Gallivant, the London perfumery making perfume inspired by the excitement and emotion of travel and wanderlust, is off to Argentina for its latest scent, Buenos Aires.
Gallivant founder, Nick Steward says, “I vividly remember watching Magenta de Vine on the BBC Rough Guide to Buenos Aires in the summer of 1990 and deciding this was a place I wanted to go. Fast forward a year to the summer of 1991, and still a teenager, I flew (alone!) to Argentina. I have such a strong memory of arriving at Ezeiza Airport and being hit. by the smell of leather and that cologne that the Spanish and Latin Americans put through their hair. That was the beginning of a lifelong love affair with the city, and its residents, called porteños.”
“I’d seen the musical Evita as a child – so some of the panache, drama. and glamour of the place had marked my younger self. Buenos Aires promised adventure: the glamour of slicked-back black hair and dark glasses, dinners at midnight and discotecas. Fur coats, horseback bravado, intellectuals and psychotherapists. Lazy mornings in Parisian style cafés. Grand boulevards. The smell of asado smoke permeating the city. And of course, dulce de leche! The vanilla/almond-like smell of it being made, wafts of it coming from workshops in the local confitería! And my favourite: alfajores – the best biscuit you’ve never heard of!
Isn’t fragrance memory amazing? The places it takes you back to …. So this is a love letter to Buenos Aires, its passions, the memories it’s given me and the warm embrace of its beautiful people.”
The Eau de Parfum opens with a grape accord, in a playful nod to the vineyards and wines, a dash of zesty optimistic citrus notes, and Paraguayan petitgrain.
The heart of this scent includes a floral note: the ceibo, Argentina’s national flower, from its cockspur coral tree. The iconic yerba maté adds a grassy, hay, smoky tobacco-like dimension. An impression underscored with a classic fougère accord.
And the base of the composition celebrates the much-loved tonka bean, with its creamy, woody, spicy, nutty aspects – in concert with dulce de leche and leather
For the creation of the Buenos Aires fragrance, founder Nick Steward worked with long-time collaborator Karine Chevallier.
An independent perfumer based in Paris, Karine was excited to work on the creation of a Buenos Aires perfume, not least as the Argentine capital is often referred to as ‘the Paris of South America.’
“I really had a lot of fun creating this new opus for Gallivant: our ideas were playful, far from serious or sombre. We talked a lot about the pleasures and delights of Buenos Aires, and Argentina in general. Of course, the first thing that came to my mind is the tango and the complex feeling of pride mingled with a touch of sorrow, of melancholy – but I know Nick too well after all these years working together, and he is always keen to avoid any postcard clichés, so you’ll feel that sentiment just beneath the surface of this composition. It’s a very unisex scent, but there is this touch of virility we didn’t want to shy away from. We’ve got tonka bean as the hero note – but I love the grape accord l’ve created, that little floral touch with the ceibo flower, and the yerba maté and the grassy, smoky, leathery vibes.”
Buenos Aires by Gallivant is available now from Gallivant stockists, in 8ml, 30ml, and 100ml eau de parfum.