Istanbul Gallivant 2017 Eau de Parfum

Gallivant's Istanbul is an uplifting spicy scent, slightly sweet with a touch of powder. It is well-blended, with the notes working harmoniously to deliver a straight-forward scent rather than a complex one. Though not cloyingly sweet like Gallivant's Gdańsk (which is more heavily ambery and borders on gourmand), the opening of Istanbul unfortunately reminds me heavily of the fizzy drink "Dr Pepper".

I like the idea of the scent but the realisation of it just didn't work for me.

Sillage is relatively high. My partner could smell it from a different room (and helpfully noted it smelt better on me than it did in the air). Longevity is moderate. I found the scent very muffled after six hours, though I could pick up traces of the base notes for a few hours beyond that.

Opens with a medicinal lavender and sharply spiced geranium that gets toned down by a smooth cardamom and a powdery patchouli. There’s a dusty resinous quality to the scent that offsets the sharpness from the opening. The dry down is where it really shines with a softly sweet vanilla and powdery sandalwood and tonka combo. There’s remnants of that herbal tone coming from the geranium and patchouli, as well as a resinous warmth.

"Instambul" was one of the three candidates from the house of Gallivant (the other two were "Brooklyn" and "Amsterdam") that I considered (I had samples of all) whether I wanted to have them in my collection. In the end, none of the fragrances made the cut. Aside from the other objections, they all!!! have a distinctly weak longevity and a very! weak, skin-close sillage.

Now to "Insambul" - for me, it is a dry-dusty, somewhat resinous-ambery spice bomb reminiscent of "Lillipur" by Tiziana Terenzi (which, however, has great longevity and sillage!). And... Unfortunately, this fragrance develops a very unpleasant, bitter-stinky note on my skin over time, which I cannot tolerate. Therefore, it was definitively and permanently rejected as a purchase candidate by me.

P.S. "Lillipur" is also not exactly one of my favorites, as I find some unpleasant undertones in it as well, however, I find "Cardinal Rouge" by Herve Gambs to be very pleasant, which, although it strongly reminds me of "Lillipur," still feels much more enjoyable to me.
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The test strip I received hours ago is lying next to me. My entire bedroom is filled with this spicy, intoxicating scent! Again and again, I find myself drawn to this piece of paper, which makes me want to sniff again to understand what fascinates me about the fragrance. I simply cannot fathom it. If the scent were not already called Istanbul, I would have thought of an Indian or Turkish wedding celebration with a wood fire under a midsummer starry sky and with a whole lot of exotic spices and flowers: sultry-warm, harmonious, carefree, enchanting....