Gallivant Gulf Collection Ar Riyad, Dubai and Souq Waqif
The Gallivant Gulf Collection Ar Riyad, Dubai and Souq Waqif by Karl.
Eight years in, Gallivant Stories perfumes remains one of those increasingly rare independent houses whose work still feels personal. The kind of personal that doesn’t just reside in a marketing blurb, but in the very decisions that shape the way a collection comes to life — what it resists as much as what it embraces. Speaking to founder Nick Steward about his latest launch, The Gulf Collection, I was reminded that this is a house intent on remaining itself: exploratory, precise, and fiercely self-determined.
Image of The Gallivant Gulf Collection Ar Riyad, Dubai and Souq Waqif courtesy of the brand
The trilogy — Gallivant Ar Riyād, Dubai, and Souq Waqif — draws directly from Nick’s own childhood in the Gulf, specifically his time spent between Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and Oman in the late 1980s. The fragrances are rooted not in fantasy, but in lived memory: gardens before the glass towers, souks before malls, sunlight and skin rather than gold and glitter.
Image of Nick Steward and Celine Perdriel courtesy of the brand.
What struck me most about the collection is its refusal to polarise vintage and modern. Each of the three carries traces of both — a subtle nostalgia for classical perfumery balanced by a contemporary clarity and texture. These are not conceptual statements meant to impress from a distance. They are fragrances meant to live with you, to unfold over hours, and to feel part of your own skin rather than something placed on top of it.
And they are not shy. Each fragrance in the triptyque possesses real presence, depth, and longevity — they evolve meaningfully, often lingering well into the day. My reviews en bref:
Gallivant Ar Riyād: “Warm hospitality in an elegant, shaded garden.”
A fragrance that begins with the shimmer of neroli and ylang ylang, yet gradually deepens into a cocoon of tobacco, nutmeg and lightly spiced gourmand softness. It wears like a memory you didn’t know you had — radiant and textured, like the warmth of sun-warmed skin. Notes: Orange blossom, neroli, clove, ylang ylang, cumin, nutmeg, blond tobacco, olibanum, gourmand vanilla.
Gallivant Dubai: “Tea in a jasmine-scented garden watching the sundown.” Instead of leaning into the obvious — the skyline, the excess, the synthetic oud–rose template — Nick and perfumer Céline Perdriel have created something intimate and unexpected: a voluptuous “garden scent,” built around jasmine sambac, honeysuckle, and warm golden amber. Here too the vintage–modern tension is handled deftly: the lushness of grand floral perfumes of another era, but with transparency and refinement that feel unmistakably of today. Notes: Sunny pear, neroli, leather, cypriol, jasmine sambac, honeysuckle, warm golden amber.
Gallivant Souq Waqif: “Wandering through an Arabian souq.” Opens with a flash of bitter orange and geranium before descending into the rich terrain of Omani incense, Vietnamese oud, and saffron. The oud here is neither ostentatious nor faint — it is simply there, supporting the atmosphere rather than dictating it. The brightness of the opening remains throughout, softening the darker materials and keeping the experience dynamic and lived-in. Notes: Incense (Omani), saffron, myrrh, patchouli, African geranium, guaiac wood, cistus labdanum, Vietnamese oud.
Gulf Collection Collage Image courtesy of the brand.
What keeps the collection coherent is its tactile quality. These are not perfumes that feel packaged and pristine, as if preserved behind glass. They breathe and settle. They evolve on you. There is no jarring modern gloss, no slavish retro homage — just the quiet confidence of compositions that feel worn, familiar, and undeniably human.
At the heart of this collection lies a creative relationship that makes this possible. Nick and Céline work in harmony — her technical excellence and rigorous polish providing the structure, his narrative instinct and wanderer’s love for perfume giving it soul. Together, they have created a trilogy that embodies the pleasure of wearing perfume rather than merely owning it.
Even as Gallivant approaches a decade, it continues to operate on its own terms. No investor-led acceleration, no collection fatigue, no algorithmic launches. Just three meticulously creative and experience driven perfumes that refuse to pander, and in doing so, feel refreshingly alive. That spirit is inherent to all Gallivant perfumes and what gives the brand and The Gulf Collection its identity. These are perfumes with weight, memory, joy, and intimacy. They remind you why perfume matters in the first place: not to decorate, but to inhabit. Gallivant offers something valuable: fragrances that feel lived-in from the moment they touch your skin.
Karl Topham, Senior Editor
Disclosure I was gifted three 8 ml sprays, opinions my own
Image of the Gulf Collection 8 ml travel sprays by Karl©
Thanks to the generosity of Gallivant we have an 8ml travel spray of your choice (Ar Riyad OR Dubai OR Souq Waqif) from The Gulf Collection available for one registered reader in the UK only. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Karl’s reviews and essay, which you would choose should you win. Draw closes 07/25/2025.
ÇaFleureBon was the first fragrance site to review GALLIVANT in 2017 Nick Steward was featured in our roundtable Artistic Perfumery 7 Indies Speak out and was Michelyn’s Hardest Working Perfume Person of 2023. NIDA is a top 10 best of scent for Nicoleta.
Please read our reviews for: Brooklyn, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, London, Los Angeles, Berlin, Amsterdam (*Amsterdam is discontinued), Tokyo, Los Angeles, Naples Bukhara, (written by Former Senior Editor The Silver Fox) and Abu Dhabi and Accra (Karl Topham), NIDA (Nicoleta) and (Oli) Ta’If.
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100ml Eau de Parfum. Cruelty-free and vegan. SRP: £195 / €230 / $270.
Available exclusively at Fortnum & Mason (UK) July 23rd GMT and on the Gallivant Perfumes site. Later at selected international retailers.
For more information: www.gallivant-perfumes.com