Sartorial Penhaligon's (2010)

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8.1 / 10 362 Ratings

Sartorial is a popular perfume by Penhaligon's for men and was released in 2010. The scent is spicy-woody. It is still in production.

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Perfumer

Bertrand Duchaufour

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes	Aldehydes, Violet leaf, Cardamom, Black pepper, Ginger, Neroli, Ozonic notes, Metallic notes
Heart Notes	Beeswax, Cyclamen, Linden blossom, Lavender, Leather
Base Notes	Gurgum wood, Patchouli, Myrrh, Cedarwood, Tonka bean, Oakmoss, White musk, Honey, Woods, Vanilla, Amber

Ratings

Scent

8.1 (362 Ratings)

Longevity

7.6 (264 Ratings)

Sillage

6.7 (256 Ratings)

Bottle

8.0 (257 Ratings)

View Video of Sartorial (Vimeo)

Submitted by DeGe53, last update on 25.09.2019

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Reviews

06/08/2019

8.0 7.0 8.0 8.5/10

Floyd
0 Reviews

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Floyd

More than Honey

The story about this fragrance is already interesting to read, inspired by fabrics, tailor's chalk and other scissors-snippets it should be. The wearer of the little water should get the impression of wearing a tailor-made suit. What does a tailor smell like? Mrs Aksoy's tailor shop always smelled of detergent, dust and people. In the hip little tailoring studios I visited, it smelled like coffee and cigarettes. This one's supposed to smell like fine designer art. I felt challenged: Old Chucks, three-quarter-Cargo, grey Schlabbershirt and Hateras cap on, Sartorial on.
The whole thing starts off fresh and sweet, a little spicy and quite noble, already in the top note delicate honey notes emerge. Flowers seem only accessories and cannot be identified in detail; they give the fresh, spicy sweetness a little more width and transparency at the same time.
After about half an hour, the fragrance turns fresher: There are cedar and myrrh, which join the fresh ginger, while a light leather note crystallises out. All this, however, remains light and transparent on the always present honey base and changes with well perceptible musk and moss notes. The latter are then the honey companions with vanilla and amber in fade-out.
The shelf life is a good eight to nine hours, the Sillage is always moderate. The cutting history is nice, but if one had thematized manual flower pollination in China and described how they climbed the trees there with leather gloves, later harvesting the flower nectar again and adding vanilla and ambroxan instead of saliva, that would have been just as effective. "More than Honey" would have been a fitting name, following the well-known documentary. Chinese characters on the bottle and that would have looked nice. Alternatively maybe a fragrance twin: "Bernstein im Thamesenebel" for those who don't have a thing for environmental protection.
What the hell, it's still a noble fragrance, I already felt a bit underdressed, but only because of the story about the tailoring!

1 Replies

01/28/2019

7.0 6.0 9.0 8.5/10

MajorTom
0 Reviews

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MajorTom

Very helpful Review 10

Sartorially = elegant

So far none of the scents of the British house of Penhaligon could warm my heart. That should change dramatically with this creation - literally.

But to begin with. As I said, skeptical of various other Penhaligon creations, I went with a negative bias to the Sartorial test. I was particularly curious about what to expect, as the description of the fragrance here at Parfumo says "woody-spicy", while many perfumers write of "sweet notes".

The start: I hear violets that soften the scent, something peppery and a bit of ginger. And then that which somehow cannot be grasped, some of the previous speakers quote the smell of ironing or tailoring. I guess that's the aldehydes spreading out. And in fact, anyone who's ever had the pleasure of setting foot in one of those super-nice tailor's shops on the Savile Row in London knows what I'm talking about. Hard to grasp, this scent, even more difficult to put into words.
A fine, soft, elegant fragrance that spreads on my wrist. A hand flatterer. And a nose flatterer in equal measure. Already after a surprisingly short time, the first notes of the heart note come to light. Above all the beeswax emerges clearly, violets I mean to smell further, the leather specified in the smell pyramid I do not recognize however, not.
And then this fine and soft scent, which envelops you like a cashmere jacket, becomes a little softer and yes, also sweeter. I blame it on vanilla, tonka, I still hear the wax and a little sweet honey.

