Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Elixirs Charnels/Carnal Elixirs by Guerlain: new fragrances

We had announced a while ago news of the upcoming launches of Guerlain and one by one they are materialising: from Guerlain Homme to the new Carnal Elixirs/Elixirs Charnels by Guerlain which are to be released in autumn. Today I am pleased to offer the readers of Perfume Shrine a first glimpse into what the new trio entails.

La Maison Guerlain with the help of perfumer Christine Nagel and artistic director Sylvaine Delacourte came up with the idea of feminine phantoms, roles which women emulate in their everyday lives and catered to every mood with a different magical potion which is aimed at producing a certain mood, a certain fantasy: the femme fatale of cinematic tendencies, the truly erotic, sensual woman, the playful woman-child. So, which type of woman will you be tonigh?

The exclusive trio will be encased in tall, rectangular bottles with shades of both L'art et la Matière aesthetic but also somehow the Lutens exports, albeit bearing a silver-platted label with the name etched at the base embossed with a vintage-looking floral garland. The juice itself will be in three shades of lavender, beige-rose and rose.


Gourmand Coquin, aimed at producing the playful innocence of the woman-child, who might be not so innocent after all, is playing on two terrains, with notes of chocolate, piquant pepper, soft vanillic rose and lively rhum. First impressions are hinting at a profusion of chocolate which was only hinted at in Iris Ganache, last year's Guerlain gourmand, producing a very rich and sensual composition.
Notes: black pepper, rose, rum, chocolate.

Chypre Fatal is geared towards the Hitchockian heroine, a femme fatale with a disposition to match. Its intense sillage, full of confidence announces a fiery heart under an exterior of icy demeanor. To make this woman unforgetable the composition is lightly woody and spicy, softened with lappings of the infamous Guerlain vanilla and white peach.
Notes: white peach, rose, patchouli, vanilla

Oriental Brûlant is composed for those women who produce an instant reaction to men, that is them loosening up their ties. This soft oriental is evoking the colour red and is sensual and feline to the extreme in its ambience, with its warm tonka beans and the soft caress of soft almonds. The impression is one of a soft and appealing oriental a la maniere Guerlain.
Notes: clementine, almond, tonka beans, vanilla

The new trio of Carnal Elixirs/Elixirs Charnels will be released in October in limited distribution at Guerlain boutiques, however the bottles will be available at Bergdorg's Goodman starting in August. If you happen to be there the helpful Jason Beers might be the person to guide you through them.

250$ for a 75ml/2.5oz bottle of Eau de Parfum.



Notes and pic found via culture marketing . Translation by Helg.

25 comments:

  1. Well we will never see these in Aust but I sort of fancy the Chypre one!
    Oh Helg - Jean Nate was around when I was a teenager in the 70's . I loved it. I think it disappeared off the shelf here about early 80's - guess it was not selling and it was "old fashioned" - thats DEATH to anything it seems! LOL

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  2. A rose based chypre, maybe something similar to Gucci No. 3?

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  3. Anonymous04:03

    Okay, this Guerlain trio intrigues me...mostly for the descriptions, combined with my tendency to like a Guerlain...

    As for Jean Nate...don't know what brought that up, but I just picked up an enormous bottle of cologne with an equally gigantor bottle of scented lotion. Is somebody looking for it? or was there just a discussion of it?

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  4. Dear M,

    I fancy it too! In fact I would like to test all of them to various degrees.

    Pity about the J.Nate: old-fashioned should be the death of something. Old-fashioned is a choice too!

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  5. Dear L,

    that's along the lines I was thinking ~or Diva.
    (I liked that Gucci 3, you know)

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  6. Dear SFL,

    my tendency to like the GUerlains is not helping either :-))

    The J.Nate conversation was kicked off on the previous top25 post in which Lady Jicky mentioned it among her choices because it's super in hot weather.

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  7. Guerlain has got to stop this! It's my favorite house.

    I'm really bummed that there is no way for me to smell these prior to buying.

    Iris Ganache, unsniffed, was not a good purchase for me. But I haven't given up yet!

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  8. Karin,

    they see us, they read us and when we pay them, they know they can taunt us!
    Sorry about the Iris Ganache: nice enough, but somehow too sweet, too un-iris like for me. I am sure it's highly swappable/sellable though!! ;-)

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  9. I can't say I'm thrilled with Guerlain's ongoing obsession with chocolate and vanilla--but that's just my hangup. In the abstract, these three sound nice. I'm not quite sure how something composed of white peach, rose, patchouli and vanilla can be a chypre, but it does sound the most tempting of the trio.

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  10. Anonymous16:15

    Ummm...I normally do not lust for new releases that haven't yet spawned a fervent discussion of how it plays on the skin or compares to other scents in the line...but these, I'm completely game. I love Iris Ganache--to a degree that shocks me, as Guerlain has not been the most successful house with me. So the Gourmand scent seems an immediate success for my skin. And the others sound beautiful. I'm sure to come home with one or more this fall/winter.

    Thanks, helg, for producing instant lemmings--I actually did need something to look forward to amongst the new fall releases!

