Making a successful flanker — or rather, a more concentrated form of Guerlain's classic for men — is a Herculean feat. Still Delphine Jelk made it possible in Habit Rouge Parfum. I might be excused for including it here in the summer, since it launched in late 2024, but it arrived on our shores after New Year's day, so it had to be mentioned sometime afterwards.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Guerlain Habit Rouge Parfum: short fragrance review
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Guerlain Encens Mythique: Reformulation Done Right
Encens Mythique by Guerlain is a great choice for mid-season as well as wintertime in the north hemisphere, because it adapts so well to a multitude of requisites. I'm talking of the revamped edition in the cylindrical bottle with the gold spherical cap and the cute ribbons on the neck, as the scent originally launched among a trio of Middle Eastern exclusives (later brought into international counters of Guerlain) as Encens Mythique d'Orient. (Reviews of the trio are published on Perfume Shrine as well.)
The Guerlain perfume bottles of Les Deserts d'Orient were
adorned with Arab-cript calligraphy down one side, the French names
down the other side. They were the tall, architectural style of the
collection L'Art et la Matière with the antique gold overlay on the
sides holding 75ml of perfume. The concentration of the fragrances is
Eau de Parfum for tenacity.
Encens Mythique i airy and ethereal, yet spiritual and mysterious too, thanks to incense and ambergris which form the base of its alluring aura. It's lush thanks to rose; not the "grandma" version of tea rose, nor the too-engulfed-by-patchouli-middle-eastern-variety, it's just right and delectable. Encens Mythique is only lightly spicy (a hint of rosy pepperiness, a soupcon of medicinal). And finally it's clean no matter how you wear it. I revel in thinking I'm incarnating a medieval monk, a spy from the beginning of the 20th century and someone on a high-seas adventure. Marvelous.
Sunday, May 9, 2021
Friday, July 10, 2020
Guerlain Apres L'Ondee: fragrance review
"Ça se porte léger" (this wears lightly) is the motto behind the concept of these Guerlain creations that aim to offer gouaches rather than oil paintings. It's more akin to the pale, hazy colorations on a Monet sky than the almost fauve brushwork and vivid color palette on a Van Gogh, to bring an art analogue. If one were to look for a fauve heliotrope, one would rather turn to Cacharel's Loulou.
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Zaira Alfaro on Flickr via |
I personally find Après l'Ondée a rather quiet fragrance indeed, almost timid, with a sweetish air that is not immediately thought of as feminine (quite different than the airs that current feminines exhibit!), with lots of heliotropin to stand for cassie, which is the predominant element. Some heliotrope scents also recall cherry pie, or lilac and powder, but not Après l'Ondée. Even the almond is not particularly identified as almond, it's a haze of lightly warmed, blurred, hazy notes, a cloud of a distant scent.
The violets, like you might have heard, are quite fleeting in this Guerlain perfume, especially in more recent incarnations which are warmer and cuddlier than the older ones, notably the extrait de parfum in the Louis XV style bottle. The anisic note on the top note is also a brilliant addition (created through the use of benzylaldehyde, it would be recreated more forcibly in L'heure Bleue some years later), since it brings a chill cooling off the first spray and balances the warmer, almond paste flavor of the heliotrope in the heart.
Après l'Ondée is also rather less known than L'Heure Bleue, so even Guerlain wearers on the street might not identify it right off, which is always a good thing in my books; it would also obliterate your qualms about it being perceived as solely feminine.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Monday, February 3, 2020
The Unisex Beauty of Guerlain's Jicky (Photo Collection, Short Review & Perfume Musings)
The issue of what differentiates female from male idiosyncrasies in general is complicated enough, so it's only natural that one of the most popular questions in perfume for and general discussion is how the opposite sex perceives and decodes the fragrances meant for the other sex.
