L'Eau du Gouverneur by Comptoir Sud Pacifique

Well now......an aromatic woody from 1980 that has escaped my clutches all these years. I am unfamiliar with this house other than reading some reviews and I am happy that foetidus was kind enough to include a generous sample of this in his recent package.

This is pretty interesting for a 1980 release. I say that because I haven't run across a slew of spicy cedar frags from the days of big hair and boisterous perfumes. In this case, interesting is good enough and while not a great fragrance, it's a nice wear and seems like it would do well in the cool months due to the spices from the opening to the drydown.

There's nutmeg and clove in this scent along with a nice bite from pepper. I don't claim to be a lover of these notes in masculines, because truth be told, I am not. However, I am not put off with what I smell in L'Eau du Gouverneur. The opening is citric with spices apparent immediately. Within a minute, I can detect the cedar in the base accord and the wood slowly gains presence as the scent wears on. The listed vetiver and tonka are truly lost on me and I sampled this numerous times until the 1.5ml was gone. I get a musky accord well into extended drydown and by that time, it's a peppery cedar and musk concoction with wisps of clove that periodically appear.

Is L'Eau bottle worthy? Well, I have worse that's for sure. I can't say I recommend it highly, but if you could pick up a bottle on the cheap, then yes. The bottom line is that L'Eau du Gouverneur is a spicy citric scent that quickly morphs into a cedary musk with clove hot on its heels. If you have an affinity for notes like these, you should sample wear this and decide for yourself. I give it a positive-neutral rating.