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EveveZefsance – :
Starts off smelling like lily-of-the-valley and cigarettes. Dries down to smell like a wet, dewy lily-of-the-valley.
vitalic – :
Confessions of a Garden Gnome, now that is a funny name for a fragrance and it does paint a great picture of how this creation is supposed to smell like. It opens up with loads of violet leaf, giving it an aquatic presence, then comes the white florals (lily and lily-of-the-valley), there is also a presence of grass (could be linden blossom) and some skankyness going on, could be the ambergris. Due to it’s very green, dew-y characteristic, CoaGB reminds me of The Soft Lawn by Imaginary Authors. Both fragrances are fleeting, they have average longevity of 5-6 hours with modest projection. If I had to choose, I would go with The Soft Lawn, since it is cheaper and does not put me off if smelled up close.
nyutlyaya – :
Violet leaves, and lily of the valley rubber band.
A SPLASH of lilies, violet leaves, musk, and sandalwood with doses of yuzu, birch, and bright notes of lime and pepper.
It’s bright because of the yuzu and water lilies, yet botanic as if you are sniffing lilies from the plant nursery. Do in short it’s white sour floral blend. Meh
Vlad5005 – :
Very green, and there is a ‘chilled’, morning dew aspect to it. If I took a handful of plant stems and tossed them in a juicer, I imagine it would smell something like this.
PANTHER74 – :
i’m gonna mirror what everyone else has already said, this scent is a representation of a garden, complete with the floral, green and vegetal elements one would come to expect from such a venture.
quite white-floral in composition, and the ambergris is lingering there in the background (a few of these perfumes have the same lingering ambergris), along with a detectable musk the ever-present violet leaf.
i’ve smelt all the 8 perfumes from the discovery set, and whilst NONE have knocked me out, each and every single one of them is a masterpiece. truly a work of art! proud to call myself a melburnian…
Ravenheart – :
Wow, this is art. A photorealistic representation of a garden- wet dirt, clover, grass, and honeysuckle that eventually shifts to a sweet and simple freesia on my skin. Just beautiful, and may very well be fbw. Also I am head over heels for the art nouveau bottles from this house. The attention paid to every detail is just stunning.
Edit: Apparently this perfume is supposed to represent all four seasons, which is quite an ambitious goal, but on me it unfortunately doesn’t pan out. I’m happy with the spring and summer, though it really would be impressive if I got the full cycle.
Irinaurievna5 – :
This perfume is beautiful and of quality, I can tell, but on my skin, it so magnifies the lily and violet leaf and overpowers the other lovely parts of this perfume. Wonderful for others whose skin can handle those!
tyncItehync – :
The name of the bottle is EXACTLY what this smells like. The story of a garden gnome – what he witnesses throughout the seasons, the years, as flowers bloom, the leaves fall, and the weather changes.
It’s brilliant. I was a little turned off by the intial stage of pure green spring (unoriginal), but this drydown is complex and beautiful.
I’m keen to try this one, and Zoologist’s Elephant and Dragonfly on the same day. I think Confessions of a Garden Gnome stays safely in the garden, whereas Zoologist’s scents are a little wilder. Which is exactly what you’d expect with the names! But a garden has a million secrets and stories, the closer you look…Perhaps I need all three, depending on which path I’d like to take on a day…
sanya116 – :
Confessions of a Garden Gnome is a journey through the seasons through the “life” of a Garden Gnome. Everything experienced throughout the year intertwined. While more spring or summer like, you smell elements of each season beautifully blended together. It’s the only way I can describe it. Contrasting coolness and warmth, blooming florals against withering leaves, air, soil, branches, rain, snow, sun…it’s all there. An artistic interpretation of what we experience in nature throughout the year.
ayoguyldi – :
Trying this for a second time, in more ideal conditions, Confessions of a Garden Gnome is even more beautiful than I had once thought… but it also contains something that doesn’t mesh all that well with my skin. It’s a floral woods fragrance that contains a lot of lily of the valley. The first time I tried it, I didn’t notice anything powdery or herbaceous like I now do. Violet leaf, for all that it can be, never seems to blend overly well on my skin. Only two fragrances have made me enjoy it and sadly this is not one of them. All of this aside, the fragrance is still beautiful and demands even more wearings to fully gain a proper understanding of it.