The durability of this English gentleman is for an English brand considered almost unbelievable, with me quite loosely over 10 hours. It's all the more astonishing that the Sillage doesn't behave that way right now. This is relatively clearly perceptible in the first hour, but afterwards the whole thing coincides with me on a radius "body plus 25cm". Not at all unpleasant, after all, it is not everyone's cup of tea to tell their environment the scent of the day. Too bad a bit anyway, because the scent is a really fine one. A luxurious one. One that accompanies you from morning till night, wraps you up and cares for you. One that makes you feel good.

But - there's always a but and here it comes. As fine as Sartorial is, so round is it, so soft, so sweet, so pleasing, so without corners or edges. And that is exactly MY problem with this fragrance. I like guys who stand out, who are loud at times, who attract attention. Sartorial isn't one of those. And that's probably why he won't make it into my collection.

Nevertheless: A great, handcrafted high quality thing with many noble ingredients - and therefore an 8.5 - even if I don't buy it - it is still worth a test for everyone!

2 Replies

01/22/2019

8.0 8.0 8.5/10

Torfdoen
0 Reviews

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Torfdoen

Greatly helpful Review 21

Familiar different

The only fragrance my father ever used was Brut by Fabergé, a kind of men's classic that has been on the market since 1973, available in many variations and more in the American area. Actually, he doesn't like perfume at all, but he probably smelled it on someone once and was quite bewitched. Meanwhile he has quit smoking, is running around and lets his bottle of brood get dusty in his closet.

I came up with it again today (I should take it with me, he said) to do a little comparison test.
And first of all, I am regularly mistaken about comparisons and this time it is no different when memory meets momentary, especially since two scents of different time and production cannot smell the same.

Sartorial of Penhaligon resembles Brut just in the first half to good hour in certain points, I was downright shocked how known to me the smell seemed. Sometime after the third test of the recently acquired sample it had clicked and I had my father in my mind's eye.

It has the same heavy ozonic shaving water vapour cloud as the brood, but buries the sweet accents under scratchy dryness for the time being, where others immediately throw everything into the scales and come across as directly aromatic and more accessible.
It's hard for me to spot individual grades.
Herbaceous green of the brood, rather smoky crystal blue at the Sartorial. I'm thinking caraway and pepper. A wiry brushwood. The brood is slightly citrus, which is completely absent from the Sartorial. Lavender could be a common denominator, largely buried in dense aldehyde haze. Musk would certainly also be mentioned on both sides.

The scents then drift more and more apart. Where the brood is small after one hour (it is anyway at home in another weight class), the Penhaligon sorts itself again, gets the honey age mild, remains however tart, rather strictly in its clean soapiness, underlaid with pleasant herbal spice. He got it back from the brood. Mild tobacco and the one or other lovely blossom join in and fake a little lightness and cosiness. Lavender metal was called.

Fresh is that only conditionally or evenly a special definition of it. One should already have a weakness for classic racial waters, then one gets noble offered. A bit old-fashioned for my taste, which is certainly due to my personal association. Sartorial and Brut are related and leave me with similar scent impressions with different complexity and refinement.

My father would never spend much money on a perfume, even if Sartorial is quite moderately priced for my terms. He has always valued value for money far more than just smelling good, according to the motto: good things don't have to be expensive, or vice versa, what costs a lot isn't immediately better. This means spending as little as possible on the things that matter to you. Savers mentality. Anything else would be a waste.
But he is generous towards his loved ones and his family.

Who knows where I'd be if my father had a different relationship with money. And if he hadn't worn the cheap men's classic for a while and awakened my curiosity for scents, the door to the world of scents might have remained closed to me.

One thing I do know, though: I prefer it that way. And the brood, it's standing around with me for now. I guess the dust layer will keep growing here, too. Maybe I'll put the Sartorial rehearsal in my parents' bathroom. Does my father see it the same way with the relationship to his favourite water?

