Hello Perfume Posse people! Portia from Australian Perfume Junkies with a neglected favourite of mine that I rarely see getting blog love. Geranium Pour Monsieur is a queer fish of a fragrance that is sold as a masculine but works terrifically on the ladies and I think may suffer in the sales department from its moniker.
Geranium Pour Monsieur by Frederic Malle 2009
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Mint, geranium, star anise
Heart: Clove, cinnamon
Base: Musk, sandalwood, incense, styrax, benzoin
Fragrantica‘s copy for the ingredient list reads: mint absolute, peppermint oil, Chinese geranium oil, rhodinol, anethol and floralozone, cloves CO2 and oil, white musk, ambroxan, sandalwood, resinoid incense, Siamese styrax benzoin
Photo Stolen WikiMedia
Geranium Pour Monsieur is like a roller coaster with the initial WHOOOSH!! being a quick heart starter that I could imagine scaring many first time triers off. It is sweet, minty and spicy and takes no prisoners. At the same time it is totally smooth and cool, lush, fragrant, calm and intriguing. When I spritz Geranium Pour Monsieur all my cares seem to melt away and I float for about 5 minutes on the most hectic and the fizziest gourmand ever. Gourmand? Well, kind of, it is extremely minty and a bit like a spearmint gel sweet: all green and sugar coated and ever so more-ish. As that grand entrance calms the clove is clear as a bell and already someĀ of the resins are humming below, they centre and weight Geranium Pour Monsieur because the mint never leaves. It stays with me till the fragrance fades and disappears, though there are tonal changes after the initial burn off, surprisingly lingering with its fresh and happy waft through everything else that has gone into Geranium Pour Monsieur.
Photo Stolen geograph
Sometimes I wonder where to wear Geranium Pour Monsieur, in my head it needs a certain environment to work, then I grab it and spritz for random things and enjoy it immensely for the fun, interesting and wonderful piece of frippery that it is. If it takes you more than half an hour to get to work then Geranium Pour Monsieur could work for you, it’s a little intense in its initial burst. Same advice with eating in case it overpowers in its firstĀ half hour and you only taste your Geranium Pour Monsieur and not your yummy food. I get 4-6 hours depending and a second spritz at any time during its life will give you up to 12 hours fragrant.
Photo Stolen DeviantArt
Further reading: Perfume Posse, TheNonBlonde and NowSmellThis
Frederic Malle site sends to a lot of the world (Frederic Malle World Store list)
Surrender To Chance starts at $6/ml
If you have enjoyed this then you may also love what’s going on over at Australian Perfume Junkies. We love visitors so jump on down under and say hi.
Is there a minty fragrance that you love? Have you tried Geranium Pour Monsieur? What did or do you think of it?
See you next week,
Portia xx
I wanted to love Eau d’Italie’s Acqua Decima for its minty freshness but the lemony sweetness was a bit too much.
After one wearing, GPM seems to be the answer. Not too sweet, just fresh with a powerful astringent opening. Not sure it’s going to last long enough on my skin, but I’m utterly charmed.
I have to try this sometime! It sounds really creative.
As far as minty fragrances go, I really like Dirty by Gorilla Perfume (Lush) – it’s got a Spearmint chewing gum opening that morphs into a kind of salty, minty aquatic (aquatic in a decidedly muted sense, thankfully). It’s great for the summer here in Florida.
Yes KiethSherwood, Dirty is loads of fun, and sticks like glue to my skin. I love the LUSH crew, pretty natural and long lasting.
Portia xx
I’ve only sprayed this once in passing, but I liked it, unique.
A spicy green anise. Very refreshing.
I love how you can reduce my blatherings to 4 words: A spicy green anise.
Portia xx
Drat! Just last week you convinced me I needed to try Mimosa Pour Moi. Now, I’m longing to try Geranium Pour Monsieur. I love your posts, but your not doing my bank account any favors. Now I just need a good excuse to trat myself.
Careful Spiker,
It can get VERY expensive. give yourself a budget. i know it’s hard to do but you can end up a crazy old perfume queen like me.
Portia xx
I really need to try this one. I’m fascinated by the whole minty perfume thing.
