Cybèle Galimard

What Burgundy means to lovers of French cuisine, Grasse means to perfume aficionados. Once the center of European perfumery, Grasse today hosts only a few perfume producers. Among the handful of companies still active in Grasse is the Parfumerie Galimard, founded in 1747 by Jean de Galimard, Count of Seranon, which remains family-owned to this day. The Parfumerie Galimard still sources its raw materials such as roses, jasmine, lavender, oranges, mimosas, and tuberoses from nature in and around Grasse.
The floral-fruity, sensual Cybèle is all about a dark rose from Grasse, flanked by sandalwood and black currant. Despite the tangerine, Cybèle does not start citrus-fresh, but rather fruity and a bit spicy, and it condenses into a deep red, almost black rose and the black berries into a floral-fruity-woody composition that gains depth and is rounded off by vanilla and cedarwood. Galimard itself classifies Cybèle among the orientals; for me, Cybèle is a fruity bouquet floral-woody scent. As so often, the list on the right states: users who liked Cybèle often also like … which I find incomprehensible. There are almost no overlaps, as there are worlds between Cybèle and the smoky-bitter Cabochard Gres with its pronounced tobacco and leather notes, as well as between Cybèle and the sweet-floral, narcotically dominated Jil Sander No.4.

P.S. on 3.7.2014: I was informed by a perfumer that only light-blooded roses grow in and around Grasse and that there are no completely dark ones, and that it is not correct to speak of a dark Grasse rose. Therefore, the dark rose scent in the perfume must have come about with the active support of the chemistry set. I hereby provide this information for the sake of completeness.