Le Galion Eau Folle courtesy of Le Galion.
Le Galion Eau Folle (crazy water) opens like a stem of a plant exploding with an aromatic greenery that feels like you have plunged your face into ice cold spring water. It has a vintage aquatic feel from back when aquatics were new and weren’t always blue, some thing like Pierre Cardin’s Blu Marine Pour Lui come to mind, or those earlier elegant light eaux fraiche perfumes, which are more akin to a citrus fresh invigorating herbal fougère like Le Galion’s Eau Noble and Whip. Perfumer Julian Rasquinet pays homage to classic eaux fraiches in Eau Folle, yet you know instantly it’s a contemporary perfume. Each of the materials pairs beautifully which is a nod to Paul Vacher. yet there’s an elegant smoothness and glide that speaks to Julian Rasquinet composition style.
Perfumers Paul Vacher and Julien Rasquinet
Wormwood gives Le Galion Eau Folle this incredibly refreshing menthol layer with a soft camphor and fruity zing evolving into ginger as it dries down. Basil’s clove-like spice gives a gentle darkness to the fresher greens merging with the wormwood and rosemary. While its creamy side brings out a luxurious texture as the cool fresh watery herbal ice water turns into a rich creaminess, again aided by the ginger. Violet leaf forms a beautiful airiness, conjuring a vegative greenery with a soft cool cucumber freshness, gently floral and woody too, but it’s ozonic feel that give Eau Folle this expansive sensation of cool air, invigorating your fresh skin. Rosemary sits just under this airy violet leaf, its rich herbaceous aromas are joined by a hint of sweetness enhancing all the other herbal greens giving you this feeling of being intoxicated by the green fairy of absinthe. Eau Folle takes your nose on a wild journey through an early morning dew filled nature, making you think you’re grasped the edge of one the notes, only to be pulled into a delicious complex swirl where it’s hard to tell were one starts and the other ends.
PR image for Le Galion Eau Folle courtesy of Le Galion.
The menthol coolness of Eau Folle paired with its herbal spice is emphasised further as rosemary’s sharper tang summoning geraniums spicy floral greens. A soft haze of aromatic lavender seems to drift out the violet leaf like a soft morning mist. I’m instantly pulled back to a memory of Norway, its Easter, just as the snow is gone and everything is glistening green with a cool dewy freshness of new life. Eau Folle’s bright herbaceous tones seems aldehydic, with a very vertical thrust capturing the spring freshness bursting forth while those mountain rivers are still full of ice-cold water. I can see Eau Folle cutting beautifully through the heat too, with that menthol freshness capturing the invigorating chill of a new day.
As Le Galion Eau Folle dries down the brighter herbaceous greens feel darker in tone, aromatics are filling the space, giving more body, feeling deep and rich. Ginger takes over from the basil with whispers of florals take the lead. Ginger brings out a lemony zing with soft blonde woods expanding on previous notes with a dash of rooty pepperiness. It’s warm and fresh, shining at the heart of Eau Folle. The fresh spices make you feel alert too, a fresh mind along with a fresh body. That sharp snap of green rosemary and the violet leaf are still in the air yet gentle woody aromas are taking over. Frankincense sketches out abstract firs while its freshness shines with subtle citrus notes glinting like sunbeams on the cool waters below. Eau Folle slowly reveals the rich earthy facets rosemary had been teasing for a while, patchouli emphasises it, wrapped in a soft woody power of cedar that circling back into the incense. Lavender’s aromatic sweetness swirls with geranium’s spice, rounding out the hard edges making Eau Folle feel inviting as vetiver glows with a rooty warmth. You feel Eau Folle’s airy greens thicken, as if smoke is trapped in the water, held by subtle greens wrapping round vetiver’s roots. Bright blonde woody facets are paired beautifully with a golden vetiver, its gives an elegant feel to the base forming a smooth sleek wear and contemporary feel to this classic style perfume. Eau Folle is a tonic for those warm days, it’s bright and invigorating as aromatics wrap around a soft spiced heart awakens your senses with its fresh water feel. A classic eaux fraiche brought into the now.
Notes: Basil, wormwood, violet leaf, ginger, rosemary, geranium, lavandin, vetiver, patchouli, cedar, olibanum.
Disclaimer: Merci to Le Galion for a travel size of Eau Folle who provided it for this piece, nose and thoughts are as always, his own.
J Wearescentient, Senior Editor, artist and olfactive writer.
J’s image of Le Galion’s Eau Folle travel size.
Thanks to Le Galion, we have a travel size bottle of Le Galion Eau Folle for one registered reader in USA and EU. YOU MUST REGISTER. ln your comment please tell us what you enjoyed about J’s review of Eau Folle by Le Galion and where you live. Draw closes 4/19/2025.
Please check out my articles of two of my favourites; Le Galion’s Ferveur and Tilleul. You can also read the ÇaFleureBon reviews of Le Galion from 2013 for Sortilege and 2014 Snob, Special For Gentlemen, 222, La Rose, Tubereuse, Whip, and Eau Noble by Managing Editor Tama Blough, who passed January 9, 2015. Ida Meister’s review of Jasmin and Lauryn’s review of L’Ame Perdue.
Please read Nicolas Chabot of Le Galion Creative Directors in Perfumery article here
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