Description
“The original Betrothal perfume was made by the Grossmith perfumery for Princess May, on the occasion of her wedding to King George V. Then the princess became the newly crowned Queen Mary, who happens to be Prince William’s great-great grandmother, and those ripples of history resonate in Betrothal’s beautiful revival in time for today’s fairytale royal wedding of William and Kate.”
“And so to the perfume itself – Betrothal is a floral bouquet with a citrus opening which blooms quickly into the floral heart of Rose de Mai and Jasmine. Incidentally, this precious ingredient can only be called ‘Rose de Mai’ if it is specifically grown in the tiny town of Grasse, in France – the very heart of perfumery itself. Very few perfume houses source their ingredients from here, now, as they are so incredibly expensive to produce. “
“There is a wonderfully luxurious powdery note from the Heliotrope mixed with Ylang Ylang and Neroli, clean and lingering, which reminds one of dusting powders applied with swansdown feather puffs with handles entwined in satin. It’s not all virginal white, sweetness & light, however. Though delicate, this isn’t some trembling, fragile bouquet of blossoms soon spoiled – there’s a definite hint of minxy naughtiness once that billowing veil has been lifted, a suggestion of the final seduction to come.” Review by Suzy Nightingale Betrothal was launched in 2011. The nose behind this fragrance is Mélanie Carestia.
Vladimir07121978 – :
I have a precious sample of Betrothal, to be worn only infrequently. It seems unlikely that it will ever come into my life again, and I don’t want to squander it. It is so beautiful. One of those perfumes that makes one realise that yes, it is better to have smelled it once, than never to have smelled it at all… And yet, I almost wish that I had not come across it, as once the little bottle is empty, that will be it. It is painfully expensive, but I think it is worth every penny, myself.
It begins with a lovely almondy cloud of heliotrope, at first spray. This was originally in a dabber bottle, but I poured it into a spray, the risk of spillage being less that way than with constant dabbing. At this stage, I can pick out nothing but the heliotrope, which I love. However, smelling the skin on my arm it is possible to feel the presence of other flowers, although I cannot identify them yet.
Three hours later and I am still in my delicate, powdery, heliotrope cloud, but after four hours there is a slight hint of something citrusy, which reminds me of Nivea cream. This is the only time when I smell the citrus at all, and it is only in the air. My arm is now a powdery, soft floral scent. By six hours the perfume in the air has faded to a very slight, creamy scent, a little like the drydown on Chanel No 5. My arm smells of cool, powdery, dry almond, but this changes again over time to become a soft rose and jasmine powder with a hint of vanilla. Very beautiful.
At no time am I conscious of the presence of vetiver, but the civet is noticeable in the drydown on my skin, contributing to the No 5 impression. The opening is pure heliotrope, and there is simply that one short moment of citrus.
Projection is minimal, certainly less than arm’s length on me, but I was able to smell the fragrance on myself without effort, for most of the day. Longevity is quite good…probably very good, as a skin scent. I could smell the perfume on my skin for a good ten hours.
This is a truly beautiful fragrance. It has a lovely history too, which has already been described. For any heliotrope lover or lover of almond scents, this is well worth sampling, but be aware that it will insinuate itself into your heart…
lazcdf – :
A beautiful and easy to understand and easy to “hug” scent. I must thank to a beautiful member here, for giving me the oportunity to meet this perfume. Thank you so much mr. F, for this one and for the other amazing masterpieces you sent me. It is strange but my nose didn t put on the highest stair the heliotrope. Not in the middle, nor in the dry down. I feel it but it is captured and transformed into an unknown flower, in this mixture. Wich is not bad at all. It s like a delicious ganache with rose petals, vanilla and ylang ylang, after the short time when the citrus dissapear. The middle is floral but in a correct line, nothing is in contradiction. I love the most the final, wich unfortunately on my skins lasts not as long as I wanted… The animal vibe is minimal,but enough. I am glad also for the fact the vetiver is not screaming. Feminine but not too “lady gem”, a not intoxicating and heavy scent, refined, revigorating, like a spring starry NIGHT. The lasting power is almost weak on my skin but well..every beautiful dream it come to an end too early, every time…
Vidocq1977 – :
Mainly a heliotrope(floral almond) scent. Nice but I’m not sure it’s worthy of the price tag. But I think you’d really have to love heliotrope to love this. It’s certainly unrivalled in its heliotrope-ness.
