A couple weeks ago, I reviewed the debut fragrance from actor Richard E. Grant, Jack by Jack Perfumes. I thought I'd review his other two fragrances the following week, but the best laid plans and all that. Here, a bit late, is a brief review of the second fragrance, Covent Garden, and I'll try to get to the third next week. Covent Garden was...
... inspired by [Grant's] early days in the business, waiting tables in Covent Garden – once a prominent fruit, vegetable and flower market and the centre of the theatre district. Taking cues from his early environment, the professional tradition of actors receiving fresh fruit and flowers on opening nights and the use of ginger to nurse their voices, Richard E. Grant created his second eau de parfum...
So, Covent Garden is a citrus (orange and lime, heavy on the lime) with a little kick of ginger and pepper at the top, a few sheer (and still peppery) rose petals in the heart and a soft iris + carrot over a dry woody musk in the base. It's not terribly rooty, bearing in mind that my tolerance for rooty is surely significantly higher than average. I would call it a unisex citrus or a unisex iris, or both. That lasting power is decent.
Verdict: As I said in the Jack review, I like Richard E. Grant. I like reading his interviews, and even his olfactory prejudices amuse me.1 And I like Covent Garden. It's quite pleasant, and it would make a decent no-brainer summer citrus / iris. I'd absolutely wear it if a bottle dropped from the sky, and I'm sure I'd find a good use for the drawstring bag, too. But I'm not wild about Covent Garden, and most of the fun is in the first 15 or 20 minutes. After that, it's a little too muted for my taste, and it mostly reminds me of other, similar, fragrances I like better (anyone remember Curated by Colette Three AsFour?), or of things I might layer on top to give it a little more verve after the opening fades. If I had a choice between a bottle of Jack or Covent Garden, I'd take Jack in a heartbeat.
Jack Covent Garden was developed by perfumer Aliénor Massenet. It is $135 / £95 for 100 ml Eau de Parfum at Aedes, Luckyscent or Liberty London.
1. He hates Thierry Mugler Angel, and tells Manchester Confidential that "If somebody is eating chocolate and cheese I have to leave the room" — this is why I never invite Richard E. Grant to lunch.
“If somebody is eating chocolate and cheese I have to leave the room”
This is an everyday ritual for me
My lunch 9 days out of 10 is apple + cheese, followed by tea + chocolate.
I eat the same lunch day after day. I call it my “automated automatic lunch program.” No brain work necessary. I keep it on repeat until I’m over it.
Currently lunch is a slice of toasted sprouted whole wheat bread with avocado and tomato plus an apple and a square of dark chocolate.
Chocolate and cheese? Not chocolate or cheese? That’s niche…
Ah. So perhaps he can stand the smell of one or the other, just not both?
Continuing the food theme, at first glance I thought the image above was a pizza with a perfume bottle on top.
Well, you can sort of imagine a pizza-ish thing being served up with a bottle of something spicy or aromatic to sprinkle over the top. I don’t frequent that sort of restaurant but surely they exist.
Sorry Richard. Perfume sounds great.
I am always happy to entertain food discussions, especially if they involve pizza 🙂
Thank you for reviewing these scents. I hope they are successful. Mr. Grant is utterly charming in a slightly devious but somehow guileless manner, and I am smitten by the charming scented world he has created – the actor-waiter story, the hanging tag, and that bag. (want!) Chances are slim, but I hope I’ll get to pass my nose over the Jack fragrances some day.
He really is charming. Plus, love that he essentially self funded so nobody could tell him how to do his fragrances. If more celebrities did that, we’d get better celebrity fragrances 🙂
Have been managing to keep up with articles/comments despite being a tad busy in Tampa & Texas! ‘Mine host’ has not yet commented on how delicious I smell – will have to give him a mega blast of Privet Bloom tomorrow at the family plus me get-together for their twin sons’ 29th birthday – his appreciation during past visits for Bluebell & Fleurs de Bois was spectacular! Am a big Richard E Grant fan, & love his take on smells, food etc., so will look forward to trying his range on my next London jaunt, December definitely, but possibly a side trip before then.
Do report back if you get to try the Jack scents, and enjoy the rest of your trip!