Bukhara by Gallivant

So, here we are again, the three of us, Nick Steward of Gallivant, Michelyn Camen of CaFleureBon and The Silver Fox celebrating another beautiful olfactive hymn from Gallivant, this time a composition inspired by the legendary historical city of Bukhara in Uzbekistan a place that once held magnificent importance on the fabled Silk Road; textiles, spices, dyes, unguents, carpets, nomads, scholars, books and knowledge travelling back and forth between Asia and an astonished world. 

Nick Steward of Gallivant in Bukhara Uzbekistan

I wasn’t expecting Bukhara from Gallivant, but it makes perfect sense. Nick is a restless nomad, always eager to move, explore and immerse. Something we should value even more now in this messy anxiety-ridden time of Covid and its mixed global messaging. To me he is an olfactive Bruce Chatwin, less anguished for sure, but nonetheless he communicates the utter joy and impetus to travel and lose oneself in the journey without prejudice.

Iris photo courtesy of Nick Steward

Bukhara by Gallivant  is an iris perfume and one composed by Ralf Schwieger at that, a close friend of Nick’s and one of the most stylish noses in the business. His work thrums with enigma and intelligence – the exquisite hushed Iris Nazarena for Aedes Venustas, his fascinating jasmine rice accord in Fils de Dieu for Etat Libre D’Orange and the vastly underrated lime-drunk Vanille Insensée he made for Atelier Cologne, a travel bottle of which is in my bag at all times. Bukhara has all the magic and oblique mystery that Ralf brings to his work, the iris painted in earth and silk, lit by a halo of pear and ivory jasmine.

 

saffron photo courtesy of Nick

Iris has become a weary over-painted material in perfumery; what was once mysterious and rare has become a little commonplace and predictable despite the cost of the rhizome and the process that the bulb goes through in order to reach the skin. It does take a gifted perfumer to make us revisit it and smell something different, trace an alternative route through the chthonic powder and sweet bruise haziness. Ralf has utilised spices like caraway, coriander and saffron, all of which have tremendous aromatic sensuality, adding both umami and dusted sugar hues to our appreciation of this material.

 

photo of architecture in Bukhara by Nick

One of the most intriguing aspects of Ralf’s iris is how beautiful it is both up close and at a distance. Not that many compositions hold up to that kind of scrutiny, but like looking at a painting from afar and admiring its allure, then walking up close to be dazzled by brushstrokes and pigment, the iris in Bukhara radiates dust, heat, a cool burrow-like earthiness and just enough trailing silken fibres for it to be distinctively a Schwieger portrait.  After an initial damp whoosh of that iris, there is an interesting salty snack-by-a-cold-azure-pool nosefeel to Bukhara by Gallivant, which becomes sun-bleach white as time goes on. Delicate musks, resins and a tactile dose of benzoin support the cool interior of this most beautifully composed perfume. It seems to echo with solar dust and an awareness of how we need to wear scent in these strange claustrophobic times.

 

stitching in Bukhara photo by Nick

I am always impressed by how carefully innovative Ralf Schwieger is when it comes to moving between the layers within his compositions. He wants us to be surprised and seduced by sublime craft and materials without noticing the manipulation and necessary chemistry.

 

Bukhara by Gallivant “passport stamp”

The Gallivant perfumes are olfactive stamps in Nick’s passport as he travels and also hyper-stylised renditions of the cities in question. He and his perfumers are romancing us, offering abstracted reflections of places that very adroitly suggest trigger a cascade of markers, both psychological and visual, creating cities such as Amsterdam, London, Brooklyn, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Los Angeles in our minds. We inhale and travel whether or not we have actually visited these places, weaving a skein of impressions from books, television, movies, social media, art, hearsay and yearning. Nick is our erudite guide, he gently but firmly leads us to places and says, “I have been here, it is somewhere I loved, I hope you will be fascinated too”.

 

photo of Uzbek women

It’s a big ask, especially of an independent brand, but it is precisely because Gallivant is so small, well, essentially just Nick, that the deeply personal vibe of the perfumes and company is so palpable. I have reviewed the others in the line and love the aesthetic, the elegant whiteness, the carton cityscapes, the perfect 30ml journeyman sizes (that everyone seems to be doing now), the accessible price point and the above all the genuine storytelling in this Covid age of shaky foundations and bullshit. Each of Gallivant cityscapes so far have been of superlative mood and accessibility. They are not trying to analyse the soulful minutiae of their chosen destinations, that would be pretentious and frankly pointless as we process odours differently and have our unique libraries of odiferous souvenirs as reference.

 Uzbekistan door photo by Nick

However, Nick and his perfumers have wisely chosen to use bright, immaculate and high-quality materials with imagination and nuance. The freshly minted scent of heavy-weight fashion magazine pages mixed with wet roses and rain on tarmac is how I smell Gallivant’s beautiful London. Sometimes, depending on my skin, the roses are in gardens, sometimes hugged in brown paper. Amsterdam catches the strange rubber-squeak of tulips, arranged at night, in a room lit by candles, windows suddenly flung open to let out a fug of smoke and too many people after a vibrant laughter-filled party. And the haunting solitude of Tokyo, the scented psychological opposite to the millions of people crisscrossing streets, bathed in noise and technology, but rather a greener, yuzu-spiked aroma with wasabi and the respectful silence of Tokyo’s older back streets under the tangled overhang of dry humming electrical wires.

 

seated man photo by Nick

You will all smell them differently to me, and to some of you, the city thing will count for nothing, the brand will live and die on the quality of the perfumes. The stories are lovely, sincerely meant support. It is good news then that the quality of the Gallivant has not wavered since launch. I wasn’t personally blown away by Istanbul and Los Angeles but that it is a question of personal taste not the condition of the work. But I think about the coffee note in Istanbul often, it is that moreish.

 

 photo by NIck

The historic centre of Bukhara has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and if you Google simply Bukhara, the images of unique architecture, mosques, minarets, fortresses and mausoleums demonstrate why. The buildings have a white mood, designed to reflect the sun and typically utilise the dazzle turquoise tilling and mosaics that echo skies and therefore heaven. Gallivant’s perfume captures some of this airy wonder in the pear, musks and dusty saffron with jasmine glinting off perfumed walls. Ultimately though Bukhara by Gallivant refers back to the Silk Road and the orris seems to shimmer like handmade pale silk in warm winds. I am slightly biased in my love of iris and iris-based perfumes, but this might be the best Gallivant to date, but you must all take the journey and inhale for yourselves.

–The Silver Fox©

Disclosure The Silver Fox received a sample for this review and his opinions are his own

 

Bukhara by Gallivant montage by The Silver Fox

You can buy Gallivant Bukhara online from the Gallivant website(click) or from one of their stockists. You can also buy a refundable discovery set of Gallivant samples(click), the value of which is returned to you towards a full bottle. 

All photos from Nick except the montage above by The Silver Fox©

Thanks to the generosity of Nick Steward, we have one sample of Bukhara by Gallivant for one registered reader in the UK, EU, and U.S. (you must register for your comment to count.) To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about The Silver Fox’s review, where you live and  your favorite Gallivant perfume. Draw closes 9/26/2020

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