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Notes05/20/2020
FvSpee
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56
Paramecia Stallion
In the world of politics, Marxists and Leninists are close to each other. In the world of fragrances, this is less the case with Marlyists and guerrillas. Guerlinists prefer classic perfumes, while Marlyists are attracted to modern fragrances tailored to a younger and prestige-conscious public. The two factions are not always friendly towards each other in this forum; in the worst case, they consider each other to be a gang of arrogant old men or cultureless scent proleties.
Although there is no doubt about my own position in this (of course grossly simplified) camp, I think that here one should not only treat each other nicely across factional boundaries, but also deal with the other camp's favourite brands without prejudice and open-mindedness. It is remarkable that there is hardly any comment or statement on this very popular fragrance (205 owners, among the top 100 men's fragrances in the Parfumo ranking) from the pen of a proven guerlinist!
The brand "Parfums de Marly" was founded in 2009. The name is fictitious and is supposed to allude to Marly Castle near Paris, the summer residence of the late French kings and little sister of Versailles Castle. Unlike Versailles, Marly was largely destroyed during the French Revolution. Marly Castle never had a special relationship to perfumes, although the courtiers and their favourites certainly had a strong fragrance. The name of the brand is thus generally intended to evoke an idea of luxury and extravagance. Marly Castle did not have any racing stables or the like, but it did have a famous horse sculpture created in 1743, which survived the demise of the castle and was later displayed in the Louvre. The horses on the flacons are visually inspired by this masterpiece of sculpture.
I think there's some reason why the guerrillas don't like this brand. I, for example, not only have a preference for the big old brands like Dior, Caron or especially Guerlain, but also for very modern houses like (to varying degrees) Urban Scents, Byredo, Le Labo, A Lab on Fire or Etat Libre d'Orange. The products of these modern brands are all modern in style, roughly speaking somewhere between Art Deco, Bauhaus (the art movement, not the DIY store) and Ikea (but now the furniture store). The typical guerlinist probably perceives a modern brand that makes you feel like French aristocracy, as Gelsenkirchen Baroque, Talmi and Junker Prahlhans. So as kitschy, tasteless and showy. But many Marlyists seem to find the flair of luxury, including golden flacons, just attractive. I would be interested to know how young French fragrance lovers, who are closer to "Marly", see it, maybe cool guys from the banlieus with an Arabic migration background. Do they like the Ludwig-the-Fifteenth image just so straight, do they find it ironically broken funny (like a Hamburg club visitor might find a perfume with "Neuschwanstein image"), or just embarrassing? Or do they perceive it as a symbolism of a hated, rich, powerful arrogant elite ?
Godolphin is a modern leather scent in the style of "Tuscan Leather" (in contrast to the completely different leather scents of ancient styles and those of the middle generation like Knize Ten), whereby the (however incredibly realistic) leather impression is constructed by vegetable and certainly also chemical ingredients. Especially the notes saffron, iris and vanilla, which are listed in the pyramid, I can smell out here, but only if I know it. Otherwise not: Everything is so well used that it just results in one thing: Leather. Nothing else. Because Godolphin is an absolutely monothematic fragrance. There are no raspberries or other fruits, no woods (at best soft cork), no flowers, no spices. Only leather, leather, leather. And it is an incredibly soft, noble, rather light leather. Although I have never consciously had such a leather in my hands before, I spontaneously remember the term saffiano leather (aka Maroquin leather): From literature the epitome of the extremely soft, noble leather (Arabic origin) often used for expensive slippers and purses. In the Magic Mountain there is a scene in which Hans Castorp only steps onto the balcony of the Swiss sanatorium "in fil-d'Ecosse underwear and with red Saffian slippers". By the way, there's nothing but leather on the right and left, not even on the timeline. Godolphin stands on the skin as developmentally free as a helicopter that navigates fixed at exactly the same position and height. Only that with Godolphin also the rotor blades stand still and the thing nevertheless does not crash.
So you don't know whether to admire the craftsmanship of creating such a perfectly linear leather scent with such ingredients, or whether to say, for 210 euros, the 125 ml bottle (which, by the way, is exactly enough expensive to generate the image of an exclusive niche, but not yet so expensive that a broad group of buyers will wave off disinterestedly, as with the 500-euro Oberbonzen brands) a little bit of depth and excitement. I leave that open at this point. In any case, I find the fragrance very interesting, very well made and very well wearable by many personality types in many situations. But I don't think it is an exceptional fragrance that inspires me. However, I am not a fan of modern leather fragrances in general. I like to smell some from time to time (like Cuir Blanche by Givenchy or the absurdly expensive Cuir Celeste by Ex Nihilo), but I am not the type of person who would buy one and wear it regularly. In this respect my 7.5 points are certainly subjective. The performance of this fragrance is of medium kind and quality. It lasts about five to six hours with (quite welcome) moderate projection, probably longer than the historical Godolphin (see below) could gallop (or mate) in one piece.
I give seven points for the name "Godolphin." I like the fact that it's short, distinctive and unmistakable. It has a beautiful sound and opens a wide range of associations. Godolphin was the name of an ancient English noble family from the time of the Norman conquest. But the fragrance is named after the Arabian stallion Godolphin, who was once given to a French king by the ruler of Tunis. This follows the line of "Parfums de Marly" to name all their fragrances after famous horses in world history. I can't do anything with this idea, because I'm not a horse or even a rider. And this is a leather scent, but the good Goldolphin, when he was out of shape, was hopefully not made into slippers.