10 Replies

08/01/2018

8.0 8.0 9.0 9.5/10

Konsalik
0 Reviews

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Konsalik

Greatly helpful Review 13

The Impressionist

I love it when fragrances want to paint a clearly definable, easily comprehensible picture. So if the individual components are easily identifiable, then one concentrates on them, but their functional character in the service of a superordinate whole is still clearly in the foreground. Sartorial is without question one of these fragrances - and how delightful its designed image is!
You don't have to do long research to find out that the "model" for this fragrance was the studio of a particular tailor in the legendary London Savile Row. The list of Sartorial's fragrance components is not so confusingly long for no reason: if you want to depict the manifold, tinted fragrance panorama of a traditional London tailor's shop, a whole series of notes/colors are necessary, which - sufficiently gently dabbed - make the whole world of the old tailor's shop and thus also a piece of old Europe as immediately present as only a fragrance can. One really thinks here of impressionistic painting techniques, of Monet's "bridge" and others. This and no other comparison forced itself upon me almost by force.

The metallic notes of the entrance introduce first of all generally into the world of textiles. Not yet defined, it could be a small laundry: Steamy-metallic notes of many hours of ironing, in addition something discreetly soapy-chemical (very pleasant!) - the laundry of my great aunt smelled very similar. But then it becomes more specific: worn, crumbly leather, old wood (not often polished, but cared for by decades of constant contact with hand grease) and the smell of... People. Sartorial has an elusive aura of quiet hustle and bustle and old money. Customers, all well groomed and well dressed, have left traces of their old colognes from Trumper or Harris in the curtains. This isn't a small 60s suburban laundry. This is older.
Soon the honey-warm wax note of the yarns made more stable in this way is added, mixed with warm, also clearly "textile" dustiness (tailor's chalk!). Now it's clear where you are. One has stepped back sufficiently far; the picture is unambiguous.
All that remains in the base the next morning is soap. How extremely polite and discreet this fragrance is, that it lets us keep just this of its elements for the next day!

3 Replies

12/20/2017

9.0 8.0 8.0 8.5/10

Smora
141 Reviews

Smora

Very helpful Review 4

Brut-ish Gentleman

Scentrack
Variety Lab – London in the Rain

When I visited tailor workshop for the first time I was totally shocked by its spectrum of smells. Metal, textile, wax, steam... Very unique smell. Master Duchaufour perfectly translated it into perfume.
Sartorial is complicated and masculine scent that reminds of Brut. But it takes the best of Brut and amplify it on the whole new level. Interplay of notes is incredible, unreal and so incompatible and cacophony expected, but eventually perfectly mashed. Metallic notes, aldehydes, wax, honey, Proustian linden blossom, lavender, flowers... perfection.
Fantastic, formal, masculine, regal, dignified, well mannered. The essence of Britain. A work of a genius.

Rating: 8.5/10

More on Scentimental Words

06/03/2017

7.0 6.0 8.0 8.0/10

AsulynS
7 Reviews

AsulynS

Penhaligon's Sartorial Splendor

Close to Brut Parfums Prestige for men but Better Performance.
IMO It's quite lovely fragrance for special occasions.

10/04/2015

MasterLi
367 Reviews

MasterLi

Greatly helpful Review 5

Clean and beautifully made...

This is a fragrance which I have no problem loving. As soon as I smelled it I realised it pleased me. For me it's honey and beeswax and lavender, surrounded by green herbs and mossy woods. A very grown up, very "gentleman" like fragrance.

This one gives me the impression of being clean and groomed, like trying on a brand new suit in a shop, which I guess was the intention, given the brief and description of the fragrance (ie that it should smell like a tailor's workshop). I would happily wear this formally. I find nothing wrong with it whatsoever in terms of style and character. It gives me a good feeling to wear. The feeling it gives is gender neutral. Just a lovely, impressive aroma of brand new fabric and of wearing nice clothes. I do find it would suit a well dressed man perfectly, but a woman could pull this off too.

Some people say the smell is old fashioned. I don't. I think it's quite modern. The use of aromachemicals here is very cleverly done, and by a very talented perfumer (Bertrand Duchaufour). I would recommend this one to gentlemen for formal wear, and for anyone who not only likes to be well dressed, but who would like to smell like that too. Very well made. Impressive.

03/03/2013

5.0 5.0 7.5 10.0/10

Miaw2
339 Reviews

Miaw2

Helpful Review 3

Outstanding!

At first i didnt like Sartorial. But after wearing it some times now i do love this scent because it shows newer facets while i wear it.

Very complex and well balanced, i smell different notes each time i wear it, and always with a decent level of sweetness.

Smells old and modern at the same time, this one of my most loved scents ever.

