Reviews of Greenbriar by Caswell-Massey
The opening sets the tone: with wormwood, a citrus - I get mainly tangerine with mandarin, a fresh petitgrain, as well as a sage this is a fresh and green herbal-citrus start, that develops quite deliciously.
Later on the green herbs move into the foreground, strengthened by the addition of a thyme impression. Soon a French lavender arises, and this lavender becomes the lead theme on me for the hours to come. It takes on slightly powers characteristics for a while, and works together beautifully with the rest of the mix, with the cites components having tailed off by now. Later on a green vetiver is making an appearance, an bright vetiver is a touch or crispiness but only minimal earthiness on me; it continues the green/ bright/fresh/herbal themes.
The base adds a light patchouli component that lances and darkness amor harshness, a patchouli lite so to speak. A touch of musk, followed by a discrete labdanum gives it an edge towards the end, but the green theme persists until the end.
I get moderate sillage, very good projection, and an impressive eleven hours on my skin.
A beautiful spring creation, with ingredients of high quality and an outstanding performance, a paradigmatic fresh and herbal scent. There are similarities in the overall concept with Davidoff's Cool Water, with Penhaligon's English Fern, and with some Creeds, especially Green Irish Tweed and Green Valley, with the later also using mandarin and musk in the green mix. This is one of the great green compositions. 3.75/5
Later on the green herbs move into the foreground, strengthened by the addition of a thyme impression. Soon a French lavender arises, and this lavender becomes the lead theme on me for the hours to come. It takes on slightly powers characteristics for a while, and works together beautifully with the rest of the mix, with the cites components having tailed off by now. Later on a green vetiver is making an appearance, an bright vetiver is a touch or crispiness but only minimal earthiness on me; it continues the green/ bright/fresh/herbal themes.
The base adds a light patchouli component that lances and darkness amor harshness, a patchouli lite so to speak. A touch of musk, followed by a discrete labdanum gives it an edge towards the end, but the green theme persists until the end.
I get moderate sillage, very good projection, and an impressive eleven hours on my skin.
A beautiful spring creation, with ingredients of high quality and an outstanding performance, a paradigmatic fresh and herbal scent. There are similarities in the overall concept with Davidoff's Cool Water, with Penhaligon's English Fern, and with some Creeds, especially Green Irish Tweed and Green Valley, with the later also using mandarin and musk in the green mix. This is one of the great green compositions. 3.75/5
Sure, scents fall into categories. But you can't just build a generic pigeonhole for Irish Spring-ish Fragrances and stick this in it. If that's all you're getting out of this, you're missing quite a bit - especially if you can't tell the difference between Irish Spring - which itself has changed markedly over the years - Coast, and Zest (seriously?). This cologne is much more complex than that, and I like it.
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A soft soap smell. I so not know the exact reason I change my mind over time about particular fragrances, but something told me to give this one another try. I had Greenbrier lying around on my husband's dresser for years, not really likng it but not parting with it either. I was looking for something else to wear and I shopped at my own home. This has happened a lot lately. My age or experience?
I cannot say anything different than what has been mentioned. It is an overall pleasant soapy with a soft dry down that resembles Irish Spring. The lavender gives it an herbal appeal. Greenbrier is fresh, clean, and simple. I keep tryng to look for a fresh new scent. I don't know what is it but contemporary scents have this synthetic, harsh smell. Not Greenbrier, at no time does it dry and reveal notes that are unpleasant.
I cannot say anything different than what has been mentioned. It is an overall pleasant soapy with a soft dry down that resembles Irish Spring. The lavender gives it an herbal appeal. Greenbrier is fresh, clean, and simple. I keep tryng to look for a fresh new scent. I don't know what is it but contemporary scents have this synthetic, harsh smell. Not Greenbrier, at no time does it dry and reveal notes that are unpleasant.
As a child I smelled
The mountain motel's bar soap
Glad to be alive.
The mountain motel's bar soap
Glad to be alive.
I've never liked sharp, tweedy scents, finding them abrasive and off-putting. Greenbriar, the original, is one of those scents. The lavender and sage are to my nose offensive and grating.
One of CM's historical scents was called Purple Sage, this being a combo of the lavender and sage that is in Greenbriar, but it was far softer, bracing (yes), but not in your face harsh, as I found the original Greenbriar to be.
If you are looking for a great green scent, Givenchy's III has yet to be topped in my book.
One of CM's historical scents was called Purple Sage, this being a combo of the lavender and sage that is in Greenbriar, but it was far softer, bracing (yes), but not in your face harsh, as I found the original Greenbriar to be.
