Grossmith is another brand, with which I wasn’t familiar other than knowing the name. I’m not sure how I feel about old houses resurrection: usually the “nose” is different, old perfumes – even if the formulas survived – cannot be recreated exactly as they were because of the new regulations, and the packaging is also new. So, I’m not sure what exactly is being restored other than the name. Since this brand re-appeared recently, it hasn’t been represented widely in the U.S., and I probably wouldn’t have tested it if it weren’t for my trial subscription to ScentTrunk a couple of years ago.
Diamond Jubilee Bouquet starts with a very prominent iris, not carrot-y but rather powdery. In about 10 minutes iris gets weaker, and I get distinct carnation note. After that for hours it is just a really creamy and muted floral bouquet (which is quite fitting given the name) plus musk and maybe vanilla. The complete list – just in case you’re curious, and your nose is better than my: narcissus, lily-of-the-valley, citruses, carnation, iris, jasmine, rose, violet, vetiver, musk, amber, tonka bean, vanilla and hawthorn.
Diamond Jubilee Bouquet is very charming and pleasant. It is not perfume to fall in love with but I can hardly imagine anybody disliking it. As you can also get from the name, Grossmith created that perfume in 2012 to commemorate the event. “Limited Edition of 500 – available in UK only” was proudly stated on the brand’s site and repeated (without the “UK” part) on sites of several online stores that still carry the remaining stock of those “limited 500.” So either Grossmith keeps producing that “limited” perfume or they are still selling the five-year-old stock. It is not a bad perfume but I think it is just too expensive for what it is – a nice quiet office-friendly scent.
There is nothing subdued about the second perfume I tested. Amouage Blossom Love is bright and loud. If I weren’t looking at the sample, I would have never been able to recognize it as Amouage perfume. It is not a scent of a blossom. It is neither airy enough for the light spring floral scent nor opulent enough for Amouage fame. Blossom Love is very straightforward, simple and artificial, which isn’t surprising when you look at the list of notes: cherry blossom nectar, rose liquor, ylang ylang, Amaretto accord, vanilla, tonka bean, cashmeran.
I know that tastes differ a lot but I find nauseating everything about this perfume: from the stupid pink bottle to the sickly sweet and boozy scent to Christopher Chong’s description of it:
Blossom Love is inspired by the sassy nature and loyal heart of the vivacious modern woman. She defies conventions as she unabashedly lives for love, romance and new adventure
Can you imagine reading something like that but with the word “man” used instead? Ughh!
I hate the fact that, instead of setting the bar high(er) for the industry and consumers, a great brand starts catering to the lowest denominator. And I just can’t believe that at $360 for 100 ml Amouage could not afford better ingredients or a perfumer who doesn’t produce more than one (mostly middle-tier mainstream) perfume per month.
As you might have already guessed, this Amouage won’t be joining my collection – even though I suspect it’ll be available at a heavy discount soon. But for those of you in the U.S. who would like to try it or do not share my impression of the scent and want to wear it for a while, I would suggest checking it on the ScentBird site: for $14.95 (that includes S&H) you can get a 8 ml decant of Blossom Love (and some other recent Amouage scents). If you used to be a subscriber, login to your old account, and they’ll offer you to re-subscribe at a discount (you can unsubscribe at any time). If you have never subscribed to their service, you can use this link, and both you and I will get the second month free subscription, which means that for $14.95 you can get 2 x 8 ml of Amouage perfumes (there are some other nice options there now – that’s why I re-subscribed a couple of days ago).
Images: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
Oh gorgeous Rusty – that tail!!
Well, back to perfume. I strongly agree with you about Amouage, but I suppose all the perfume houses feel they have to capture the young as they hope they will be their future customers. But certainly Blossom Love would not appeal to me. And I doubt the young could afford Amouage’s prices.
When I was a little child (a loooooong time ago), my mother used to wear Grossmith perfumes and I swear she actually bought Phul-Nana from Woolworth’s (in the UK), so it was not such an expensive line back then! The company plays heavily on its historic background, but as you say, it really isn’t and couldn’t be the same as it was at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
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I keep hearing this reason: “for younger customers” but I started questioning that… Unless we’re talking about 9-12 years old, what has happened to the younger generation (let’s say, 18-25 y.o.) that suddenly they crave all these sweet fruity-florals? 20 or 30 years ago younger customers were buying and wearing whatever was in production back then. I have a feeling that it’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy: companies keep producing that dreck, consumers get used to it, so companies feel like they have to keep producing the same stuff.
