GALLIVANT NIDA, official photo via the brand

gal·li·vant ˈɡaləˌvant/ verb informal

“go around from one place to another in the pursuit of pleasure or entertainment”

For the last seven years, Nick Steward, the creative director of the multi-award-winning GALLIVANT brand has been creating an olfactory map, placing scented pins all around the world. Liquid wanderlust, the city-inspired perfumes are handcrafted, genderless, vegan, cruelty-free, and sustainably-minded that capture both the emotions of travel but also reconnects your senses.  Nick Steward, with two decades of hands-on experience in the world of perfumery (he was the  former product and creative director of  the acclaimed niche house L’Artisan Parfumeur) brought a refreshing, playful, and unpretentious approach to scent – for a discerning and curious modern customer. In his words*: “I’m focused on the craft and the materials. In the pleasure and escapism perfume can give. I’m not interested in chasing trends. What my brand stands for is timelessness and quality. We let the fragrances speak for themselves. I want perfume to feel personal and pleasurable again.”

Let’s start with a short recap of where I have “visited” so far: Brooklyn (a fresh, fun, fizzy playground), Tel Aviv (a timeless yet modern sleek floral – fresh scent), Istanbul (warm, cozy, spicy), London (a suede – leather – rose with a trademark posh gritty glam), Berlin (a bohemian, urban, cool citrus), Amsterdam (a relaxing deep cozy green), Gdansk (warm, earthy, smoky), Tokyo (calming, woody, textured), Los Angeles (a Rockstar marine – floral with smoky notes), Naples (salty sea air and addictive decadence) Bukhara (silk road-type-treasure-orris), Accra (a taste of the tropics) and Abu Dhabi (aromatic, dry and spicy).

  Nick Steward Perfumer and Soïzic Beaucourt via the brand for this article

For this project, he teamed up with Soïzic Beaucourt of Eurofragrance (whom I’ve been following, as a lover of tea scents, since reading about Pervertea from Scent Hunters in Ermano’s top 10 of 2023 – best discovery). She says: “My curiosity to better understand our sense of smell also translates into my attraction for the unknown. I’m always eager to discover new places, explore innovative processes, and experiment with unique raw materials. As an insatiable explorer, I like to be on the move.” Adds Nick: “When I discovered Soïzic’s style, I was particularly impressed by the elegance, joyfulness, and clarity of her compositional hand-writing- it took me back to a golden age of high-quality artisanal perfumery.”

GALLIVANT NIDA Collage with mood pictures from the brand by Nicoleta

For this summer’s dose of perfumed escapism, we’re off to Nida, an artists’ colony and summer retreat on the beautiful Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage site off the amber-rich Baltic coastline of Lithuania. This is the first ever perfume from GALLIVANT to be presented in a limited-edition decorated bottle.

“Nida has long been the summer retreat of writers – including Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann – artists and musicians. The Curonian Peninsula is a summer nesting place and an important bird migration route – inspiring our limited edition decorated bottle. For me, its allure is the unique location, surrounded by water and nature. Peace and tranquility. The beauty of a simpler, slower life and simple pleasures.” With this trip to Nida, I want to evoke a cool, carefree summer …Peace, quiet, slow easygoing days, walks in the woods, exploring on bike. Barefoot luxury, sunshine, blue skies.” Nick

Collage with mood pictures for GALLIVANT NIDA by Nicoleta

 

The Baltic Sea is the youngest sea in the world, surrounded by continents on almost every side and having a unique ecosystem – thanks to its shallowness and low salinity. So imagine a magical land, stretched between a lagoon and a sea unlike any other – as far as color, smell, and wildlife go. There the smell of the sea is strangely earthy and green and time seems to flow in reverse – is there a better place to inspire a perfume?

 GALLIVANT NIDA Mood photo courtesy of the brand

“Look up: the light is white
like the breast of a seabird, a corpus of quails put strain on their tongues
their echo filling up sky-mouths and air-chimes
I am taller than you by one sparrow” Stephan Roll**, surrealist poet, poem written in the 1930s

Medi Dinu**, Cliff in Balchik, painting, 1930s , common use

Morning, 7:24

I inhale and hear the crisp sounds of early morning, as the village comes to life. The yawns and chatter of early holiday mornings make for a special kind of soundscape when mixed with the sound of small spoons hitting the porcelain of the cups. Lazy gestures peel off the mandarins, pour the tea, and slowly gather momentum as the stoves are lit, ready to cook breakfast, filling the air with the smoky woody smell.

