Reviews of Grand Amour by Annick Goutal

A very oldschool smelling floriental. It's not even that old though. Subtle. Nuanced. There is a floral beauty to it. I could get used and fall in love with that - but I would need patience, and patience is hard to come by these days.

However, this slightly wistful, softly floral perfume that smells of times long gone seems to move me a bit to the direction of becoming a better, more composed, more patient and more appreciative person, and this alone is quite spectacular.

Grassy hyacinth and honeysuckle with an under-lying note of a$$. (can I say that?) Nasty undertone ruins what could be nice. Not for me.

This starts with an ultra-floral opening blast: honeysuckle, honeysuckle, hyacinth, more hyacinth, and a good lashing of jasmine after a while. A gorgeous and intense bouquet, which is bright and positive.

In the drydown I get a lily impression very soon afterwards, and then the Turkish rose develops, but on me the rose is more of an accompaniment of the other floral players. A few moments of a muguet is detectable too at a later stage, as is a hint of a gentle spiciness, a myrrh mainly that has a gently musky characteristic, but is has a green side to it too.

There is always the bunch of flowers that is at the heart of this creation; is remains present until just before the end. In the later stages a very discreet ambery vanilla in the background.

I get moderate sillage, adequate projection and a very respectable overall longevity of eleven hours on my skin.

This is an intense floral scent ideal for spring evening events. It exudes rich and mature elegance with an aura of brightness, vividness and youthful quality - the ingredients are of a very high quality indeed. The performance is impressive in its balance and the blending is exquisite. 3.75/5

I sent for a sample of this out of curiosity in view of the review by Ayala below comparing it to the scent of mastic (lentisque). Mastic has a bitter green-woody odour akin to galbanum.

It shows how subjective is the sense of smell in that what my own nostrils picked up was a floral bouquet in the style of L'air du Temps, plus some hint of indole. A pleasant and very traditional perfume, from this respected brand.

I will have to look elsewhere for the green and woody notes I tend to go for.

A lovely floral oriental. Rich combination of hyacinth, lily, honeysuckle, rose, jasmine, myrrh, and Lydia broom. Great for early spring or late fall when you want something with flowers. Deep, dark flowery creation. Timeless.

This is a big, bright lily fragrance that dries down to a sweet rose! The base has a faint touch of clean, dry laundry, but it's mostly dominated by floral concentrates. This is something I could appreciate having a full bottle of, similar to the other Goutal fragrances I've tried. The house style suits me.

Update: Eventually, the laundry musks (is that the right term?) take over, but they're inoffensive. It's better than lacking longevity, and the florals hold on for a long time - 8 to 10 hours or so - and develop interestingly. As far as synthetic-smelling all-day longevity bases go, I can't recall one better than this.

Plenty of flowers in the opening: lily, honeysuckle, and hyacinth at first then rose, jasmine, and to my nose the strongest one – mimosa. I believe that Way Off Center used the perfect word to describe what's going on here: “cacophony.” This is absolutely NOT a typical Annick Goutal fragrance. It is missing the usual delicate hand. The opening gives me nothing but a glob of “florals” and at this point my spell-check underlines the word “florals” as if even the spell-check knows there's something wrong with the floral accord. Okay, I have been analyzing the opening by sniffing Grand Amour close to my skin: At a distance from the skin, the fragrance's projection uncomplicates itself a bit and manages to become a little less confused… At a distance I no longer smell confusion: I smell “ehh.”

I'm relieved a little when the movement begins into the heart notes, but find that this is a false security. The accord seems to morph into a condensed, concentrated form of the opening accord. It isn't at all transparent in the opening; it now becomes positively opaque… a solid blob of compacted mimosa. And there it stays… seemingly forever…

I own and highly value several Annick Goutal fragrances. Not this one.

Time to hear from a guy on this one, I suppose. I had high hopes for Grand Amour after reading various reviews and descriptions, but things never did quite work out.

Grand Amour is sultry, dense, and heady from the very opening, yet somehow unsure of whether it wants to be floral at all, or a rich, dark oriental instead. The complex assemblage of notes never manages to settle down and get itself organized, and the heart seems at once bitter, overbearing, and chaotic. This is a heavy, dark accord, but not something I find at all seductive.