It has a nice barbershop vibe that makes it very masculine.

Longevity, lasting power and sillage are medium-high.

If you like Rive Gauche, you'll enjoy Sartorial. If you like Brut, you'll fall in love for Sartorial.

Updated January 2014

12/26/2012

7.5 5.0 5.0 6.0/10

Drseid
671 Reviews

Drseid

Very helpful Review 4

Penhaligon's Best, But Only Just Good Enough...

A mild thumbs up from me for Sartorial. I like its opening that really is a nice aromatic blend of citrus and spice, but then the scent calms down to a kind of barbershop fresh vibe at its heart that stays for the rest of its duration that I feel like I have smelled before. A well done scent to be sure, but a somewhat sub-par effort from a great nose like Duchaufour who has created so many truly outstanding scents. From almost anyone else I might call myself impressed with the results. 3 to 3.5 stars out of 5.

07/24/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Greatly helpful Review 10

pretentious review of an affected fragrance

Sartorial demonstrates the difficulty of story-telling in perfume. Penhaligon’s own press, and a number of reviews popose that Sartorial paints a picture of the British bespoke tailor’s shop in the 21st century. Take apart a well know reference, reinterpret it with a contemporary smirk, change the context---classic postmodernism. The equation of tailor’s shop with fougère is understandable. The late 19th century was the era of the fern and the Victorian gentleman’s tailor. Then to fuse the fougère with scents one might find in a tailor’s workroom is a more tenuous step. To my mind the story of the tailor’s shop is a bit of schtick. It also serves to create an expectation that can’t help but be frustrated.

Perfume can conjure and it can evoke, two words I’ve read about Sartorial. But it simply can’t tell over the lengths of paragraphs the same narrative to each person who wears it. Truthfully, marketing department, full paragraphs aren’t needed. In this case the fiction is told with very few words. Simply to mention a British bespoke tailor’s shop ties together fantasy, aspiration and fetish in a few short words. But then to tell us about the cloth, the cabinetry, the wax, the thread… Oy gevalt. It’s like Ralph Lauren / GQ porn from the 1980s.

All the above would matter less if the fragrance told me its own actual story, or took me a on bit of a journey. But I find Sartorial an unpleasant fragrance. The starch-and-steam-iron-like note up top can be an attempt to elicit the image of a steam iron in use, but it smells out of place and metallically flat in its floral/spicy setting. As Sartorial progresses the sweet overlap of notes of patchouli, waxy honey, and caramelized lavender (all long-lasting) turn it into a bland gourmand-like fragrance. Pardon my blunt, rather lacking description, but I don’t get much more from Sartorial. I’m a great fan of Bertrand Duchaufour, but to me, Sartorial is the latest cut of the emperor’s clothes.

The fragrances of Etat Libre d’Orange share the conceit of fantasy-narrative, but their approach of story or hint of portraiture are more successful than Sartorial’s full-blown Victorian fantasy. (To be fair, ELdO’s laughably pretentious, simply bad text is far worse than Penhaligon’s here. Enough so that maybe it’s easier to dismiss.) But Tom of Finland gives you a loaded, iconic image and a fragrance. Rossy de Palma gives you an actor and a fragrance. The rest is up to you and the perfume.

Please measure the above with the fact that the fantasy that Sartorial wants to give you, that of a 21st century world of people who frequent tailors, has no appeal for me. Maybe if it did I might enjoy Sartorial. Who knows?

1 Replies

01/11/2012

hedonist222
26 Reviews

hedonist222

Helpful Review 4

a beacon from Penhaligon's

From penhaligons.com:
______
Sartorial is a contemporary interpretation of a classic Fougère; the traditional notes of oakmoss, tonka bean and lavender have been exquisitely stitched together with woods, ozonic and metallic effects, leather, violet leaf, honey and spices to create the perfect illusion of a tailor’s workroom.
______

Sartorial is a very complex perfume. When you smell it you feel there are a multitude of notes in it. So well blended that no particular note stands out. Feels a bit futuristic at first (whatever that means) but then an hour or so into it it gets much more natural and down to earth. Earthy in fact.

Its not directly floral, nor is it blatantly woody. Its just blended well. Too well maybe?

Longevity and sillage are very good. Not good, but excellent just very good.