Medi Dinu**, dated sketch from 1934

Afternoon, 15:23

After the long hours at the beach, back in the cooling shade of the room, drapes are drawn and the rough texture of the sheets is felt with every inch of the sun-bitten skin. The special feeling of floating at the edge of time, lost in the lazy hours of summer afternoons, fingers numb with relaxation, muscles still tingling from breaking the waves. Body hovering in the transparent and shallow waters of day sleep, with perception blurring the edges of the iridescent border, coming out for air – not fully here nor there. Smells like violet-iris-coloured-silence, with long stems of the sunflowers that have chosen to hide their heads in the shade, for once.

Medi Dinu** Night and day

 Evening, 20:42

Pass by the porches, the gardens, the impossible shades of green stacked upon flowery whites, the plants hang out to dry in the sun on colourful sheets, the bright wooden cottages, everything feels even more saturated in the reddish sun of the evening, like a light-sensitive film that records subtle vibrations that escape the naked eye. The ever-changing dunes, the smell of the green sea, the hidden path towards the forest. Earthy, pine trees, moss, the damp earth, the ember rays of light reflected in the moving waters, seen below, from between the moving tree branches. The carefree flow of the summer, the sprung arcs of youth, unwinding, breathing light. And love as the total absence of fear. Same as it ever was, and same as it will ever be.

GALLVANT NIDA courtesy of the brand

GALLIVANT NIDA is a summer fragrance that veers away from sandy beaches, white florals, and the carefully curated opulence of exotic resorts. It leads us on a less traveled path, with nature, water, blue skies, and a soul-cleansing vibe of a place filled with real, authentic, and simple joys. An herbal-tea-infused- purple-iris- amber- scented spell that is completely genderless and perfectly balanced between the spicy, woody, herbal, and floral facets. I wore NIDA on my vacation, in the chilly and humid air of spring near the sea, and it revealed itself to me, on each wear, with different facets. Each time I thought I have NIDA figured out; the next wear opened it up in different ways on my skin.  It does not go into the comforting ambery sweetness, nor does it veer on the iris nostalgia path, and the green-herbal bitterness keeps it from falling into overly emotional outbursts. It feels centering, strong, steady, and alive – and I loved every drop of it.

GALLIVANT NIDA Notes: Top: mandarin, cardamom and incense; Heart notes: tea, lilac, jasmine, violet, orris and a sunflower accord; Base: cedarwood, patchouli, moss, tolu, and a respectful nod to the Baltic location: a radiant amber accord.

Nicoleta Tomsa, Senior Editor

Disclosure: A sample of NIDA was offered by GALLIVANT. Opinions are my own.

**Almost one hundred years ago, at another point on the map, in another artist colony, in Balchik, near another sea, black this time, a poet and a painter fell in love. Stephen Roll was a Dadaist, so when they got married, he said “Da, da! (Yes, yes in Romanian) twice. Medi Dinu laughed, she loved, and she lived – and when I met her, in 2010, she was 102 and more alive than many of the people I knew. I think of her often, and these days, near the sea, I thought of her a lot.-Nicoleta

Michelyn: Please note the official launch date of NIDA which is a limited-edition perfume is May 8, 2024, so please check GALIVANT’s site. I received a sample as well  be sure to look for NIDA in my  Best of Scent of 2024 …yes, it is that good).

Please read our reviews for: Brooklyn, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, London,  Los Angeles, Berlin, Amsterdam (*Amsterdam is discontinued), Tokyo, Los Angeles, Naples Bukhara, (written by Former Senior Editor Fragrance Foundation Award Winning The Silver Fox) and Abu Dhabi and Accra (Karl Topham, Senior Editor). ÇaFleureBon was the first fragrance site to review  GALLIVAN  in 2017 Nick Steward was featured in our roundtable Artistic Perfumery 7 Indies Speak out and was Michelyn’s 2023 Hardest Working Perfume Person of 2023. Now with Nicoleta’s essay, we have gallivanted to every city to date.

Image via GALLIVANT

Thanks to the generosity of Nick Steward and the brand we have a *Nomad set of  2x 1.2 ml of all 12 GALLIVANT perfumes PLUS one sample of the limited edition GALLIVANT NIDA for one registered reader in the US, EU or UK. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Nicoleta’s review and where you live. Do you have a suggestion of where Nick should gallivant next? Draw closes 5/8/20024

 *When you purchase a Gallivant Nomad Set you receive free shipping (UK, EU, USA) + a £30 voucher to spend on your first bottle + + save £25 versus buying individual samples (Set contains 12 x 1.2ml spray perfume samples)

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