A somewhat bitter rose note eventually rises to the top of this stew, but it's not enough to tame the cacophony that wells up underneath. I have decided that Grand Amour is not something I'm going to enjoy, though I do admit that it has plenty of strength and character.

Grand Amour, is in my opinion, quite distinct when compared to Annick Goutal's other fragrances.

There's something oddly green in this composition. It's pretty and feminine in a different way than what I'm used to. I can sense an abundance of watery lillies, green grass, honeyed leather, sweet mimose and jasmine, and a slightly chemical vanilla. In other words, a very unique green floral.

Well unlike other reviewers, I don't find this fragrance too heavy or too chaotic. I rather like its quirky little characteristics. I'm rather enchanted by its natural Spring-like freshness.

Like Ninfeo Mio, Grand Amour makes me think of a garden, a luscious green one. As it develops further there's a subtle soapiness and a touch of metallic coldness.

In the drydown there are occasional wafts of rich amber and vanilla, however on my skin, Grand Amour remained pretty and green. This fragrance is not really an oriental in my humble opinion. Well, certainly not oriental when compared to Goutal's Les Orientalistes series.

I can't say that this is my favourite fragrance from this beloved house of mine, (Passion still reigns supreme, shortly followed by Heure Exquise), but for what it's worth I haven't managed to dislike an Annick Goutal fragrance yet, (touch wood). Grand Amour just goes on to prove that this is an unstoppable house with such a variety to choose from.

This reminds me of Paris, where I first purchased this delicious scent. When I spray it on, I am immediately on the Champs Elysees. It is powdery, flowery and all that I want in a perfume. I just love it. I bought it first around Christmastime, so it reminds me of Christmas too. Memories just too good not to repeat time and time again. It smells good all day, with a little extra squirt in the evenings.

Starts as a patchouli balanced with a big white flower
patchouli goes slightly powdery
which it becomes a woody patchouli.

Grand Amour, on my skin, opens with lush, dry florals and roses sprinkled with aldehydes.

While labeled as a feminine, I actually believe Grand Amour could be unisex. A prominent rose note.

While a bit fleeting than other floral fragrances that I've tried, Grand Amour does last longer on me than other Annick Goutal offerings, e.g. Eau d'Hadrien.

I'm a guy, and I like Grand Amour. Certainly not my favorite floral or rose, no, but it smells nice.

It's not the most impressive woody floral but it's overall nice. At the opening there's a dry wood and smoke scent. I initially thought this would be too dry for my taste. But then it started to sweeten and warm up on my skin. Most prevalent to my nose were the honeysuckle and hyacinth notes. Still dry and woody at this point, but with a leafy, grassy and earthy background. As stated in AnnS review, it's like working in your garden on a warm spring day. But I think this fragrance is most appropriate for evening wear.

A hyacinth soliflore, that's what it seems to me. I love the scent of hyacynths; I'm just not sure I want to smell exactly like one. Cool chemistry, neat artistry, I'm just not sure about wearing it. In fact, I haven't worn it yet, just too nervous. If tomorrow is a rainy day and I stay home to clean, I will give it a full-blown test run. Then, I'll see if my opinion has changed.

I have recently figured this one out, after many many testings. For a long time I just wouldn't work for me and it would flatten out tremendously after the gorgeous honeysuckle floral opening. But now I understand it - to me it smells like raw dirt, fresh plants and garden flowers, cut green stems. There is a dry, powdery earthiness to it that I now enjoy as much as I enjoy being in my own garden. Whereas I do believe it is supposed to have a much more dramatic impact as the name implies, I read it as a very earthy, dry, floral. I may very well be missing any musks that are in the dry down as I am anosmic to most musks, and they may give it some extra romantic oomph. This is not a fragrance I enjoy more than the magnificant Chamade or the lovely and intimate Heure Exquise, etc, but I do like to wear it from time to time. The edp has much better richness in the floral accords than the thin edt, which may have something to do with the mixed reviews of this one. It really just makes me think of being outdoors, digging and planting in my favorite garden, and there can be romance in that for some. I highly recommend this fragrance be tested before purchasing.

