French niche line Juliette Has A Gun recently launched Gentlewoman, a new fragrance inspired by traditional Eau de Cologne, "a masculine fragrance dedicated to women." It features notes of neroli, orange blossom, almond, bergamot, petitgrain and musky woods, and the brand's founder, Romano Ricci, has said, "With Gentlewoman, I wanted to give women a dash of dandy. Modern, daring, I envy her freedom, her taste, her look."
This is a brand that has never quite "clicked" for me, and there's a lot about this fragrance that doesn't appeal to me at first glance: the image of a faux-surly teen model reprising the classic photos of Yves Saint Laurent's "le smoking" suits, the thread-worn praise of the "modern" woman, the mix of citrus and gourmand notes. Weirdly, I ended up liking Gentlewoman.
This fragrance starts off with a wave of bitter, woody citrus — the petitgrain — and it does seem very much like a traditional Eau de Cologne. Then things get more interesting. Something soapy-clean emerges after the top notes fade, and that worried me for a second (I'm not necessarily a fan of shower-fresh scents), but it's not the whole story. Gentlewoman evolves into a push-and-pull of crisp, green citrus (lime?) with soft, fuzzy almond. It's a nice balance of coolness and warmth, and the almond even has a few moments when it verges on marzipan until the tart citrus pulls it back. Gentlewoman doesn't diffuse as far or fast as I expected; in fact, it had very good staying power for a cologne-inspired fragrance.
I tested Gentlewoman several times over the past week: on a cool, grey day, on a sunny day, and on a day when I was suffering from a head-cold and didn't know whether I could even stand wearing perfume. I found Gentlewoman easy to enjoy in all these situations. It doesn't have the subtle genius of Frederic Malle L'Eau d'Hiver, but it's comfortable without being boring. (And it might not be louche enough to feel like a slinky women's-cut tuxedo, but it could be a well-made grey wool jacket or pencil skirt.) Even if you don't care for any of the other Juliette fragrances, you may want to give this one a try.
Juliette Has A Gun Gentlewoman is available in 50 ($100) and 100 ml ($135) Eau de Parfum. For purchasing information, see the listing for Juliette Has A Gun under Perfume Houses.
I wanted to like this line if only because its name reminded me of “The Gun in Betty Lou’s Handbag”, but I never really saw the point of it.
I do like the bottles… although the bullet travel-dispensers bother me a bit.
I tried this one at Sephora, of all places. The Sephora in the Time Warner Center carries the Juliette Has a Gun line. My thought when I tried Gentlewoman was “Oh, an eau-de-cologne type perfume. And a rather nice one. Not bad.” Miss Charming would still be my choice from the line, though.
Oh, I remember that one — roses and berries. It reminded me of Bond no. 9’s Bryant Park, which I liked very much at the time!
I like that photo. Combined with your review, I may finally go ahead and look for a sample from this brand.
I hope you’ll like it! Granted, I haven’t tried everything from the line… you may even find a few to enjoy.
I had the same reaction. Got a sample with an order and thought I wouldn’t even bother as JHAG hasn’t ever really been my thing. Then I got curious and was surprised to like it. Not FBW but if I get another sample I will probably use it too.
Same — I don’t think I’d need a whole bottle, but I’ll use up my sample and would take another one if offered!
I love the names of the brand and the scents; I love the bottles; I even love the notes. Unfortunately I just haven’t found an actual scent among them that rings the right tone for me. Perhaps this will be the one!
I know… something about these fragrances just isn’t “me,” and I can’t figure out why. Hope you’ll enjoy this one!
Love the brand, love the packaging, love all the backstories they make up, but much like you, have never found a scent from them that grabs me.
This does seem to be the kind of fragrance I am drawn towards lately, though, so I’ll have to give it a sniff, even though, like you, I don’t care for the picture. She looks mad and uncomfortable, and the suit doesn’t flatter her at all.
I really can’t help suspecting that someone told her to “channel” those 1970s photos of women in YSL suits, but like most homages/derivations, it just fell a bit flat…
Might try the frangrance although “musky” can mean migraine for me.
However, the tuxeoed woman seems very timely to me. The standards for womanly elegance seem to be going backward and getting more rigid. A few weeks ago, (as was well publicized) some formally dressed women wearing very fancy flat shoes were barred from an evening at the Cannes film festival because some one decided that only ultra high heels suffice as “black tie dressing.” for a woman. In the week leading up to the Tony’s, Vogue magazine declared the previous year’s ceremonies inadequate because the Best Actress wore “only” Escada (I checked the photo, the actress in question was Audra McDonald who had given an extraordinary performance as a stoned Billie Holiday, which should have mattered more that her dress, which was, in fact, a flattering, formal long evening gown).
When we have gotten to the point when even a gowned woman in bejewled shoes is somehow judged insufficiently fussy and fashionable, a woman in a simple tuxedo is once again radical.
I’m completely turned off by the name and imagery of this brand, as well as the grenade-shaped Victor and Rolf perfumes. Fortunately, I don’t like the two or three fragrances that I’ve sampled, either.
And I thought I was the only one. Thank you.
The gun idea is pretty troubling — isn’t there another way for Juliet to be strong?
I’d always just assumed that women wore traditional eau de colognes anyway, such as Tom Ford Neroli Portofino, Acqua di Parma Colonia and Chanel Eau de Cologne (all classed as unisex). This sounds pleasant enough but what does it add to an already oversaturated category other than the feminine marketing?
I will second what you said. In addition to what you listed, there is the oldie but goodies 4711, Guerlain Vetiver, St. John Bay Rum, Chanel Sycamore, even Florida Water and Kanaga Water! All of these are super crisp, pleasant and can be worn by all members of the household. I don’t see anything new here, not even the scowly faced model.
I am all for tuxedos or crisp smoking jackets, though.
I generally get on fine with JHaG’s earlier scents (I love Citizen Queen in particular) but I started getting ticked off at Not a Perfume and haven’t bothered to test anything since. And I’m not much of a cologne fan, so… ehhh. Nothing driving me to seek this out, either.
Jessica, thank you for this review. Juliette has a Gun has never been a brand on my to-buy list but your review caught my attention.
I loved Cologne Blanche by Dior (part of the original 3 before the collection privee and alas now discontinued) for its almondy musky note superimposed on a traditional citrus cologne.
It was really nice.
Any similarity between Gentlewoman and Cologne Blanche?
Ah! I must have missed my chance to try that one! It does sound nice, though, with a very similar concept. Hm…