A Passel of PG: Parfumerie Generale Vetiver Matale, Mojito Chypre, Metal Hurlant, Le Musc et la Peau and Bouquet Massai

So the other day the discussion (somewhere, I don’t remember where. The comments? A post? My head?) turned to Parumerie Generale or PG, the house started by the visibly handsome and evidently talented perfumer Pierre Guillaume. I am kind of at a loss as to why he doesn’t get more love on these forums- perhaps because he isn’t just uptotheminute and the Brand New Thing, or that he isn’t showering people with free bottles (well, he isn’t showering me, but then, nobody is, and a shower of full bottles would probably hurt..) or making one that smells like Cheez Whizz served at the morgue and calling it “Clubbed Baby Seal” or “D*ck Cheez.” No, he’s just pumping out a line of brilliant little things the number of which can be a little overwhelming, and which for a long time were simply numbered: Aomassai, (one of my favorites, a combo of caramel, hazelnut, vetiver, and pure sex that shouldn’t work but ohbaby does it) is #10 and Cuir Venenum (one of the best orange blossoms out there with a gorgeous dry musky leather) is #10.

So I decided to hit Surrender to Chance and pop some new ones in the sample bag.

Vetiver Matale is described (on his site) as vetiver, green tea, and honey. I don’t want to argue tea here but I seem to get more black tea, smoky and slightly bitter. Precious little honey, and lashings of spikey vetiver. It does get more honey-sweet as it develops and that’s a good thing against the astringent, almost slashing vetiver. It’s so good I almost wanted to stop right there and just get a bottle.

Mojito Chypre The only thing I could think of upon first sniff of this is just “weird.” Not in a bad way, mind you, more in a “what am I smelling here?” kind of way. It does open like a Mojito: muddled mint and sugar and cracked ice, if cracked ice can have a smell. Not boozy though, more like a confection then it hit me: frozen strawberries and Rose’s Lime Juice. Now I know that pegs both my age and perhaps my class that I would remember making blender cocktails (or my mother doing it. Yeah, that’s it. Uhh, Mom did it for her bridge club) using frozen strawberries and bottled lime juice. But hey, it was the 70’s when fresh was only available seasonally. Now it would get you tossed out of the club, But I do like the retro mid-century vibe here. Just not enough to get more than a decant.

Metal Hurlant was supposed to be a tough, leather clad biker piloting his Harley into my fantasies. If that image hadn’t been mentioned I might have liked it better- if you think of it like the cool curves of a stainless-steel Rolex or the Disney Concert Hall, with it’s steel panels shaped by Frank Gehry into undulating sails, temporarily frozen in place atop Bunker Hill. SMN’s discontinued Nostalgia did the machine portion better (even Tubey Crim gets closer to gasoline) and Vetiver Matale delivers much more on the hot biker. What’s here is nice, but don’t tell me I’m getting a motorcycle cop and deliver me a moped.

Le Musc et la Peau then this one swooped in and saved the day. In the initial swirl of aldehydes I could swear I smelled roses and then milk, which should have been really freaking weird but just smelled immediately wonderful. The bright, fresh aldehydes, sandalwood, and skin musks droy down to a milky, slightly nutty goodness that is supposed to be somewhat akin to his Musc Maori without the chocolate. Never has a diet smelled so good..

Bouquet Massai is to Aomassai as, I suppose, Le Musc at la Peau is to Musc Maori: Aomassai is rich and dark and almost chewy while Bouquet is bright and joyful, smelling like a lower garden after a recent hard rain. Rosy,sweet peonies and syrupy peaches overlay the coffee and skin musk base. It reads like it would be a mess, and it could be if it were done by other hands: Guillaume reigns in the sweet stuff, adding just enough bitter coffee to ground but really lets those big, fat, delightful peonies take center stage. This one makes me grin from ear to ear.

So that’s three hits and two (one near) misses out of five. I am not going to buy these. I am not. Nope.

Well, not yet, anyway..Have you tried any of these?

Any PG faves you would like to share? Please let us know in the comments.

I got my samples of these from Surrender to Chance. A list of retailers are available at the PG website, and you can always purchase there. I suggest you do, since I assume that retailers such as ScentBar will not carry the entire line in store. Photos are mine, Wikimedia Commons and Pexels.