Madame Grès
Grès (2013)

Madame Grès is anothet part of the series "Coco Mademoiselle, Chanel Chance". It is expressive but not as loud as Coco Mademoiselle, fresh but not as sharp as Chance. It is straightforward, structured, no-frills fragrance that is versatile and wearable for almost all occasions. The note pyramid is simplistic, and the scent development is true to it, but this is one of those perfumes that is blended in such a way, with good quality ingredients, that is becomes much more than the sum of it's parts. I think it is a young scent that is at the same time 'sophisticated', making it an easy to wear fragrance for people of all ages. It is romantic, but when worn in a humid climate, it's so sensual.

Madame Grès manages to capture just enough sweetness to be universally appealing without going overboard. Sweet pineapple up top, lots of peony patch is ever present, with a woody floral foundation: other than a bit of a warm spiciness in the dry down, what you see is what you get, but it's perfectly rich and full-bodied. The patchouli is a big player base. It is key note in this one and Coco Mademoiselle; yet it's far more potent and stronger in Madame Gres, almost smokey the last hours or wear in the dry down, but Coco Mademoiselle contains a cleaned up patchouli that is almost undetectable. It reminds me of a woman in a pancil skirt, white botton up blouse, and black frame glasses leaning over a sink. She unbuttons the top two, shiny-glass buttons of her shirt, revealing a black lace bustier. Letting down her hair, she takes of her glasses and walks into the night.

I have a back up bottle of Cabaret and Lumiere Noire is in regular rotation on my dresser, it was time I ventured to connect with 'Madame Gres'
My pineapple references are 'Courtesan' (Worth) and Amor Amor (Cacharel) and Madame Gres is superior to both, for the pineapple is controlled by a clean magnolia and wasn't as sweet as I was led to believe. In my quest for great cheap and cheery perfumes Maurice Roucel's 'Tocade' is points leader but all of the perfumes mentioned here exhibit classy elements whilst being inexpensive.
The dry down is quite sudden and the perfume lacks duration but the base, slight as it is, is well behaved and doesn't leave a nasty musk. I like that in a perfume.
Madame Gres is probably best suited to women over twenty five but qualifies as a good day time perfume. Others have commented on a resemblance to Miss Dior, but if I had to compare it to that of a well known house I'd veer towards Chanel's 'Allure'.

From my perspective, in Madame Grès I find a perfume that is reminiscent of either Miss Dior Le Parfum or Chanel Coco Noir. Madame Grès is a well-constructed perfume. I don't detect a huge amount of cardamom, but it is there to give a bit of distinctive spicy-ness to the floral blend. I also don't detect a huge amount of Patchouli in the base, but I'm sure it is there to ground the fragrance and lend some warm and woodiness.

Madame Grès is quite lovely and indeed reminds me strongly of Dior Le Parfum. It opens with the brightness of the pineapple and grapefruit and settles into the soft warmth of Magnolia over a base of sandalwood and vanilla.

I find Madame Grès to be a lovely go anywhere, wear anytime perfume. It is sophisticated and elegant. I also enjoy the look of the bottle's minimal elegance. it is a classic design which bodes well for a classy perfume.

A blind buy at the discount store, perhaps hoping that the low price reflected a great deal on some out-of-fashion chypre like Madame Rochas. I really need to get a smartphone so I can check in with Basenotes before making such silly mistakes. But wait... no one has reviewed this yet?

OK, here goes: Madame Gres is a totally modern synthetic fruity woody floral thing with pale pinkish juice, a plain boring bottle that looks like Lagerfeld overstock, and a really cheap plastic cap. Considering the very stern-looking black and cream package that evokes Chanel boxes and labels of the 1960's, I was expecting the fragrance to be something throwback-fabulous, but whatever. Don't buy this if you were thinking of Cabochard. It's much more like Cabaret.

On balance, it's not a style I favor, and it's not a smell I'd associate with anyone with 'Madame' attached to their name. But it's not bad, either. Actually, it's very similar to Adam Levine for Women... and maybe half-a-million others.

The fragrance pyramid indicates basenotes of sandalwood, vanilla and leather... but I'd urge you to temper your enthusiasm for any of that. Buy it for your sister, assuming she's under 35.