Gentleman Givenchy Réserve Privée Givenchy 2022

I thought about it for a long time. Should I really buy it? Do I really like it that much? Isn't it too sweet for me? And so I sniffed this fragrance again and again, pondered and then ultimately left it on the shelf. Until that one fateful Black Friday. It's the year 2023 and, like every year, I see lots of messages about various offers two days before "Black Friday". My inner anti-capitalist just wrinkles his nose. "I'm not going to take part" I say to myself. Long story short: I bought it after all. On Black Friday. At full price. And I couldn't be happier about this decision. After this far too long intro, here's a brief summary of why I'm so happy with this fragrance.

Flacon:

The bottle is nice and heavy, slightly rounded as with every fragrance in the Gentleman range and fits well in the hand. I really love the color gradient of the glass from black to brown to transparent. For me, this color gradient makes it by far the most beautiful bottle in the whole range.

Fragrance:
The fragrance starts with a very present whisky note, which actually reminds me of a nice glass on the couch in the evening. Despite the strong sweetness, the fragrance never becomes unpleasant or pungent, which for me is also due to the beautiful iris and chestnut. Both blend in very well and make the fragrance incredibly soft. In the drydown, it then loses some of its sweetness and becomes woodier without changing its basic orientation significantly. You could say the fragrance is linear. This is perhaps true in comparison to other fragrances, but this simplicity is incredibly fitting here in particular. It seems reduced to the essentials, calm, elegant, serene without the urge to really stand out.

Sillage:

Striking is a good keyword. Because if you want to stand out, you can stop reading at this point and look for an alternative. Or keep reading and simply spray a little more. Joking aside, Réserve Privee really doesn't have a brute sillage. However, like its aforementioned simplicity, this is what makes it what it is: an incredibly sophisticated fragrance that you don't wear if you want to stand out, but rather if you know how to make your fragrance blend in perfectly with the rest of your appearance. If this fragrance were a person, it would be much more Ben Bernschneider than Andrew Tate and since I like the former much more than the latter, I can make this comparison with a clear conscience.

Durability:

The shelf life of the Gentleman is probably the only point where I really have something to complain about. And even that is complaining at a high level. The fragrance lasts a reasonably long time, but I would still like a fragrance with this rather inconspicuous sillage to last a little longer, because after about 6-8 hours you can really only smell it very subtly. In my opinion, this also distinguishes it from similarly designed fragrances such as Dior Homme Intense (2011). While the latter can still be clearly smelled after 8-10 hours, the Gentleman is more or less just a nice memory at this point. It's not tragic, but that's also part of the truth.

Price:
I don't need to say much about the price. For 50-60€, this is pretty much the finest fragrance you can imagine, so the price/performance ratio is almost unbeatable.

Conclusion/overall impression:

The fragrance does a hell of a lot right. If you are looking for an alternative to Dior Homme Intense (2011) with a nice alcohol note, you should definitely take a closer look at this one. For me, it is still a perfect fragrance for fall and milder winter days. Cozy, relaxed and yet classy. What a beautiful creation!