If you are looking for a great green scent, Givenchy's III has yet to be topped in my book.
I'm giving a thumbs up to the modern Greenbriar. It's really quite nice.
It's got that effect that happens when you add leafy vetiver to neroli and it creates a grassy green aroma that's simultaneously fresh and citrusy (the best known example of this is probably Mugler Cologne). It then places this in an aquatic setting that reminds me of CK One or Chez Bond, in place of the lemon and bergamot these types of scents usually use. The end result is pretty brilliant. You get the modern aquatic freshness with the questionable stuff taken out and replaced by grassy green citrus. No stupid metal smells or fusty violet leaf or dumb melon, just a perfect coming together of two forms of freshness.
My only small complaint is that, especially after a few hours, the grassy neroli mixing with the soapy undertones of the aquatic bits does smell like a fancy version of Irish Spring soap. I would have preferred some Creed-esque ambrox or something in the base to keep things rich, but I guess that's the trade-off you have to expect from a scent that often sells for twenty-something dollars. Personally, I like the Irish Spring smell and don't consider it a problem. In fact, if I ever use up my bottle of Chez Bond, I'd seriously consider replacing it with Greenbriar.
It's got that effect that happens when you add leafy vetiver to neroli and it creates a grassy green aroma that's simultaneously fresh and citrusy (the best known example of this is probably Mugler Cologne). It then places this in an aquatic setting that reminds me of CK One or Chez Bond, in place of the lemon and bergamot these types of scents usually use. The end result is pretty brilliant. You get the modern aquatic freshness with the questionable stuff taken out and replaced by grassy green citrus. No stupid metal smells or fusty violet leaf or dumb melon, just a perfect coming together of two forms of freshness.
My only small complaint is that, especially after a few hours, the grassy neroli mixing with the soapy undertones of the aquatic bits does smell like a fancy version of Irish Spring soap. I would have preferred some Creed-esque ambrox or something in the base to keep things rich, but I guess that's the trade-off you have to expect from a scent that often sells for twenty-something dollars. Personally, I like the Irish Spring smell and don't consider it a problem. In fact, if I ever use up my bottle of Chez Bond, I'd seriously consider replacing it with Greenbriar.
I bought it several years ago, but I remember it didn't match with my taste. A sharp and strong mix of herbal effects, but I felt it was terribly unfit for my skin. I do like herbal fragrances, but this one was very heavy and not harmonious. I guess it's the classical EdT you can love or hate, without half-ways. Surely I did not love it at all.
My bottle of Greenbriar must be the original formulation, because it smells nothing like Cool Water. Nor was "ozone" (listed on the current packaging) in common use in perfumery in 1984, when Greenbriar was introduced . What it DOES smell like is a much-diluted version of Polo's top and middle notes --- the opening is fresh and green but with an ambery-woody undertone. Instead of Polo's rich tobacco-leather-patchouli base, Greenbriar's drydown is a subtle. smooth, somewhat sweet amber accord that keeps the greens going. It's somewhat reminiscent of Halston 1-12 or Grey Flannel, but softer and more subtle.
Overall, it's quite pleasant, but not nearly as distinctive or long-lasting as one would expect from an 80's fragrance, especially one in the lineage of Polo.
Overall, it's quite pleasant, but not nearly as distinctive or long-lasting as one would expect from an 80's fragrance, especially one in the lineage of Polo.
Well, Shamu said it very nicely: Cool Water meets Irish Spring.
An endearingly modest fragrance from Caswell-Massey. The 1930s golfer on the box, the beautiful green-glass bottle and the printed claims of CM's ancient history lead you to think you're getting something very traditional. The presence of "ozone" and the fact that the frag is about one degree off from Cool Water dash that particular hope.
That said it's really quite a nice fragrance - I find it smoother and better-blended than the current hectic formulation of Cool Water, and it's quite inexpensive. A likeable cheapie. I don't know if I'll be buying a bottle, but I would take this over Cool Water any day.
An endearingly modest fragrance from Caswell-Massey. The 1930s golfer on the box, the beautiful green-glass bottle and the printed claims of CM's ancient history lead you to think you're getting something very traditional. The presence of "ozone" and the fact that the frag is about one degree off from Cool Water dash that particular hope.
That said it's really quite a nice fragrance - I find it smoother and better-blended than the current hectic formulation of Cool Water, and it's quite inexpensive. A likeable cheapie. I don't know if I'll be buying a bottle, but I would take this over Cool Water any day.
