Galop d'Hermes

Exquisite. I’ve been stopped while wearing it and asked what it is and also just to say it’s an awesome scent. I agree. The more I wear it the more I enjoy it. There’s not a better leather perfume for a woman. I bought the ones it says are closest to it… lil fleur, cuir, etc and they are not close where it matters. Unique. If you a have ever sampled this, you’ll always recognize it.

A rose leather. Ugh. Again? Are we really going to have another one, Hermes? Yes, yes we are, and it’s going to be an expensive parfum concentration too. Despite my initial eye rolling, I will admit a good amount of curiosity to see what Nagel was going to do here being a big fan of her work for a long time. My curiosity was well rewarded: I got some things I expected and some things unexpected. Unexpected: a sour, slightly hot, and citrusy tropical-fruity quince note paired alongside a soft, hay-like, and woody saffron. Saffron certainly isn’t new in roses or leathers, but its pairing with the unusual quince is definitely interest piquing and beguiling. They lead to a rose heart that steers more towards osmanthus than generic rose by a long shot. It is pink and golden fruity in a tropical and slightly sour way, gently pink and white floral, woody and tea-like. Pretty. Again, not anything new for a rose-leather perfume but not exactly what I was expecting from a mainstream designer house either. Expected: The leather in the dry down is a gentle, powdery suede-like leather, very light on the tanning chemicals and animalics - no doubt evoking the smell of Hermes’s ultra-high end handbags. Lastly, Galop smells like a Nagel composition. Galop has her signature style of keeping proceedings light weight, rich, pleasantly modern with well-handled if sometimes overt synthetics, and the elastic and slick texture of cling-film or gelatin. Galop doesn’t necessarily go the extrait mile in terms of longevity, but the other facet of the high concentration is very pleasing in that it relays its message slowly, patiently, clearly, and calmly like a good parfum should. It stays close to the skin, not much happening in terms of sillage or protection, but that makes it feel like it is whispering sweetly, happily, and a bit sensually into your ear. Most rose leather perfumes are loud and pushy divas that want to make their voices heard by yardstick measurements in cool weather, but not Galop. This is a perfume for the wearer, and it is very versatile in its style appeal and wearability. And, most importantly and quite simply, it smells great. This is another win for Hermes, and a win for Nagel as well who found something fairly unique in a very crowded genre.

Very happy I did not blind buy this. It is like being bitch-slapped with very expensive gloves and lacks the restraint I most associate (and love) about Hermes fragrances. Instead, it is loud and obnoxious like Barenia, which I also hate. Same scent profile (without the bitch-slap) exists in the comparatively soft and exquisitely executed Valmont - Private Mind, which is far superior to this. If you want more leather, but still want to read like a lady (and not a car interior), I’d opt for Hermes’ Kelly Caleche. If you want to smell like a car interior, buy Galop. It is a gimmick.

Oh my god, I never would have tried this had my perfume pen pal Gretta not sent me a generous decant, and now I'm strangely besotted. Rose and leather? Yes, please. Normally I steer clear of saffron in my fragrances (as I do cumin), because as good as I find them in food, I find them repulsively sweatlike on skin, but here the saffron just adds a smidge of depth to the leather/osmanthus note. I have a few perfumes that contain quince, and I'm a little ambivalent about it in general--as with lychee, or litchi, it can sometimes come off as slightly sour on my skin--but here the quince is fleeting, leaving behind only a slight piquancy, perhaps imagined. As beautiful as I find this profile, however, I'm not sure I would need a full bottle, which is lucky for me, I suppose, because I know it's pricey. I do think the rose note could be a bit more prominent, but that's perhaps just me, the ultimate flo ho, "grandma"-perfume-promoting, longtime blossom-huffing rose partisan. It's a bit like smelling a bouquet of roses that are shoved inside a brand-new leather Hermes tote. As with all my Gretta decants, it smells like pure class.

Rather than adding an ‘update’ to my old review of this, (somewhere below) I’m giving it a fresh one here because I think my attitude to Galop has shifted significantly enough to warrant it. I love (or at least really, really, really, like) Galop now. It’s a real FOMO nightmare, a phenomena to which I’d arrogantly claimed to be immune, but it’s clearly something I can still fall victim to. The now discontinued Galop became forbidden fruit didn’t it? So I went and bought it. Along with a 125ml refill. I think this is Nagel still somewhat emulating JCE and that’s not taking anything away from her as a perfumer or misogyny or anything silly on my part. JCE’s boots were giant to fill for ANYBODY and at this point they were still in the transitional phase right? (He was still there in 2016 right?) I feel there’s a simplicity, transparency, and conciseness of message to Galop, not to mention the bottle and everything is just so on brand. Galop is a classy fragrance but meets this criteria for me to describe it as a modern rose chypre. I don’t know if it’s just taken some time or what but I perceive the leather accord now, the gentle musky rose and even the osmanthus, certainly in the opening minutes. It’s a charming mixture each element carefully Fung Shui’d into place to create this minimal, contemporary space but with nods to the more antiquated. I actually really like it. I have to be in the mood for the rose, it’s not an easy wear until the lightly skin scented drydown but I like that it has both aspects.

