GROSSMITH
Floral Veil

2012

CITRUS NOTES
LEMON
GREEN NOTES
BLACKCURRANT

rose
GERANIUM
VANILLA ORCHID
YLANG-YLANG
TUBEROSE

CASHMERAN
AMBER
MUSK

This is another of the more retro, vintage smelling high-acidity florals that I think Grossmith does really well. I was enamored by Diamond Jubilee Bouquet, and this is solid as well.

Not a style of perfumery that I find most people nowadays to gravitate towards and I’m sure that quite a few of my peers will find it to smell outdated, but I can appreciate it. It’s tart, musky, feminine leaning. Very floral, in a soft petal like manner, but with a crisp, green, piercing sharpness to it as well.

As the wear progresses, I get a lot of of the fruitiness and citrus to linger. It does at times remind me of a ‘cleaning product lemon, but I think it works well within the composition and it retains it’s freshness for an impressive time. In a way it reminds me of a (lot less masculine-leaning) Frederic Malle Noir Epices; that too has this almost kitschy, in-your-face citrus that cuts through everything.

Whereas I found Diamond Jubilee Bouquet to have a similar aesthetic of citrussy retro florals, that was very powdery. In Floral Veil I get an almost fizzy, lemonade-like texture. It’s sharp and invigorating, even as it grows sweeter.

Overall, I don’t like this as much as the two fragrances I’ve compared it to, but it’s still a style of fragrance that I’m always glad to come across, especially as it seems to have become increasingly rare. From more recent releases at the time of writing, I could see fans of Maison Francis Kurkdjian Apom‘s re-release to enjoy this fragrance.