Redbeard describes this well. It has much in common with the cool water/freshman/git/aspen/garrigue/chez family, but there seems to be a certain natural botanical herbal feel to this one that makes it classier than all of those aforementioned family members but GIT. It's also the most masculine of them all besides Garrigue and Aspen. Yet it is still nearly as floral as any of them besides GIT. Overall a wonderful scent. An excellent value that sits above it's price point just like many L'Occitane scents......Caswell Massey's best imho.
Within the same family as Cool Water or GIT, but with more natural-smelling botanicals...it really feels like I'm smelling a bunch of mashed and extracted plant parts, much more so than with CW or GIT. The sweetness is much less than in GIT (which I think is a bit too sweet) and it also doesn't have the sharp astringence that I get from Cool Water when I breathe deeply over the spot that I sprayed. It lasts reasonably well to boot. Just watch out when buying because with Greenbriar you get 1.7 oz at the same price as 3.0 oz of most of the others (not that it's expensive by any means). Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) it has its own unique bottle, as opposed to the standard C-M men's one. I might replace my Cool Water and GIT sample with this when they run out in about 5000 years!
Top: Petitgrain, mandarine, ozone
Mid: French lavender, Russian sage, modern florals
Base: patchouli, cool musk, labdanum absolute
Note that the fragrance notes are different from the BN description. I got these off the box, they are the same for the scent and the accompanying soap. Probably the BN reflects the earlier formulation which would have (on the face of it) been greener and more herbal. The new elements, in particular the ozone and cool musk, are a concession to the modern fresh market taste. This starts with a an orange-floral and fresh ozonic blast which is a bit sweet. There are some good herbal-green notes, and light patchouli. The drydown is a pleasant dusky green with a slight soapy air. The freshness and ozone is not excessive, and make this a pleasant but not brilliant summer scent.
Mid: French lavender, Russian sage, modern florals
Base: patchouli, cool musk, labdanum absolute
Note that the fragrance notes are different from the BN description. I got these off the box, they are the same for the scent and the accompanying soap. Probably the BN reflects the earlier formulation which would have (on the face of it) been greener and more herbal. The new elements, in particular the ozone and cool musk, are a concession to the modern fresh market taste. This starts with a an orange-floral and fresh ozonic blast which is a bit sweet. There are some good herbal-green notes, and light patchouli. The drydown is a pleasant dusky green with a slight soapy air. The freshness and ozone is not excessive, and make this a pleasant but not brilliant summer scent.
I've purchased this for my husband many times and we like it. It's kind of soft, not loud at all. On him it's very clean and fresh smelling. Not strong at all. Although I like it, it is a bit boring, blah, plain.
Soapy; standard conventional; inoffensive green smelling; mens club bathroom smell. Nice. All right. Reminds me of the the glass cylindrical containers in golf course mens rooms with the comb in the blue water. Who ever actually uses those combs? Who would use this? Oh, right, my dear departed dad would I guess. A cologne of happy memory.
I've got the newer version and I agree that it definitely isn't anything to wait in line for. It DOES smell like Cool Water, which itself smells like Creed GIT. I've got GIT on my left and Greenbriar on my right, and the Greenbriar really tries to be like Creed with synthetics. That being said, it isn't BAD... it just isn't particularly innovative or interesting. For $10 or less, it's worth it. Anything more is questionable.
The old Greenbriar was a light delight: bracing, crisp and refined (but not formal). My girl-friend like it also and used it nearly as much as me. Sorry to hear it has changed. The old version was early cool Spring in a bottle.
I've been using original Greenbriar since 1987. it is by far the best aftershave I've ever used and I've used a LOT. What was Caswell Massey thinking when they replaced it with the mundane "new" fragrance? I've poured mine out. If they put as much into promoting the original as they obviously did into the packaging and creation of the "new" scent, I think they would have found it a top seller. I predict the "new' scent will be gone within a year. i've yet to meet anyone who likes it or will purchase it again. If anyone knows if the original can be purchased, please let me know where.
Beware the new Greenbriar. The old classic was very green and long lasting, with an ambery drydown that had a bit of a bite to it. I can highly recommend this one. The new one is a Cool Water clone that has no reason for its existence. If people wants something that smells like Cool Water, I'd venture to guess that they would purchase Cool Water.
I am a big fan of original Polo (favorite flaa/winter scent) and agree with the earlier reviews: this is similar, yet more subtle. The big factor, I think, is the absebce of the leather note at the end--the drydown is very different as a result. If you like Polo, this is a good one to try--might be a warm weather alternate?
Being that Greenbriar has been around much longer than Polo, "Polo smells like a heavier Greenbriar". It is cleaner and more pleasurable to wear, absolutely superior quality.