Although there is no doubt about my own position in this (of course grossly simplified) camp, I think that here one should not only treat each other nicely across factional boundaries, but also deal with the other camp's favourite brands without prejudice and open-mindedness. It is remarkable that there is hardly any comment or statement on this very popular fragrance (205 owners, among the top 100 men's fragrances in the Parfumo ranking) from the pen of a proven guerlinist!
The brand "Parfums de Marly" was founded in 2009. The name is fictitious and is supposed to allude to Marly Castle near Paris, the summer residence of the late French kings and little sister of Versailles Castle. Unlike Versailles, Marly was largely destroyed during the French Revolution. Marly Castle never had a special relationship to perfumes, although the courtiers and their favourites certainly had a strong fragrance. The name of the brand is thus generally intended to evoke an idea of luxury and extravagance. Marly Castle did not have any racing stables or the like, but it did have a famous horse sculpture created in 1743, which survived the demise of the castle and was later displayed in the Louvre. The horses on the flacons are visually inspired by this masterpiece of sculpture.
I think there's some reason why the guerrillas don't like this brand. I, for example, not only have a preference for the big old brands like Dior, Caron or especially Guerlain, but also for very modern houses like (to varying degrees) Urban Scents, Byredo, Le Labo, A Lab on Fire or Etat Libre d'Orange. The products of these modern brands are all modern in style, roughly speaking somewhere between Art Deco, Bauhaus (the art movement, not the DIY store) and Ikea (but now the furniture store). The typical guerlinist probably perceives a modern brand that makes you feel like French aristocracy, as Gelsenkirchen Baroque, Talmi and Junker Prahlhans. So as kitschy, tasteless and showy. But many Marlyists seem to find the flair of luxury, including golden flacons, just attractive. I would be interested to know how young French fragrance lovers, who are closer to "Marly", see it, maybe cool guys from the banlieus with an Arabic migration background. Do they like the Ludwig-the-Fifteenth image just so straight, do they find it ironically broken funny (like a Hamburg club visitor might find a perfume with "Neuschwanstein image"), or just embarrassing? Or do they perceive it as a symbolism of a hated, rich, powerful arrogant elite ?
Godolphin is a modern leather scent in the style of "Tuscan Leather" (in contrast to the completely different leather scents of ancient styles and those of the middle generation like Knize Ten), whereby the (however incredibly realistic) leather impression is constructed by vegetable and certainly also chemical ingredients. Especially the notes saffron, iris and vanilla, which are listed in the pyramid, I can smell out here, but only if I know it. Otherwise not: Everything is so well used that it just results in one thing: Leather. Nothing else. Because Godolphin is an absolutely monothematic fragrance. There are no raspberries or other fruits, no woods (at best soft cork), no flowers, no spices. Only leather, leather, leather. And it is an incredibly soft, noble, rather light leather. Although I have never consciously had such a leather in my hands before, I spontaneously remember the term saffiano leather (aka Maroquin leather): From literature the epitome of the extremely soft, noble leather (Arabic origin) often used for expensive slippers and purses. In the Magic Mountain there is a scene in which Hans Castorp only steps onto the balcony of the Swiss sanatorium "in fil-d'Ecosse underwear and with red Saffian slippers". By the way, there's nothing but leather on the right and left, not even on the timeline. Godolphin stands on the skin as developmentally free as a helicopter that navigates fixed at exactly the same position and height. Only that with Godolphin also the rotor blades stand still and the thing nevertheless does not crash.
So you don't know whether to admire the craftsmanship of creating such a perfectly linear leather scent with such ingredients, or whether to say, for 210 euros, the 125 ml bottle (which, by the way, is exactly enough expensive to generate the image of an exclusive niche, but not yet so expensive that a broad group of buyers will wave off disinterestedly, as with the 500-euro Oberbonzen brands) a little bit of depth and excitement. I leave that open at this point. In any case, I find the fragrance very interesting, very well made and very well wearable by many personality types in many situations. But I don't think it is an exceptional fragrance that inspires me. However, I am not a fan of modern leather fragrances in general. I like to smell some from time to time (like Cuir Blanche by Givenchy or the absurdly expensive Cuir Celeste by Ex Nihilo), but I am not the type of person who would buy one and wear it regularly. In this respect my 7.5 points are certainly subjective. The performance of this fragrance is of medium kind and quality. It lasts about five to six hours with (quite welcome) moderate projection, probably longer than the historical Godolphin (see below) could gallop (or mate) in one piece.
I give seven points for the name "Godolphin." I like the fact that it's short, distinctive and unmistakable. It has a beautiful sound and opens a wide range of associations. Godolphin was the name of an ancient English noble family from the time of the Norman conquest. But the fragrance is named after the Arabian stallion Godolphin, who was once given to a French king by the ruler of Tunis. This follows the line of "Parfums de Marly" to name all their fragrances after famous horses in world history. I can't do anything with this idea, because I'm not a horse or even a rider. And this is a leather scent, but the good Goldolphin, when he was out of shape, was hopefully not made into slippers.
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