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Hi Undina,
Sorry you found the Grossmith a bit snoozy. I wasn’t fond of that one either but the other ‘royal’ themed Grossmith – Betrothal is utterly gorgeous and has oodles of personality. I reviewed it yonks ago. Here you go:
http://odiferess.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-scent-of-british-spirit-part-2.html
I love the last picture of Rusty, his tail is a furry phenomenon. Is his rear focussed stance making a comment on the Amouage? I imagine he’d be more of a Bracken kinda boy.
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What have you done?! Now, after reading your review, I want to try Betrothal :)
You got it right! That was exactly the idea behind (no pun intended) choosing that photo.
Also, I’m expecting a ScentBird package with Bracken decant any day now (it was a reason I re-subscribed :) ). We’ll see what Rusty thinks.
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Heehee! Sorry. Betrothral is rather lovely. I also love the Golden Chypre that Vanessa mentions. Oh for an endless supply of cash!
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Rusty’s back view is adorable! I second odiferess’s comment about there being some Grossmiths that hit the mark. I have a trio of samples of theirs – Golden Chypre, Floral Veil and Saffron Rose – which I found more accessible than their original ‘recreations’ that were too powdery in a retro, sneezy way – yet have more going on than I sense this Diamond Jubilee Bouquet one does. Though you make a good point that the stock may be knocking on now!
Re Blossom Love, I rather think that this was one I liked a lot (pink bottle and silly name notwithstanding) when we were sniffing in Selfridges. Yep, I just checked, and it was. I am a sucker for ylang ylang in pretty much all its incarnations, even mainstream ones, and my impressions were based purely on the top notes that seemed quite realistic to my nose. It may well have collapsed into a musky mess in due course, but I am blowed if I can remember now!
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I did remember that you liked it – that was mainly the reason why I ordered that sample with the purchase of another perfume. Well, I was afraid Savoy Steam sample would be too lonely in the package. Now, since I decided to stop hoarding samples that I tried and didn’t like, it’ll have a good company by the time of the next mule’s run. ;)
Now I wish I had thought about this brand before my last visit to London. Hopefully, they’ll still be around when I come next time.
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Forget Scentbird…I will take Rusty :)
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You can come and meet him over the friendly sniff and a cup/glass of whatever you drink – he is very social.
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Hello Undina, is that Rusty turning his back on Amouage Blossom Love? Most of the descriptions of the supposed target market/customer for various perfumes are hilarious and interchangeable. I have read so many of those and wonder who comes up with such nonsense. Must write a post about that sometime. Thanks. R
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Hi Richard! I’m glad we supply each other with posts ideas :)
You got it right with Rusty’s pose: that was a no-so-subtle message.
Most of ad copies are stupid, pretentious or meaningless. But this one just rubbed me the wrong way: for some strange reason I grew to think that there is more to a modern woman’s life than “love,” “romance” and, especially “new adventure.”
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Yep, agree on Blossom Love sadly. Bracken was much more interesting.
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A decant of it is coming my way as I type that :) We’ll see.
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I had my first, last and only whiff of Blossom love at OsswAldNYC about two months ago and I couldn’t help but declare to Josie that it smelled like bad breath. Bracken Woman, on the other hand, is super nice and I have a FB to prove it. I wias planning on splitting this one but will direct people to Scentbird as that is a better deal.
As to Grossmith, I have not explored the brand at all! You can be the guinea pog since we’re scent twins.
I think Rusty’s tail should win an award!
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It shows how important is the timely marketing! ;) I would have participated in that split had I know in advance you had the bottle!
I have probably 1-2 testing left in my Grossmith sample. If by the time of our next exchange it’s still OK (it’s a plastic bottle), I’ll forward it your way.
Rusty is a very handsome cat but his tail is probably his most attractive part: I’m amazed every time I see it from that angle.
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I still have enough left in my samole of Bracken Woman for a few more wearings. The split bottle is still pristine in its shrinkwrap!
Rusty has an award-winning tail
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Yikes, that Blossom Love description is downright cringe-worthy! It’s a shame the scent is similarly cringey, but not surprising given the shallow description. The good thing is that you don’t need to contemplate adding it to your collection, and you can make room for more interesting perfumes!
I actually was not familiar with Grossmith, but I’m intrigued reading some of the above comments about their other fragrances!
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Well… “don’t need to contemplate adding it to your collection” and “you can make room for more interesting perfumes” are not exactly related: not adding one more bottle doesn’t help with me not having space for anything else already ;)
I also now want to get to try more from the Grossmith line. I might even consider paying for it.
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Ha, you’re right! The perfume collector’s problem.
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