7/11/13

Grenats (Keiko Mecheri)



I had high hopes for this one, based on Tania Sanchez's brief review in The Guide, which basically declared Grenats a green apple fragrance in the cliched masculine mould. I was thinking Cool Water with mostly apple. Grenats is not in the least bit an apple fragrance, and is anything but cliched. I'm disappointed. 

Blotter tests are all fine and well, but you need skin to expose the true structure of a perfume, and my suspicion of Sanchez's testing method deepens as I delve into The Guide's back-catalog. (Individuel a citrus-green? Could have fooled me!) The tangy lemon top note could indeed be misconstrued on paper as a sort of greenish crab apple, but in actuality it's weedy angelica, mixed with the citrus and a hint of something sweet and coldly bitter, the scent of preserved peaches still in their tin. Yuck.

There's also a prominent jasmine-like hedione note, which intensifies as the fragrance dries down. Eventually it's clear - this is a green spring floral, not a million miles away from Spring Flower, but cruder, and without any of the Creed's complexity. In the far drydown (three hours later) it becomes a cheap, fuzzed-out mess. Grenats is unpleasant from beginning to end, with virtually no redeeming features, and I wouldn't wear it if you paid me to. Funny side note: apparently basenotes got its name wrong in the directory, and dubbed it "Grenades." As Grenats and grenade shrapnel share a kinship in scent, Grant's error is the very definition of the phrase, "bitter irony."