    --Catherine

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  11. Dear M,

    I am not one for the super sweet either, but *hanging head in shame* I liked their interpretation on Spiritueuse Double Vanille (which surprised me really!)

    I agree that the Chypre is taunting me most of all. Of course it would be one of the "modern chypres", heavy on the "clean patchouli" accord so characteristic of modern releases. Let's see...
    However something tells me it's the Gourmand which will prove the bestseller!

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  12. Catherine,

    thank you for stopping by and commenting! :-)

    You're very welcome, although I am not so sure these instant lemming are good for the wallet. I agree that we need to test these first: you're wise to proceed as you do.

    But in any case something to anticipate, huh? I am always interested in Guerlains myself. *heavy sigh*

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  13. Chypre Fatal could be really wonderful. Thank- you for the information on all of these. I am all anticipation!

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  14. Ooo... how tempting. It'll definitely be interesting to see how they rework the chypre. Too bad it's so limited in distribution.

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  15. Oddly, summer weather has put me in the mood for gourmands; its a shame I'll have to wait until Autumn to try these, they sound gorgeous.

    As a first-time commenter on this blog I thought I'd bring up a question thats been bothering me for a while. Does anyone have scents that they associate with particular people, but rather than evoking fond memories makes that fragrance utterly off-putting ? The example that comes to mind right now is Narciso Rodriguez - a lovely scent that I would very much like to wear, only it reminds me of a dreadful former roommate of mine. Its such a shame, but I feel like I'd have to do some serious sensory re-wiring before I could touch the stuff.

    Has anyone else had wonderful scents "ruined" by someone else who has worn it ?

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  16. Rose,

    I am anticipating the Chypre as well. Well, all of them really! :O

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  17. Dain,

    I agree that it's sort of irritating that they're playing the exclusivity card so hard, for all it's worth.
    But reworking a chypre is always interesting to test. We'll see how it goes, I guess. They have the Chanel paradigm to antagonize to anyway ;-)

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  18. Sarah,

    welcome to Perfume Shrine, thanks for stopping by and for your comment!

    These do sound very good, although of course the proof is in the pudding, always ;-)

    This is a very interesting topic you are bringing up. I think I shall devote a whole post to it, because it is so common to many folks I bet. It shall be interesting to hear their stories and I hope you will find it revealing to read.

    It's a pity, really, because Narciso is such a pretty, lovely fragrance. Perhaps you might want to try Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker, Lanvin's Rumeur or Elizabeth Arden's Red Door Velvet? Those are quite close to Narciso but they won't have the same associations for you.
    Hope that helps a bit :-)

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  19. Oh, E, my love-
    I feel like Oedipus !
    "Woe is me, sorrowful that I am"....

    Looky-looky that price !
    Yow, mama.
    I think I would like all 3 please.
    No need to wrap.
    [Saints preserve us, oh Mrs. O'Davis]

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  20. The price is enough to tear one's eyes out, to be sure, dear I! :-O
    LOL
    I think the prices have become sort of ridiculous...
    That said, a decant or two might sneak their way.

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  21. Anonymous08:33

    Woah, i really could cry, i love/hate them for making these hard to get and expensive exclusive and elite ranges because they sound soooo adorable in their ingredient lists!! And the bottles are so beautiful and cool, just imagine them on your vanity! (But didn't they borrow the idea with the silver plaquettte from Prada's Infusion d'Iris?) To be honest the white peach horrifies me a bit in the chypre-notes but in the end it's a Guerlain chypré, so it must be good. I would be most interested in the oriental, then the chypré, then the gourmand (tzhe rum note sound interesting).
    I guess i'd love them all...
    Good i am not a rich girl, so i can still dream.
    lillie

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  22. Great catch N!! Indeed the plaquette is very reminiscent of the Prada Id'I! Hadn't thought of that, I admit, but I can see it very well now.
    It's a bit irritating that they prey on our snobbish tendencies, true...

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  23. Returning to our regularly scheduled non-spammed programme.....

    (Merryl, you're welcome to comment, if you don't advertise)

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  24. Any idea if they'll be available in the UK any time soon? I always end up drawn to Guerlain perfumes (the famous "Guerlinade" I've read about I guess) and I'm wearing a fair bit of "Insolent" at the moment - who'd have thought violet could smell so nice on! I wear a lot of "Mitsouko" and always have, and "Chamade" (and can anybody tell me what the top note is? They just say "green" in the stores but I know it's a particular tree because there's one on the way to work and I don't know what it is!!!!!) - and I used to wear "Vol de Nuit" because I used to work for Air France. I got a bit lost with all the Aqua Allegoria range - it felt like they were trying too hard. These sound fab though.

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  25. I think they're confined to the Guerlain boutiques, although maybe Harrod's might have them? Pays to send an email and ask come autumn ;-)

    Love your Guerlain choices! (some of which I love dearly myself, especially VdN and Mitsouko): I think Chamade is full of hyacinth &narcissus myself and it has a green yet oily smell about it. Take a pic of the tree and send it to me: I am intrigued now!

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