Well, well, Monday: Galop d’Hermes

Leather and roses? Sounds like a shoo-in for the winner’s circle for Hermes. But not for me, I thought to myself, as rose scents are usually not my thing, and rarely are leather-centric perfumes (with a few exceptions for both, of course). So I thought I’d take a pass on Galop d’Hermes. But when I spied a little scent patch in a Neiman Marcus catalog, I thought, “Oh, what the heck” and applied it.

Well, well, color me surprised!

“Two wrongs don’t make a right” goes the old saying, but in this case, they just might. After a slight citrus open, a gently fruity rose unfurled, giving way, after a bit, to allow a soft, saffron-infused leather to gain ground. The pairing created a soft cadence that, on my skin, robbed each ingredient of any possible offensiveness, melding together deliciously. In fact, toward the end, Galop gave me a hint of what rose and leather candy might smell like (sounds a little weird, I know), yet in a good way. I couldn’t stop sniffing my wrist even into the wee hours of the night.

Now I realize that you can’t make a definite decision wearing it from a pull-off scent patch and such a little bit at that, so I beat a path over to STC and got both a dab sample and a little spray.

When the package arrived, I dove right in. On one wrist, I dabbed, and spritzed on the other. From the sprayed side, I immediately got a sharpish, almost sour accord (the quince?) that had me wrinkling my nose a bit. “Some kind of plastic?” even crossed my mind there for a sec. No such animal on the dabbed side, however.

Thankfully, after a few minutes, that pungency receded and Galop began to smell closer to my original impression: not exactly the same, but still appealing and nicely blended. And I found the leather taking a little bigger lead farther in the drydown.

However, those of you hoping for some heavy-duty leather may be a bit disappointed, as this one is reined in and refined. Galop stays in handbag territory (perhaps even suede or a powdered leather?), not going anywhere near a stable’s tack room. And the slightly citrusy-fruity rose might not appeal to perfumistas who are hard-core about that note. But it’s definitely worth a try, if only to experience perfumer Christine Nagel’s debut at Hermes.

All in all, though, I thought Galop was pleasing and could work nicely for those, like me, who are a bit leery of rose and/or leather. As an elegant, refined scent that still manages to be a bit playful, it’s a cinch. And this could go unisex — could be delish on the right guy.

I do have to confess, though, that I was halfway wishing that I had a bunch of those little scent-patch thingies so I could just use one or two a day to use as my fragrance. Especially in light of Galop’s price point. And oddly enough, the scent seemed to last longer on my wrist this way than either sprayed or dabbed.

As for notes, I tried, but could not find an official list, even on the Hermes site, but did see these pictured on the Fragrantica site: quince, saffron, Turkish rose, osmanthus, leather, white musk.

Now about Galop’s packaging – a big thumbs up! Being a horse person from way back, gotta say I love that stirrup-shaped bottle, especially one with the signature orange tie. Stirrups, saddles, bridles, bits – all things equestrian tend to make me happy, even after all these years. A miniature of this bottle would be off-the-charts adorable – here’s hoping they make one. Pretty please, Hermes?

Have any of you tried this? What did you think?