Givenchy Eau de Toilette, 100 ml

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The newer scent is, in a way, more 1970s than the original, reprising the fresh citrus cologne style of formerly popular (in the 1970s) splashes, like Eau de Patou, for example. Clos Fiorentina garden; Google images; Paris/ C. de Virieu from The Givenchy Style,The Vendome Press, New York 1998. With their personality-revealing qualities, Givenchy fragrances are timeless products enhancing a person’s unique style. Each creation offers a distinctive olfactory signature that ensures its wearer is never forgotten. Discover the sophisticated and thrilling L’Interdit, the fun and magnetic Irresistible or Gentleman Givenchy, with an intensity full of fearless charm. For me, Eau de Givenchy is like a very naturally scented light version of a mixture of Nerolia Bianca and Mandarin Basilic from Guerlain. A beautiful light summer cologne - and therefore a clear test recommendation for all lovers of the genre! The 2018 version of Eau de Givenchy is a quite straightforward eau de cologne on my skin, with a slightly more pronounced feminine touch of tender floral and cottony musk.

Givenchy doesn't create anything new but something very beautiful. Cologne du Parfumeur von Guerlain has always been a favorite of mine in summer. The magic here is a subtle, light honey note in the base, as with the new Givenchy.

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Its focus on neroli and its cousins also reminds me of Tom Ford Neroli Portofino and Frederic Malle Cologne Indélébile. However, while they're interchangeable to a certain extent, Eau de Givenchy differs more significantly in the dry down, with its more substantial, cotton-y yet slightly metallic musk adding more heft and rendering it more opaque comparing to the sharper, leaner, soapier and somewhat more "robotic" Neroli Portofino, or the more refined and traditional Cologne Indélébile. Although I haven't yet compared them side by side, the prominently musky dry down of Eau de Givenchy is reminiscent of that of Byredo Blanche's to my nose, more than other eau de cologne-type of fragrances. As I haven't yet had the opportunity to smell the original Eau de Givenchy, I don't have any direct comparison to offer. But there's no doubt that this brand new version of Eau de Givenchy smells like a product conceived to fit and made in our modern era, rather than one trying to convey vintage characteristics. The formula was circulating under two different boxes, one in pale dusty pink with the successive G logos emblazoned, the other in a warmer hue of pale apricot cream. Givenchy pays tribute to its iconic fragrances, including Eau de Givenchy Eau de Toilette, with a new refined bottle emblematic of the Maison's style. Reminiscent of Hubert de Givenchy's taste for purity, it evokes the authentic luxury born of the designer's talent for Haute Couture.

The original presentation of Eau de Givenchy is a product of the cusp between the 1970s and the 1980s, with a clear nod to the fresh scents of the 1970s, as a splash in the usual, generous size of 120ml (4 oz) and even bigger. The idea behind the newer 2018 Eau de Givenchy is to capture the scent of summer throughout the year and to evoke the natural image of this season. Notes of orange blossom, sea breeze, and a bunch of citrus fruits (such as bergamot, mandarin, lemon, and orange) along with greenery, are based on woods and musk. Perfumer François Demachy, more known for his work for Dior at the moment, created this unisex perfume inspired by the gardens of Hubert's Clos Fiorentine mansion in the south of France, in the town of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. This idea of a garden-inspired scent is very Hermes! And it kinda works too. This Citrus Musky fragrance evokes summer days spent in the gardens of Clos Fiorentina in the South of France. It opens with the bright top notes of Calabrian Bergamot Essence. Then bitter Almond Essence and Petitgrain Essence add bite to this zestful and exhilarating scent. At its heart, Tunisian Orange Blossom Absolute and Essence reveal a blooming bouquet infused with luminosity. While the base comes to disturb this freshness with the enveloping notes of a White Musk accord.

Those who seek the delicate floral with chypre tonalities of their youth, green tinged flowers with stems intact, offered in a spontaneous bouquet on a clear spring day, might be disappointed. The very hesperidic core with additional "fresh green air" tonalities of hedione in a rather substantial amount from what I can smell push this into the citrusy type of aroma, rather than the green floral or green floral chypre. It's a different aesthetic for a different generation, no doubt, a new audience who are keen to not offend with "obsolete" mossy notes that remind people of cooped-up spaces and napthelene in the attic, apparently. There is little tolerance towards that, it seems. Nevertheless, the transposing of the idea of a "garden" is something which is ripe for exploiting in a classical house such as Givenchy, and given the very ersatz quality of its rose in the Very Irresistible sub-line, one wouldn't need to fixate on photorealism. The "idea" of a garden is good enough and the picturesque French paysage allows for endless opportunities. Eau III, Jardin d'Interdit, Jardin Irresistible, or Eau d'Organza could all be given the gardening treatment and end up smelling as fresh as a daisy. (These are all fantastical names conceived by me for the purposes of this article, reader, beware!)