Golconda - Jar Parfums - Review

Wet dewy bouquet of fresh cut carnations or a stick of Big Red chewing gum? Well maybe a little of both. Or might it just be … Clove Jell-O? When I was in grade school my girlfriend Marcia and I loved to cook and bake as a diversion over the long summer vacation. Usually the fare was a white Jiffy cake or Jell-O. We sometimes would experiment to find new ways of improving on these two standards, one of which was adding clove to orange Jell-O. A lot of clove. The taste was ummm … interesting. But the smell … divine. My first whiff of Jar Golconda brought back that smell from my Grandmother’s kitchen some 40 years ago.

For me Golconda whiffs and wafts both directions, at times smelling dead-on like a bouquet of fresh cut carnations. Wet and fresh, as your nose is buried deep for that first sniff. Other times I do get a spicy clove/cinnamon scent that smells more gourmand then soliflore. I think this is what others have referred to as the Big Red chewing gum note. But even at that, being a gourmand lover; it is nice, spicy and enjoyable.

If you are a carnation lover, no make that a devoted carnation fragrance lover, this extravagantly priced, boutique fragrance just might be your Holy Grail. If you merely enjoy carnation scents, you will probably find this cost prohibitive to satisfy your needs. Being that it brings back such wonderful memories for me and that I adore carnations, this would be my ultimate carnation scent. I would love to own it. But alas, the price will keep me from buying this one, sad to say, unless a windfall comes my way. Until then, I have one more wearing from my sample to enjoy for another day.

Available from the Jar Boutique in Paris or the JAR boutique at Bergdorf Goodman, NYC. The price? You know the saying - If you have to ask ...