Comme des Garçons Celluloid Galbanum Review: Green Artifice

Comme des Garçons has long been the enfant terrible of the fragrance world, a house that treats perfume not as a cosmetic accessory but as a conceptual statement. From the antiseptic weirdness of Odeur 53 to the industrial smoke of Blackpepper, CdG fragrances are olfactory manifestos. Celluloid Galbanum, released in 2019 and composed by Domitille Michalon-Bertier, continues this tradition by pairing the bitter, vegetal greenness of galbanum with a synthetic 'celluloid accord' — an homage to the early days of cinema and the plastic material used in film stock. The result is a fragrance that is at once organic and artificial, elegant and unsettling, and wholly unique in the niche landscape. Galbanum itself is a storied material in perfumery, a resinous gum extracted from plants of the Ferula genus. It is the backbone of many classic green chypres and aldehydic florals, most famously Chanel No. 19, where it provides a sharp, sappy, almost metallic greenness. In Celluloid Galbanum, Michalon-Bertier isolates the 'heart' of galbanum, stripping away its more resinous and balsamic aspects to reveal a raw, chlorophyll-rich bitterness. She then juxtaposes this with a celluloid accord — a modern synthetic construction that evokes the faintly chemical, slightly camphoraceous smell of old film reels, nail polish remover, and polished plastic. This accord is not a mere gimmick; it amplifies the inherent synthetic facets of galbanum, creating a feedback loop of green artifice. The fragrance is classified as unisex and is available in both EDT and EDP concentrations, though the official pyramid does not strictly distinguish top, heart, and base notes. Comme des Garçons states that the evaporation order is linear, but for the purposes of this review, we follow the T/M/D labeling provided by the house: top notes of lemon oil and celluloid accord; heart notes of galbanum heart, jasmine absolute, floral notes, and daikon radish; base notes of cashmeran, dry amber, and musk. This unusual structure — with a vegetable note like daikon radish in the heart — signals that Celluloid Galbanum is not a conventional green floral but a study in texture and contrast.