Fruity rose and soft leather, I love it! 10/10

i am OBSESSED with this one!! top and middle notes give it that edgy and coolness. definitely a cool girl scent but not in the way of like versace blue jeanz, its edgier and more mature!!!! like u own a car lol i probably will never buy it cuz its soooo $$$$ this is a LITTLE similar to sdw coney island baby, how it smells after hours is different tho, but wont buy sdw cuz shes horrible so this is a cool $$$$$$$$ alternative

This was available at Istanbul Airport as of today ~10:00 AM GMT+3 (local time). Both refill and the perfume.

Funky photorealistic leather with a prominent orange-like note (the quince). This is just okay - and not something I’d wear or like at all. Tried to find the artistry here, but I’m still left looking.

Unfortunately rose with leather and oakmoss (not mentioned but my nose detects oakmoss as well for some reason) is a terrible combination for me, it is somehow so 'sour' that i have to vomit. Thameen Patiala has the most similar vibe in my opinion.

Leather and jammy rose blended so beautifully you can't tell where one ends and the other begins. Rounded and curved like a well worn leather handbag or a delicate glove with the finest stitching. The scent lingers for hours, persistent yet demurer with a lingering trail. Its lures others to you. The sultry quiet type with a powerful resolve. A steel fist inside a velvet glove.

Wow, this is amazing. Signature scent worthy fragrance. Scent of distinctive leather (a thick leather glove rather than subtle ballet slipper kind), lined with a touch of smoke, surrounded by a soft and delicious cloud of rose and fruits. Mouth-watering, luxurious, sexy, sophisticated. I want to swim in this. So sad that it is that expensive 🥲 Also, I tried out Lil Fleur by Byredo; I can say that in terms of notes they are similar, but Galop is more leather-forward and smoother, Lil Fleur - more fruity, a bit too jammy for my taste, and sweeter. Towards dry down phase they become more similar to each other. Parameters of both are good. I would say that Galop is like an elegant, serious, older sister to Lil Fleur - which is more like a bit uproarious, spoiled teenage girl.

Rose and smokey leather. you'll get rose during the whole dry down, mixing with a fruity trail, and some smoke. I might say cigars smoke, the good ones. and hints of leather, not cuir de russie, but high end quality leather. a woman in the best cashmere sweater and riding boots would wear it on a fall windy day after a walk in her never-ending acres property. wanna smell like a lady, try it, if you can find it. It took me quite some time to put my hands on a bottle of this.

Lil Fleur is not the same. It’s like a dirtier version of. Galop I’d like a classical music. Very beautiful perfume. Well made!

this is one of the best rare leather scents out there. it is said to have been created under the guidance of the master Jean-Claude Hellena. so...

What happened to Fragrantica ? To many adds. This is redicilous. I’m not enjoying this anymore. Anyway , Galop is very beautiful and stylish fragrance. Reminds me of Mille Feux a little bit.

This was the sexiest thing I have ever smelt but they wanted $400+ back then. It's a different type of perfume. I want my sofa to smell like that, not sure I want my skin to smell like that. One sniff and I never forgot it. What can I say some things are special. I've never smelt anything that smells both mineral AND sexy, also it's super sexy without feeling slutty. Try it or sniff it in the department store before you buy because this smell can't be described by text nor literature and way overpriced for a blind buy.

This is a beautiful rose and leather combo. Very classy and sophisticated. I bought it from fragrancenet, but the 50ml and the refills are available on the Hermes website (at least in the U.S.).

I often dream of buying : 1 bottle of Demeter leather 1 bottle of Demeter rose With one soray each : it would end up smelling just like my all time favourite fragrance : GALOP So expensive ! 😫

Wearing Galop gives me the same feeling as ballet, classical music and dressage. It's beautiful, high class and refined. When you smell it, you understand. It's on another level, a whole different ball game than most of the other fragrances out there. But then it must be cold and aloof? It's not. Galop is very cute and lovable. It makes me think about the colour and texture of an apricot, with its soft hues of pink and orange. And of course horses. I love horses and the smell of horse tack, so I'm biased towards leather scents. I don't find Galop masculine. This scent is for classy horse girls. Leathery, boozy, fruity, yes, but also smooooth, soft, delicate. Like drifting inside a light pink cloud. Magical.