In perfume terms the composition of different formulas for the two sexes, roughly floral and oriental for the ladies, with a sprinkling of chypre and fruity, reserving woody and citrus for the gentlemen, is a relatively recent phenomenon, dating from the dawn of modern perfumery in the end of the 19th century. Up till then, there was pretty much lots of leeway for men to delve in floral waters of the Victorian era or even the rich civet and musk laden compositions of 18th century decadence.
photo by Elena Vosnaki |
photo by Elena Vosnaki |
photo by Elena Vosnaki |
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Pretty Is as Pretty Does...More Perfume Bottles From My Collection
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photo by Elena Vosnaki |
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photo by Elena Vosnaki |
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Guerlain Mon Guerlain Eau de Parfum: fragrance review
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Guerlain news & fragrance reviews
Perfumer Thierry Wasser
Saturday, August 31, 2019
The Tender Music of Guerlain Chant d'Aromes
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Guerlain Cuir Intense (Les Absolus d'Orient): fragrance review
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Those who expect a very suave training-bra leather, in the manner of Guerlain's previous and quite popular vanillic Cuir Beluga, will be astonished by the bite of Cuir Intense, although the name should have warned them somewhat. The leather facet is much drier, tar-like, with a spicy undertone that is cinnamic-clove-y in nature. The beautiful apricoty note of osmanthus reinforces the leathery impression in Cuir Intense and smothers the harshness in confident arpegios of projection. Much like Chanel's emblematic Cuir de Russie, there is a floral note that recalls jasmine-like tonalities in the heart, but Guerlain's is overall thicker. What is also important is a facet of violet-like undercurrent, if I'm not mistaken, before, or rather in tandem with, the woody-musky backdrop. I found that an intial sampling of Guerlain's Cuir Intense lasted very well on my skin and exceptionally well on a blotter, probably thanks to the intensity of the musks in the formula.
It is very much on point in the Absolu series, as it translates well the concept of a dense oriental elixir, the way we Westerners imagine those things through, no doubt, rose-tinted glasses (or shall I say "noir-tinted glasses"?) Most would find it leans more masculine than feminine, although as with all the fragrances in the line, Cuir Intense is aimed at both sexes. It's certainly interesting enough to warrant sampling for all Guerlain fans and then some.
Monday, October 22, 2018
Perfume as a Personal Story: The Historical Beginnings
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A La Corbeille de Fleurs, Houbigant's boutique situated since the late 18th century in the then-uncelebrated Faubourg Saint-Honoré, helps make the spot le dernier cri among wealthy bourgeois who shop a few decades later for his trendy perfumes, such as Fougère Royale, composed by acclaimed perfumer Paul Parquet. Le Trèfle Incarnat for L.T.Piver was famously created by head Jacques Rouché and nose Pierre Aremingeat under the direction of chemist Georges Drazen of the Ecole Polytechnique; it soon became a sensation that had tongues wagging on the house that issued it.
Les Salons de Palais Royal by Serge Lutens in Paris, the abode of the Lutensian opus, can be said to be today's modern version, a Mecca of innovative compositions which changed the scenery for everyone following in their niche steps. The perfume-smelling booths at the Frédéric Malle boutiques across two continents are testament to the desire to dedicate time and energy to selecting perfume, but it is the frames with perfumers' portraits on the walls which remind us that authorship is the core of this brand who first dared make the connection between éditeur (as in Editions de Parfums) and auteur (as in cinema).
Some creators, like the Guerlains, have been immersed in the trade since they were in diapers; Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain saw to it that he created a dynasty of perfumers and perfume directors which successfully survives to our days as Guerlain. Some others however were self-made wonders. François Coty is an emblematic figure in that regard, none the less because he lent an attentive ear to the public itself; heeding their needs, their desires, their suggestions with the perspicacity that is the mark of a true genius. But he also imposed his own ideas, drawing from forgotten relics (his iconic Coty Chypre perfume drew on the ancient cypriot fragrances that had trickled into Europe in the form of cosmetics) or by offering novel suggestions (such as L'Origan, what can be argued to be the first "floriental" perfume).
His "school" taught a great many scrappy upstarts, giving them the confidence to venture where others had faltered, until Coty's own unfortunate demise which risked leaving that gigantic business headless. Luckily for Coty perfumery, François Coty's divorced wife had a brother-in-law, Philippe Cotnareanu, who was immersed in the business. Cotnareanu changed his name to Philip Cortney and under that pseudonym took rein of the colossal portfolio, until 1963 when Coty and Coty International were eventually sold to Chas. Pfizer & Co. for $26 million. But it is Coty's success in the perfume world which made it possible for everyone else in the beginning of the 20th century, from Russian émigré Ernest Beaux for the fledging Chanel fashion "griffe" to Ernest Daltroff at Caron, or for Alméras who first took the creative reins chez Poiret and then composed a pleiad of 1930s fragrance masterpieces for Jean Patou.