From the first second I smelled Grand Amour, I knew I could not remain indifferent to this perfume. It reminded me instantly of the bushes of mastic where I used to hide as a little girl: either from friends and siblings while playing hide and seek; or from greater horrors imposed on little children by the adults of the world. The scent of the mastic bushes is unique and unmistakable. And although mastic is not mentioned as a note in this perfume from Annick Goutal – the precise makeup of this particular perfume creates the impression of the scent released from the crushed crisp leaves between little fingers of a child hiding in the dense evergreen bushes. The gum or resin from this bush is the same “mastic” which is used to flavour baked sweets and ice creams in the Middle East and Greece (more about this later). The Latin name of this bush is Pistacia Lentiscus, and it is from the pisttachio family. In ancient times it was used to create a chewing substance (mastic is chewing gum in Arabic and Hebrew), and it is also used as a medicine and a spice. A synthetic substance with similar chemical makeup is created especially for the chewing gum industry. For those who are unfamiliar with the aroma of mastic, and particularly that of the raw leaves, I would try to describe it as it is in Grand Amour: it is green yet not like grass or leaves, sappy, but not resinous, and with an undercurrent of powdery warmth, while releasing a gently and evenly floral aroma in such manner that no particular flower stands out. It also resembles Chamade in some ways, though I detect none of the galbanum, oakmoss or vanilla notes that are so prominent in Chamade. Perhaps it is the hyacinth, a note that appears in both perfumes. When I discovered Grand Amour some two or three years ago at The Bay in Vancouver, I immediately lavished myself in it carelessly in excess that can be only explained by my excitement. I was not able to enjoy it very much, the memory of those evergreen childhood hideaways brought a throat-clenching sensation, like the one that visits us just before bursting into inexplicable, shameful tears. I neglected the fantasy of wearing Grand Amour, but haven't completely given up. I took a vial with me on my trip to Israel this spring, and decided to wear it in the natural environment and compare it to the live bush. I was right about their similarity. But imagine my surprise when I managed to enjoy the juice for three days straight while staying at my Mom's place, surrounded by the bushes and the spring blooming greenery. In Hebrew we say “Meshane makom, meshane mazal” which means, that when you change location or place, your luck might change too. So true for perfume. This review is for the Eau de Toilette, which is lovely in my opinion except for the fact that it is not extremely long lasting when dabbed. When sprayed the performance is excellent. The official notes (per the Annick Goutal website) are lily, hyacinth, honeysuckle, Turkish rose, amber, musk and myrtle.

I like helg´s review.But somehow that actress gets home , and eventually removes her make up and takes off her expensive luxurious clothes , and after all, you know what? She is only a woman.That happens to me with this one.Reminds me of guerlain´s nahema, lots of flowers ,great first impresion , sweet ,charming ,but after a month gives me the feeling of dead flowers on me.Like a funeral under the sun. Pretty scary eh?

I am too lazy to learn the notes so I will only state the feeling it evokes. It is a very grown-up fragrance. It makes me feel like a mature woman who is getting ready for a night out.

I love Grand Amour. I rarely wear it now because I'm always trying new things rather than staying with my tried and true. Sometimes I will wear it for nostalgia's sake. It is a rich, lush, feminine, floral fragrance. To me, it smells like easter lilies, but dries down to a velvety ambery-balsam finish as Helg's notes mention. Yes, it is a little decadent. The hyacinth or lily has that bit of decayed odor beneath the extreme high sweetness of the fully developed blossom. It is a fragrance in full bloom that is just about to turn, which is when it's at its best. For me, Grand Amour is a romantic, evocative fragrance. I used to get quite a few compliments when I wore it. It is quite potent and long lasting. For floral lovers only.

A sexy actress in her boudoir after her performance. Pensive , smiling hazily to herself as she lifts her hair off her forehead and gazes at her image in the mirror. Her most enthousiastic fan has sent her armfulls of liles , bunches of honeysucle and posies of hyacinth to fill the room and her lacy clothes with an initially fresh and sweet fragrance , with a penetrating aroma that becomes deeper and slightly decaying as time passes.The whole concoction is intoxicating somehow , yet it makes her think of him with nostalgia. She thinks she's falling in love... It's a Grand Amour. It has to be.That's my impression of this rich floral with hyacinth , lily , honeysuckle , rose , amber , vanilla , balsam musk and myrrhe. Mature and rather heavy in the EDT , to be used sparingly , and only by white flower lovers and such. Extra feminine , both in scent and presentation. A little decadent , not as airy as the majority of the Goutals , more in the company of Gardenia Passion and Passion. Try it. You may like it. It is intriguing.