a beach-side bar, do not conjure the images of elevated society that the classy etched bottle suggests. Something this heavy and rich could very well be worn as a clubber, just like the aforementioned Eros or something similar like Jean-Paul Gaultier Le Mâle Le Parfum (2020) and Paco Rabanne Phantom (2021). The beachy opening is pretty interesting, although after that, Gentleman Society falls into blah synthetic sweetness and rich, stuffy artificial ambery woodiness with vetiver used in a nutty way that further leads to suffocation. If you were looking for something young-leaning, playful, and capable of cutting a path through a party full of over-sprayers, this might do the trick. As for me, I'll pass. Neutral