I rate this within the top 10 best vintage 80’s perfumes for Men, it’s that good.Ī lot of waxing poetic by others seems to have been done about Grès Monsieur by Parfums Grès (1982), although honestly, the former men's range of fragrances for this house had never been a big deal, and always was at least a little behind-the-times compared to contemporaries. The sillage on this is phenomenal with lasting power we’ll into the next day. It is not stuffy and actually quite casual in feel. This perfume is quite elegant and wears beautifully with nothing dated at all where the dry down is to die for. Gres Monsieur though is very unusual in character to set it apart from anything else from the 80’s. There’s a tad of OG Azzaro Pour Homme and Balmain’s Ebene floating around in Gres Monsieur which is not a bad thing at all.

There’s a woody back drop of intoxicating, creamy Indian sandalwood, a hint of tobacco and oak moss but the star of the show is a patchouli/lavender/amber/geranium/sage foursome blended so tightly and neatly that I can’t even begin to explain how cool this smells. This is definitely patchouli focused with lavander and amber as supporting roles. I am not one for scented laundry products but somehow Gres Monsieur creates this illusion in its sillage and it really does smell super cool. It’s difficult to discern specific notes as the blending is superb but the overall effect is that of freshly laundered clothing that was softened with some seriously awesome smelling fabric softener. Somehow in its sillage there resembles almost what a manly fabric softener smells of. There’s this deepness to this that’s so hard to explain but so pleasurable. Gres Monsieur definitely has gentlemanly sillage. Very classy and dressy/creamy like but dark and smooth while always easily wearable.

The Mysore sandalwood seriously bumps this mysterious elixir to the next level. I must’ve been a kid because as soon as I smelled this that little bell in my head went ‘ding’. As soon as I catch it for a brief moment to dissect where in the world have I experienced this ‘feeling’ before, it disappears from my nose. I’ll catch wafts and wisps of it occasionally in the sillage. I’ve been going crazy trying to figure out why this aroma is so familiar. I’ve smelled this before a really long time ago or something like this, somewhere. Head: mandarin, tarragon, laurel (bay leaf)īase: tobacco, amber, sandalwood, patchouli, oak moss Heart: locally grown sage from Drôme France, Alpine lavander, geranium from Grasse Franceīase: Indian tobacco, amber, Indian Sandalwood, Singapore patchouli, oak moss from Yugoslavia Head: Sicilian mandarin, Italian tarragon, locally grown laurel from Grasse France Heart: Sauge du pays (Drôme), Lavande des Alpes, Géranium de Grasseīase: Tabac des Indes, Ambre, Santal des Indes, Patchouly de Singapour, Mousse de chêne de Yugoslavie Head: Mandarine de Sicile, Estragon d’Italie, Laurie du pays (Grasse) I cannot sense any of those notes mentioned.

To my nose, the scent pyramid listed on the tester flacon is on point. There’s more than what’s listed up top there although there is no cinnamon, carnation, tonka or bergamot. I have a vintage 75ml eau de toilette tester spray flacon of this with the notes listed on the side in French.

Inbetween land cinnamon