What unites all those past greats is the vision of perfume as a personalized story, a momentous revelation: fragrances created for specific circumstances, for an occasion, a happy day, for a woman (a woman, please note, and not the woman). This approach implied a directed and directive concept, providing the public with a product on which it was not consulted first (no marketing focus groups voting on perfume!) but which didn't disregard it either. A path which assured the consumer that what was offered to them was well devised for them, a product of artistry suggestive to the powers of seduction, but also heeding to a time signpost, to cultural bearings of the time, transforming them and popularizing them into trends: a best-selling book, like La Bataille influencing the creation of Guerlain Mitsouko, a trend such as Les Ballets Russes ushering orientalia into European fashions and the arts, you name it, all influenced the creators into a fertile dialogue with their time and age.
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Guerlain Apres l'Ondee: fragrance review & a bit of perfume history
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The synthesized material that is dosed into compositions that take heliotrope as a starting point is quite strong and can be an overwhelming molecule to work with if one isn't careful and discreet. One of the first major fragrances to make judicious use of it, in a light enough composition, so as to wear it inconspicuously, was Après l'Ondée by Guerlain. "Ça se porte léger" (this wears lightly) is the motto behind the concept of these Guerlain creations that aim to offer gouaches rather than oil paintings. In fact the composition was largely inspired by a former Guerlain fragrance, Voilette de Madame, which according to fragrant Guerlain lore served as the fragrance to scent a lady's veil. In those times of the cusp between the 19th and 20th century perfume worn on the skin was considered rather scandalous. It recalled les grandes horizontales, kept women of the demimonde like La Bella Otero or Marie Duplessis. Lightness was therefore a requisite for proper ladies; never mind that the subtle animalic undercurrent of Voilette de Madame is antithetical to our modern scrubbed down notion of how a perfume behaves.
I personally find Après l'Ondée a rather quiet fragrance, almost timid, with a sweetish air that is not immediately thought of as feminine (quite different than the airs that current feminines exhibit!), with lots of heliotropin to stand for cassie, which is the predominant element. Some heliotrope scents also recall cherry pie or lilac and powder, but not Après l'Ondée. Even the almond is not particularly identified as almond, it's a haze of lightly warmed, blurred, hazy notes.
The violets, like you might have read in evocations of gardens "after the shower" (the literal translation of its French name), are quite fleeting in this Guerlain scent, especially in more recent incarnations which are warmer and cuddlier than the older ones. The anisic note on the top note is also a brilliant addition (created through the use of benzylaldehyde, it would be recreated more forcibly in L'heure Bleue some years later) since it brings a chill cooling off the first spray and balances the warmer, almond paste flavor of the heliotrope in the heart.
Après l'Ondée is also rather less known than L'Heure Bleue, so even Guerlain wearers on the street might not identify it right off, which is always a good thing in my books; it would also obliterate your qualms about it being perceived as solely feminine.
Related reading on PerfumeShrine:
The Guerlain Series: perfume reviews and history of the French House
Guerlain Re-issues 4 Archived Fragrances for their Heritage Collection
Guerlain Chypre 53: an unknown photo-chypre, perfume history
The history of the Guerlinade accord and the modern Guerlinade fragrance
Friday, May 4, 2018
Guerlain Meteorites Le Parfum re-issue (2018): fragrance review & comparison with vintage
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The new fragrance bears little relation to the old powdery floral version, although that's not programmatically a bad thing; one has to stay open for modern masterpieces and the polishing of older concepts being elegantly successful after all. Keeping one's self open for pleasant surprises is the essence of youth. In this case nevertheless it makes for a newer scent that's rather limp-wristed, a bit of a wallflower. Don't get me wrong, it's very pretty, but it could never conjure either retro glamour (like the Guerlain Météoritespowder beads themselves do), or nostalgic reminiscences about women in one's past. It's as if a girl is playing with her mock tea set.
Guerlain Météorites Le Parfum is quite the girly scent, upbeat, with a fruity-floral opening that's like apple-scented shampoo dissipating very quickly, and a rosier tint than its predecessor overall. The violet is present, though it feels more like the refreshing violet leaf we come across in scents like L'Eau de Cartier and Goutal's La Violette than sweetened Parma violets; this violet has a rather mineral feel about it and a flanking of clean musk for whisper soft longevity on the skin.
