Galloway
Parfums de Marly (2014)

A big like from me.

Great scent
Very good longevity for a freshie
Decent sillage
Versatile enough
Cool bottle as with every PDM


7.5/10

It does smell like CK Man, but... it has a much stronger projection and staying power! And better Balance. My Favorite and most wearable of the PDM lineup.

Smells a bit like Calvin Klein Man.

Parfums de Marly is probably the biggest example of "The Emperor's New Clothes" in the niche or prestige realm, in the sense that most who smell the output from this house comment on the compositions being of mass appeal, unchallenging, and synthetic, making them very little if any different at all from designers which typically cost a third of the price, yet somehow there are those who come to the conclusion that all Parfums de Marly creations are superior products to most lower-cost alternatives. Just like in the fable by Hans Christian Andersen, I feel many fans of the house are just unwilling to face the truth of the matter that they are being completely fleeced in the name of "status" or "prestige", since tit-for-tat most Parfums de Marly compositions of this type have a very comparable if not identical designer alternative, because they don't want to be a voice of dissent that could be ostracized for blowing the whistle. Parfums de Marly Galloway (2014) is a unisex entry from the house, and one of two fragrances launched that year, with the other being the feminine-marketed Darcy (2014). Galloway comes in the "masculine" bottle presentation, leading those unbeknownst to think Galloway is for men, and the smell of the stuff also feels pretty masculine as well, even if it does ride on the fruity fresh 1990's side of things. The name Galloway itself comes from a region of Scotland famous for it's horses and cattle, which is neither here nor there like most of Parfums de Marly pseudo-historical marketing, which itself proves even thinner than what far superior-smelling Creed perpetuates.

The opening of Galloway is fairly common to the 90's and 2000's style, with bergamot, mandarin, some galoxide shampoo/shower gel vibe, and cardamom. Pink pepper eventually makes an appearance in the heart of Galloway, and at first I am suggested the tone of Molton Brown's pink pepper shower gel (which I quite like), with the way this pepper plays with the commercial-grade sweet citrus. Remember, this is a $300+ prestige fragrance I am reviewing, even though all of the above sounds like it could be found in a modern Avon or Calvin Klein. Some iris shows up but it's relatively muted compared to the pink pepper and cardamom, while a nice neroli and vetiver combination shows up late in the heart to infer a mix between Oscar de la Renta Gentlemen (2016) and Calvin Klein Obsessed (2017) especially when the ambrox super in the base takes command of the accord. The thick, earthy, semi-sweet variant of the ever-abused ambroxan base note rears up after just about 30 minutes, and joins hands with norlimbanol to bring you the telltale scratchy warmth of your favorite mall juice, assisted by a hint of white musk, recalling that 90's opening vibe in a full-circle kind of way. Wear time and sillage are the only things above board compared to Galloway's competition, with over 12 hours of wear time and tons of nearly-annoying sillage if applied in any appreciable quantities. This sits somewhere between summer juiciness and fall/winter warmth, and despite its unisex intent, feels more like what a guy could take clubbing, mainly thanks to the orange in the opening, and the ambery musk in the base. For guys too rich and "important" to be seen sporting Paco Rabanne 1 Million (2008), this might be your Friday night ticket to ride. For everyone else, Galloway is pleasant, if a tad cloying like most Parfums de Marly creations.

The problem here is once again, the fact that we are dealing with a very modern, very conventional (also read: ordinary), obviously synthetic rough-around-the-edges department store juice in a heavy bottle with a fancy cap sporting a price tag triple what you'd expect, that will make you question your career choice once you realize people are actually buying this without first sampling around. Many say this smells like Creed Green Irish Tweed (1985), which I find laughable at best because regardless of that scent's dependence on dihydromyrcenol, the masterful blending and floral beauty is such that you forget it even has any synthetics at all, which brings me to my point: synthetics in niche or "haute parfumerie" luxury brands are permissible, if they are applied with the same degree of care one would expect such a a costly, illustrious perfume house to handle naturally-sourced ingredients. With Galloway, I named nearly a half-dozen fragrances that could all stand in for it without so much as a blink of an eye, adding Lalique White (2008) to that list as well, which came out a full 6 years before Galloway, costs a fraction of the price, and was composed by current house perfumer for Hermès Christine Nagel. Choosing the Parfums de Marly at this point over the Lalique will only get you slightly higher performance and bragging rights for owning a Parfums de Marly, which is self-defeating when you can just wear a Clive Christian or a Roja Dove if you really want to shell out dough to smell like a million bucks. I give this a neutral for being a pleasant sweet spicy crowd-pleaser, but can't go any higher than that because of what you're getting versus what you're paying when considering the alternatives.

Just call it Green Irish Tweed Light. That's basically what it is. A young man's lighter version on GIT. Very nice and all but I prefer the real deal.

Absolutely love this one...very surprised given all the people that seem to despise it.
It's the absolutely PERFECT "designer vibe" fragrance that you see at the fragrance counter in Macy's or Bon Ton and expect it to be good but it never ends up being as good as it should be -- I generally don't like musk in my fragrances either but this is actually wearable. In short...I love it. PERFECT for spring!
It's neither masculine or feminine IMHO. Anyone could wear this for any occasion and smell great.