Description
Fashion designer Bella Freud (daughter of painter Lucian Freud and great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud) has teamed up with perfumer Azzi Glasser and launched her first fragrance line under the name of Bella Freud Parfum. Her perfumes are named by the slogans that adorn her fashion collection, which consists of a variety of references to the past, films and poetry. The line consists of three scents: Ginsberg is God, Je t’aime Jane and 1970.
Ginsberg is God, dedicated to the poet Allen Ginsberg, is a unisex scent of “the tousled headed poet surrounded by books and papers, the scent of green leaves and spring drifting in through the open windows”, including accords of black pepper, tomato leaf, fig, elemi, sacred woods, resins, wormwood, moss and leather.
The face of the perfume is model Gala Gordon. The fragrances are available as 50 ml Eau de Parfum.
Ginsberg is God was launched in 2014.
Eminempfr – :
Absolutely bizarre – unless I got a mislabeled sample, my experience of this is absolutely nothing like anyone else’s, and it was a long strange trip indeed.
Most of the notes listed above are real favourites of mine – but I didn’t recognise any of them when blind-smelling this. Instead, it opened on me as a sharply fizzy, alcohol-heavy thing, underlaid with a powdery sort of alkaline-soda note. Thought I smelled loads of citrus, Thought I smelled cleanish laundry musk. Then I thought it turned to vetiver with some earth (perhaps the leather-tomato leaf phase?) with shades of Bal d’Afrique. Then thought I smelled coffee and marijuana (wormwood and pepper perhaps?) NONE OF IT MAKES ANY SENSE!
Even when I didn’t have this list of notes that I wasn’t smelling, the perfume as a whole just left me deeply confused and a bit uneasy. Seemed completely non-linear and to wander all over the map in its evolution, with none of it unpleasant, but none of it really familiar either, and never settling – or allowing me to settle – into true comfort. Maybe that’s what it was aiming for – expand your puny perceptions, you square! – but it kind of leaves me at a loss.
I promise I wasn’t under the influence of anything else (perfume or otherwise) at the time. But this one may have broken my nose or my brain. Will try again. But sheesh – what a weirdo.
pypebabSDuecy – :
This is a nice perfume. For the first few minutes, it’s heavily focused on elemi, which is related to frankincense, mixed with some smoky woody notes. I find elemi to be consistently more tangy and somehow more green than frankincense. So the tomato leaf is really perfect in this blend. It intensifies the green-ness and keeps the whole fragrance bright.
But there is also a resin in the base that is sweet, might be a touch of benzoin. Something also seems a little powdery and floral, pushing this fragrance into feeling truly like a proper perfume versus just wearing church incense on your skin.
The longer it’s on my skin, the more I enjoy it. It’s like straight-up church incense that has somehow been softened and femmed up a bit. Avignon for women. Very different from most incense perfumes I have tried. I might need to seriously consider buying a bottle.
kovdenyr – :
Where can I buy a sample for this parfume?
Worldwide shipping
knsh17k – :
Sampled this yesterday at a John Lewis store. The opening is very incense-heavy, with some resin and wood notes peeking through. It really smells like a church, which feels appropriate considering the name of the fragrance. After about an hour and a half, the frankincense dies down, and the smell becomes somewhat softer and warmer with the woody notes becoming more prominent.
Unfortunately, it did not last an impressively long time on my skin, as I could no longer smell it five hours later, yet I could still smell a different Bella Freud scent which I sampled on my other arm. This may just be a fluke though, and I will aim to test out it’s longevity the next time I come across it, as it is really rather lovely.
hgj132speagoessenda – :
I sampled this today and I love it. I keep smelling my wrist and can’t wait to own a bottle. Yes at first it does start off masculine but it soon settles into a beautiful warm sandalwood and leather scent that I find irresistible. I’ll be saving up to get this one soon.
DjeyMIG – :
Costly and hard to get hold of. I had high hopes for this. To me this smells like the donner kebab shop I go to. It has that citrus, pickling vinegar smell the chillies are poached in and the slight smell of charring meat and a bit of the wooden block which he cuts the naan bread and stuff on. It probably smells really nice after several pints and stumbling out of the pub, but for £75/ for 50ml no thanks. The box it comes in is nicer than the bottle and fragrance in just an after thought. Ginsberg is God? I think the ancients had it right though shall not worship false idols!
2/10
Xeroxywzuq – :
Tried this both fresh and woody scent at
Liberty London, a few weeks ago. It was longlasting – stayed on my arm all day !
If it will stay around in the market til my large collection has become handy, I will be delighted to buy it despite it’s heavy pricetag.
Interesting perfume and lovely bottle !
djFayst – :
I bought Ginsberg is God blind because the descriptions intrigued me! I’ve now smelled all three of the Bella Freud fragrances and am sort of wishing I’d purchased Je t’aime Jane, but oh well.
I like Ginsberg is God; I’m not sure I can pull it off. On me, it is spicy, tobacco and resin heavy. I do think this is perhaps the sort of fragrance that wears you somewhat, so I’d recommend trying this before you buy, as I think it doesn’t ‘match’ me – the way I dress, look, etc. There’s no denying it’s a beautiful fragrance and very well delivered.
chekushka – :
The best of the triad. This is green, incensey goodness in a ala Comme des Garçons manner, taking a different direction though when it reaches it’s dry- down. The frankincense is of great quality, running through the composition from top to bottom. It might remind you a few others already out there, but iIt’s beautiful, it’s honest and what it is not, is pretentious including the price tag.