Thierry Wasser succeeded into translating the retro vintage vibe of the beloved Météorites powder pearls into a contemporary soft clean fragrance and in that no one can't fault him. Indeed the re-issue of Météorites Le Parfum feels like a composition which would equally make the scent of a posh shampoo, which is half the market right now. It's no coincidence that it's accompanying a seasonal makeup collection; it feels a bit of a prop rather than a mainstay in the line.
It's very pretty and very safe, people that feel chocked by powder would probably get lots of mileage out of it, wearing it in the office and on afternoon shopping sprees. People who would expect the heliotrope-violet powder that characterises some of the classic compositions of the historic house, such as Apres l'Ondee and L'Heure Bleue, on the other hand, will be rather let down. Which is rather odd considering Guerlain is well aware that the powdery sweetness of its classics is covetable, judging by their Secrets de Sophie and various incarnations...But it's all down to the times they're a-changin' I guess.
The re-issue of Guerlain's Météorites Le Parfum eau de toilette (2018) is at the time of writing available at Neiman Marcus, the Guerlain boutique at Las Vegas and Place Vendome Haute Parfumerie online.
Related reading on Perfume Shrine:
Top Violet Fragrances by Type
Powdery and Dry Fragrances: Definition and Materials
Parfums Lingerie: Intimate Femininity
Monday, April 30, 2018
Vintage Powder Glamour - Guerlain Meteorites: fragrance review
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The idea translated well in a separate fragrance for perfuming one's self with the lovely scent of those powdery beads the Météorites. And thus Météorites eau de toilette by Guerlain was born in 2000.
The predictable rose scent that lives in lipsticks and powders is here eschewed for violet, which is the predominant note of the fragrance. The intermingling with dry orris effects gives a starchy quality to vintage Météorites, it's the way I imagine rice powders completely devoid of talc from another era should have smelled. It gives me a totally groomed feel, not only the sense of cleanliness and dryness, but thanks to its retro violet vibe it's rather coy too, almost genuinely shy. This is a quality which I find fascinating, exactly because shyness doesn't come across as exhibiting its nature, and because in feminine iconography it's so often caricatured into a manipulating coyness.
Furthermore, the vintage fragrance is expounding on one of the signature notes in the Guerlain canon: heliotrope. The almondy, fluffy, powdery sweet smell of heliotropin (also used in mimosa scents) immediately recalls the hint of the patisseries that many Guerlain perfumes possess. L'Heure Bleue and Après L'Ondée are both characterized by it, and though they both lean towards melancholia in their wistful tension, the rapport with Météorites is another story. In the latter the warmth of heliotrope and the coyness of the violet note are allied into giving a newly found serenity. The drydown is soft and clean with notes of musky warmth. It's powder but more contemporary than L'Heure Bleue's powder. One of the few vintages that can be effortlessly worn as if it weren't. As silky nevertheless as being powdered with those large, goose down puffs we only see on film these days...
The vintage Météorites is retro like Parma violets, but not difficult to wear at all. It's subtle, yet lasts well. It's rather simple, but it's not simplistic. I genuinely like it very much.
The company has just launched a new limited edition fragrance (alongside their spring 2018 makeup collection) called Guerlain Météorites Le Parfum reissue 2018 with a different formula that leans more fruity floral. Read the comparison of the vintage Meteorites perfume with the new HERE.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Guerlain: The liquidation of heritage
Succumbing to celebrity culture has never been the Guerlain way.
Guerlain does not follow the Guerlain way anymore. Time to let that sink in.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Guerlain Insolence: fragrance review
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photo by Bettina Rheims pic via pinterest |
In Sigmund Freud's seminal The Interpretation of Dreams (1899) the otherwise asexual word "violets" takes on the much more sinister nuance of "violence" and/or "viol" (French for rape) in the context of a dream. Insolence must have been inspired by the very concept, having Roucel chuckle up his sleeves while thinking about it, no doubt cognizant to the word association double-entendre, added to the illusion of violet, iris and rose fragrances perceived as soft and delicate. It was possibly the bourgeois standing of Guerlain that disallowed the risky association to surface through the advertising, going for some strobo-lights dancing Hilary Swank.
