Old New Things: Sky by Gendarme

or, Once More Into The Cupboard By Tom One of the things that resurfaced in my more was the sample of Gendarme Sky I received as part of the LA Sniffa back in '07.  At the time I wrote: "For those of you who have never heard the story of Gendarme, it's an interesting one: apparently the founder, Topper Schroeder was gifted with a large amount of a cologne that was hypo-allergenic, but was not going to be produced. He gifted various music business friends with it and it eventually made its way into Fred Segal, which is where I found it in 1991. It's a fresh, soapy citrus which I found perfect for a hot summer day. I think I even kept it in the icebox just for that purpose. Over the years I sort of forgot about it, as I became less fresh and soapy and more leathery and musky. (no comments from the peanut gallery, thanks) "There are no notes available for SKY, so I am going only by smell here, but like Victoria, I smell bergamot in the opening. I also get a slightly soapy rosemary. On me there is a definite stage of a very light but discernible sage in the middle, sort of like the dried sage leaves that one buys to "smudge" the room with (I like this stage immensely). I never get any of the dreaded aquatic, I just get this saginess and a final drydown of very light woods, like a super-lightened version of Chene. "This is a (and others have wrote the same thing) soft scent, and very unisex. It's not at all what I expected- it's soft, but it has dimension. It's unisex, but it's not insipid in that let's-mix-up-a-bunch-of-citrus-and-call-it-a-day way that some companies do. It also has an oddly sly sillage for such a light scent. I gave myself a pretty decent spritz of it and was getting little twinkles of it all day. "Would I buy it? Sure: it has a nice summery, beachy feel with a bit of that clean-sheets accord that's as close to ozone as I like to get. If I'd had this in my collection this past summer when Los Angeles was suffering under a wiltingly humid July I'd have happily doused myself in it. It was a nice sunny scent to wear on a drab, chilly and rainy Presidents day as well." Do I feel the same way today? Well, yes and no. I am not allowed to wear any scent at work, so when I am off duty the last thing I want is something that's so under the radar. I also think that in the last years there are scents that do this "clean" thing better, like the one that everyone was so upset that Uncle Serge put out. I think the fact that I still have most of the sample after nearly 7 years says something. In it's favor is that there several places online where you can get a bottle for a little more than $30. I think I'll still be wearing something a little more definite in my leisure time, but if I were still in an office where cologne was tolerated more I might indulge. Image: Internets