drdee77 – :
i really liked this one, not that very unique and something quite bizarre. it’s just quite good and loving my skin. it is powdery yes, and im not a fan of that but this one amazes me allot.
i remember it was already produced back then in 1893 to be worn by Mary of Teck for her betrothal to King George V, and it was recreated again in 2011 or 2012 (don’t remember exactly) for Kate Middleton to be worn in her betrothal like her grandmother did.
it has big citrusy vetiver note with the least vanilla that could adds a haze of sweetness to the juice. rose and jasmin are there yes, quite thin but there already, & thank GOD ylang ylang isn’t there at all, it’s just the Civetta that adds that tiny twist to the blend & it’s doing an amazing job. i guess neroli is there already. i guess this one is the most expensive one in his collection and to be honest it deserves it. it is unisex for sure.
it could be worn in the morning and charms everyone around you, it’s not sharp and never heavy. it’s exactly on the right wave length of perfect.
Edit (14th feb 2015): i was mistaken! the Ylang Ylang is there already and quite shown clearely! it is the one that added that tingling twist beside the Civet.
note: the main drawback of all Grossmith’s fragrances is the spray, the top piece that sprays the fragrance. however, after few sprays that piece on top kind of wears down or melts, in another way the smell of it turns very metallic. this could be because of the quality of the spray itself, or maybe the fragrance itself is quite strong in away that the spray material can’t handle it’s strength or density. so i wish they take this into consideration cause this might ruin the essence as it has direct connection with the fragrance.
PAPACHO – :
I love this, it smells like a slice of British History, for some reason it reminds me of Miss Havisham from Great Expectations (in a good way) because of the slightly dusty dry down.
It’s pretty pricey, but Grossmith perfumes are truly unique one of a kinds. Also surprised not to see more reviews.
ФОШЕЧКА – :
It’s an over the top typically British floral scent, quite classy, but yes, as threshique said, it is like being buried in a big heap of random flowers. But that’s what we Brits like to do – stand in our gardens surrounded by lots of different scented flowers and be overwhelmed. It’s so nostalgic – an english garden, a garden party! A posh one with champagne and ladies dressed in white floaty dresses.
svetlex – :
Perfume friends, I cannot at all understand the non existing or even negative reviews on the internet of this fragrance and other Grossmith’es.
Only because they re so pricey (which is understandable give the fact what the Grossmith “family” invests in their production) some folks do not even try them.
A big mistake in my humble opinium!:=
I agree wholeheartily with Suzy here: Betrothal is a luxury powdery,even dusty white floral with quality boozing all over.. The cibet causing the naughtyness mentioned by Suzy. And the Heliotrope note is the most beautiful I ve ever detected in any fragrance! Yes it is sweet but tempered by the strong African flower and earthy vetiver in the drydown which is quite heavenly to my nose at least:=)
An absolutely PERFUME in the most true sense of the word (even in the EDP version).
Not for untrained noses and quite surely not for lovers of modern chemical Iso-Super kind of fragrances…I guess our Kate is not really a perfume addict so let her buy Katy Perry’s Purr instead:=)
A must try for any real perfume art lovers of the classics! If you like powdery florals give it a chance..
ataman1313 – :
At first I find myself beeing forcefed a big heap of random flowers.
And as much as I enjoy flowers, and basically all kinds of them, I do not enjoy the act of forcefeeding.
Then I’m invited to a celebration in an old house by an old rich woman.
Theres a big table covered in cakes, cookies and sweets of all kinds.
Beautiful but exhausting.
At last I leave, and somebody gives me a doggiebag with a few treats, well chosen and more spicy than sweet. I gladly accept the gift to let this cover up what happened before.