Predictably it was provocateur Tom Ford who saw the possibilities, when he baptized his own violet fragrance Violet Blonde which -of course- makes anyone think of a... violent blonde! Another missed train of fantasy for Guerlain, then, yet still a long-standing commercial and artistic success on the French brand counters everywhere.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Your "Best in Show" Guerlain perfume: Which Is It?
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via pinterest |
When Séverine, the bourgeois heroine of the cinematic adaptation of Joseph Kessel's novel "Belle de Jour", sets out to work the afternoon as a prostitute, it is a bottle of Mitsouko that she accidentally smashes in the bathroom, immersed in her sadomasochistic reveries.
When Jean Harlow's husband, Paul Bern, allegedly driven by impotence, took his own life, a mere short week after his wedding to the silver screen goddess, it is Mitsouko by Guerlain he was drenched with; her perfume.
Originally meant for brunettes, Mitsouko took the gentle but poignant star-crossed lovers of a Japanese brunette and a Russian naval officer meeting at wartime, to inspire women (and men) of all hair colors and ethnicities ever since. Always implicated in sex in a "screw in the brain" sort of way, Mitsouko, with its tender peach skin heart and troubling inky base, is not just Belle. She's Belle Toujours.
You can find my entry on the Best in Show on Fragrantica. Please share in the comments here (and there, if you like) which is your own pick for Best in Show Guerlain perfume! I'd love to read during the holidays for Orthodox Easter.
Fragrance review & perfume history for Guerlain Mitsouko on this link.
Monday, March 28, 2016
Chanel Boy, Hermes Muguet Porcelaine, Guerlain Le Muguet 2016 : 3 Upcoming Fragrances to Watch
First we have Guerlain's super-limited annual Le Muguet 2016 edition: this year it promises to be a new formula, not just a different bottle and concentration game. The company itself, after all, is historic., so extra care is given to accuracy. More info on Fragrantica.
Then there's Chanel's Boy (probably going out to play with Dior's Girl, engaging in puberty love. All right, Chanel is probably the ONLY firm who can graft such a gauche name to their Les Exclusifs boutique line; Boy Capel, after whom the new fragrance is named, is canon after all.
The fact that the scent is masculine but could be worn by women as well is an added bonus, like the boyish cut styles Coco Chanel made her own.
And last but not least there's Muguet Porcelaine by Hermes, them of the scarves fame, in the boutique-only Hermessences line, a green lily of the valley. Since perfumer Jean Claude Ellena, he of best-selling fragrances fame, has been working on this idea for a long time, perhaps longer that he has ever admitted to, taking into account that Roudnitska was his mentor, it should be interesting. Lily of the valley has served for soap-clean references for ages, so let's see what happens.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Guerlain Petite Tortue: new fragrance & re-issue of historical "tortoise" bottle
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Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Guerlain Carmen, Le Bolshoi: new fragrance
The first fragrance Le Bolshoï appeared in 2011 and was timed to celebrate the reconstruction of a historic building of the Bolshoi Theater. A year later, there was a bottle La Traviata, Le Bolshoï with scarlet cameo. The smoky juice inside commemorated the opera by Giuseppe Verdi with notes of orange, bergamot and petit-grain. In 2014, the Bolshoï Theater performed the hallmark of Russian ballet , Tchaikovsky's"Swan Lake." Black Swan Le Bolshoï was the offering Guerlain created with perfumer Thierry Wasser to celebrate it with their loyal Russian customers.
This season for the 240th Bolshoi Theater jubilee, 240th world famous "Carmen"by George Bizet is the opus in question. It was first staged in 1875 in Paris and in 2015 celebrates its 140th anniversary. Thierry Wasser created a limited edition fragrance for the Russian market, Carmen Le Bolshoï.
For Carmen,Le Bolshoï the formula includes fragrance notes of jasmine, cedar, citrus, red berries and musk. Bright and bold according to Guerlain as is Carmen. On October 1st it will appear in TSUM and DLT and on December 1st in select Guerlain corners. The retail price of Carmen Le Bolshoï is set at 22 000 rubles.
EDIT TO ADD: Recent reportage and testing suggests that Carmen Le Bolshoi is a re-edition of the original Vetiver pour Elle by Jean Paul Gaultier from 2004.
pic & availability info via Vogue.ru
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