It is FUN Poodle, I enjoy it and wear it a bit. I probably could have had a decant and been happy but as I have a bottle it gets regular skin time.
Portia xx
Ah, Portia, I love that you always make me stop and think. I tried this early on in my perfumistahood and it was too bracing for me then. But your lovely description of it makes me feel as if I should reconsider and give it another go. There are so many scents that I dismissed early on that I imagine I might like, now that I have a “seasoned” perfume palate š
P.S. Glad Leathermountain above mentioned the AG Nuit Etoilee.I really like that and have not worn it much at all this summer (shame on me). But I need to find out if I have the EDP or the EDT, and then try the other one.
It’s funny how our tastes develop and we are less afraid of the scary behemoths of fragrance once we let ourselves fall down the wormhole. If you do retry it Ann please come share your experience, and the NE is on my sniff list now too. Today we tried something TOTALLY minty but now I’ve forgotten what it was, GRRRR
Portia xx
I love mint that doesn’t quite smell like mint. As in Geranium PM, Nuit Etoilee, and L’Eau MiXte.
Hi LeatherMountain
There has been quite a bit of Nuit Etilee chatter on the boards lately, how does it differ from FPM please?
Portia xx
Sorry GPM
Hm, I’ll have to actually wear the GPM before I can answer that. I’ve only smelled it on tester strips in shops maybe four times. My guess is the the Nuit Etoilee EdP (the version I have) has a sweeter and richer amber base, because it has a fairly sweet and quite rich (beautiful!) amber base. I haven’t heard that about GPM so far. The NE EdT, based on rumors and a quick sniff at the counter, is also quite pine-y, which exists in the EdP but not that prominently. I think GPM wasn’t especially piney. More clovey, as you say. If I get my hands in some GPM, I will give you a more definite answer!
I shall await your reply then LeatherMountain
Portia xx
I love this too, bought it for my husband one hot Christmas. On him the mint leaves early and I get the spicy geranium till the end. Unique and not food-eclipsing.
Heya JackieB,
I love seeing the little Australian flag on your comments. Not food eclipsing? WOW! I have kept it well away from dinners in case it changed my palette with it’s yummy minty goodness. Now you have inspired me to try it for dinner.
MMMM Your husband has a completely different ride than I, whoever says scent is not affected by body chemistry is DEAD WRONG!
Portia xx
The lovely Musette sent me some of this in the hand cream formula, and I was really shocked! It’s so unique, such a weird combo of greens, mints, and resins. Love it! Very refreshing and really inspires an alert mind. Definitely not a first date sort of perfume, though. It inspired me to make my own cologne based on the mint and scented geranium from my garden, which I call “The Thing from Planet Peppermint”. I spray teenagers with it when they need to stop daydreaming and concentrate on their schoolwork.
Ha Ha ha Masha7,
I can just imagine wearing GPM on a first date and the company thinking WTF is that minty smell!?! Excellent. You made a cologne, you just casually throw that titbit in. Is it super fab?
Portia xx
Well, ya, it is, cuz’ it’s made with stuff from my garden! š But the only ingredients it has in common with the GpM are the geranium and mint. The rest is my secret, bwahahaha!
And GpM is not just a shock for the first date. When I wore GpM the first time in public, my DH said, “Wha???” So did our dinner guests. Now DH kinda likes it, but the guests have not returned….
Then they were definitely NOKD anyway Masha7. Keep the husband though, he reads sweet.
Portia xx
Portia, I’ve worn Masha’s stuff – it’s beyond fabulous. Haven’t tried this one, though….dangit!
xoxoA
You are HILARIOUS Musette! Dang IT! I love it when you go all hillbilly.
Portia xx
Portia, this is one of my absolute favorites in the Malle line – I love the minty note but love that it doesn’t stay linear-minty. It smells wonderful on men – certainly it smelled wonderful on M. Malle! And it smells wonderful on women, too! I find it gorgeous in the late Spring! xoxoA
Hey there Musette,
This was my first Malle FB.It has just gone below the bottom of the label line by about half a cm. It’s the big bottle so I should get through this summer with it but it’s equally as fun on a FREEZING day. It gets razor sharp in the min t department when it’s cold outside and you are warm inside.
Portia xx