The image conjured is very much the same, a garden gnome standing still by a koi fish pond surrounded by beautiful trees and flowers. There’s a fresh aquaticism to it, but also a deep woodsy feeling. These aspects, combined with the green and herbaceous violet leaf, make a very unusual fragrance. When the violet leaf calms down a bit, it becomes effortlessly beautiful again like I remember. This time I even detect a citrus candy sweetness, water lily and, I swear, osmanthus… again. I’m most probably wrong in this, but it smells very similar to the osmanthus that’s in Osmanthe Yunnan. Very unusual, but not unwelcome. There’s a lashing of spices, potentially corriander which lend to the herbaceous aspects of the violet leaf which carry on through almost the entire wearing. Finally, there appears to be a generous helping of musk (white, like those apparently used in many of Sylvaine Delacourte’s fragrances) that don’t necessarily create a ball of musk, but just enough to carry the lighter ingredients and ambergris. These base notes, along with the cedar wood, help create a very post Winter aroma that reminds me quite strongly of the Melbournian rainy beginnings of Spring in the Carlton Gardens, near the beautiful wishing pond where people throw their coins away.
Lasts roughly 8 hours on my skin, projects rather weakly.
RayziS2 – :
Confessions of a Garden Gnome, a curious name, aptly suggests the garden itself, and the fragrance effectively conjures ideas of the garden and vegetation, its scent profile dominated by the floral trio of lily-of-the-valley, violet, and rose, to my nose. The pink pepper factors in significantly for most of the life of the fragrance, as well, giving way to a dry down of cedar and white musk, prominently, so smooth and soft.
It’s fresh, and mainly floral, yet also a little sweet and woody. An agreeable, unisex option, better suited for warmer rather than colder weather, as it does have somewhat of a fresh, daresay clean vibe, even.
Unsurprisingly, due to note composition, it’s a less significant performer than Charlatan and (certainly) Amber Absolutely, and so, at the same pricing of 230AUD / 178USD for 50ml, it’s a tougher sell than those. Still, I think many might enjoy it quite a bit. It’s surely worth of a try at least.
7 out of 10
myacopybka – :
I was lucky enough to grow up living in places with gardens large enough for a boy and his siblings to have hours of imagined adventure; and memories that hide in your subconscious until something teases them out.
In this case the Fort and Manle’s Confessions of a Garden Gnome has penetrated my mind through my nose.
In a single wearing, you get sensations of sunny late winters where stepping from shade to sunshine warms your skin by several degrees. It opens with a singing violet leaf that stays in a high register guiding you through the seasons.
You get white floral early spring bouquets and already you get a sense of the chameleonic nature of the fragrance. When florals subside it’s time for the ambergris, musk and amber to take over and represent the cooler months of the year. The birch here is more dry bark than tar, and you can almost smell the carpet of wet fallen leaves that is laid on the brick pavement.
If this was a painting it would be a Monet study of the same thing at different times of the year.
One of the best things i have smelled.
unsomourl – :
I find this perfume profoundly beautiful. It is complex in its composition. When first applied I smell the spring. Brittle branches suddenly burst with buds and blossoms. (Pink pepper, bergamot, yuzu and coriander). In the heart, flowers give off their luscious summer aromas, (Rose, Lily, muguet, Violet leaf, Mango). Finally in the dry-down, woods and musks play to the harsh beauty of autumn becoming winter – dead leaves and bare branches (White musk, Amber, Virginian cedarwood, Birch, Ambergris).
New, Melbourne-based brand, Fort and Manlé has created a delightful perfume here, which has a mood and a story all of its own. Sold in extrait de parfum concentration, it won’t disappoint in terms of sillage and longevity. The company is to be congratulated for having started a new niche line in Australia which has world-class (and pleasantly restrained) packaging.
Genre: Floral woody musk.
Longevity: 12 hours+
Sillage: moderate – not overbearing.
*disclosure: I have received samples of this product, but as ever, I only write reviews of products that I love and can wholeheartedly recommend.
Edited version of a blog posted on thescentgentblog, February 10, 2017.