After a few sprays I could tell this was a very skilfully-crafted perfume. I washed it off, though, because I'm the loving daughter of a British republican, and Galop was what I imagine the women in the royal family are required to smell like. I will revisit this intriguing scent some other time and see if my impressions change

I see many people wondering if this is discontinued but I just went to the website and they are still selling the 1.7 ounce. I couldn’t find the refills though, but at least they’re still selling the bottles of perfume.

I am not interested in leather-related scents, they are just too much and too bold. If, then only for personal experience at home. Still, all of those few leather scents I've tried have been OK, even though I wouldn't wear any of them outside. But Galop! This is so beautiful! I didn't have a faintest idea that leather notes could be used in such a sweet and soft, even powdery way. I didn't even understand that this was supposed to be a leather scent in the first place before I checked the notes. Suede fruits and flowers? Who got this idea? This is really a piece of art and a big positive surprise about leather to me. But other notes? I don't really distinguish them and I feel I don't have to. Maybe rose is there but I only realised this after seeing the notes; all of them together make a very nice mixture anyway.

feminite du bois+ powdery rose. beautiful!

Massimo Dutti has released a clone of Galop. It’s called Daylight Parfum and it’s very close to Hermes. Price wise is also much lover. Maybe someone would like to check it out. Although I don’t know anything about longevity, original Galop lasted on me all day.

one of my top 5 all time favorites. open up with a sweet burst of jammy rose petals that develops gorgeously into leathery smoothness. distinctive. opulent. i don't know any scent that's similar to this. a full bottle and refill worthy!

Is this being discontinued ? The refill doesn’t seem to be available anymore anywhere and the original flacon ain’t either on many sites ?

Metallic, rose, geranium, red wine, soft fruits, sweet leather, cashmeran or ambroxan. A little futuristic... I'd agree with the reviewer below who said this is reminiscent of Ganymede by Marc Antoine Barrois. Not that they smell alike. But just like Ganymede uses akigalawood, a natural patchouli chemically bleached of its rough edges, there is something otherworldly, space oddysey, slightly ozonic about Galop. They are also both osmanthus leathers, with Ganymede unisex leaning masculine and Galop unisex leaning feminine. The quince is brilliant. It is true to the balance of crystalline-sweetness and tangy almost fermented sourness found in quince paste. Performance is strange... hard to smell up close on skin, but with a fabulous trail and cloud. I think about it a lot. Very nice! 4.5/5

Lady Godiva by John Collier 1897

Galop takes time to develop and grow . For me it was a blind buy, like at least 60% of my collection. It has become nearly impossible to find, I suspect it’s discontinued since even Hermes website doesn’t sell it any longer, not the bottle, nor the refill. I came across a bottle of refill Galop in an online shop where I’ve been shopping for many years. It was more expensive than an Amouage, and still, I decided it was then or never. My bottle arrived, and my first reaction was to dab a little. It was disappointing. Plain leather, something woody animatic, not much rose, no quince, no fruit - immediately I thought I should have gotten another bottle of Kelly Caleche edp, since I love that one, I don’t have much left of it, and it would have been less expensive than Galop. I should say that it was the note of quince which made me take the decision in paying this much money, since quince is a very rare and hard to find fruit here in Canada, but I grew up with it in Europe and I love it. I was so upset. I decided to find an empty decant with a sprayer, and sprayed. Lots. On skin, and on my clothes. And magic happened. With a glass of St. Germain in my hand, (my favorite liqueur, it’s an elderflower blossom sweet potion), I was enveloped in the softest leather, jammy roses, a hint of smoke, and, St.Germain liqueur which does smell and taste like elderflowers, lychees, and quinces. Absolutely magic. Was the fruit coming from my drink or from Galop? The guilt left me. I love it. It was worth the investment. It’s funny how when you acquire a large collection such as my own, it’s much easier to feel upset when spending money on a new perfume, because you did not need it, and there’s a good chance you have something similar already. Galop is not similar to anything else I own, and I have over 350 bottles. The silage is moderate, the lasting power is excellent, all to be expected from pure parfum concentration. Second day, my skin still smells like it, and so does the shirt I wore yesterday. It’s morning now, so no more booze, but a couple of more sprays of Galop, and, half an hour later, it’s back in full beauty. It is unisex indeed, but leaning more feminine as the time passes. I love it, and I can see myself wearing a lot. It’s very special, and to me, worth it, and addictive, but it was not love at first sniff. Don’t judge it only by the top notes.