Click here to read my review.
Category Archive: Guerlain
Speed Sniffs are a way to bring you ‘to-the-point’ fragrance reviews that are quick and easy to digest. They are perfume reviews without the faff.
*Unpopular Opinion Klaxon* I like Mon Guerlain and I think a lot of you are being unnecessarily grumpy about it. Yup. I’m not sorry. The way I see it, GUERLAIN has to make fragrances that appeal to the mass market as much as they need to keep the likes of Jicky and L’Heure Bleue on the shelves. They have always taken styles populised by others and given them a Guerlain twist (see Mitsouko, a twist on Coty’s Chypre, for example) and that’s exactly what Mon Guerlain is – a Guerlain take on the caramel, ethyl-maltol intensity of the likes of La Vie est Belle. The difference with the Guerlain? It smells good.
Mon Guerlain is candy floss by way of a Jicky-esque lavender and it is eminently wearable. I find it cosy, delicious and easy to wear in winter. I was not however, so keen on the Florale version that launched earlier this year which, for some reason seemed off somehow. Now we have Mon Guerlain Eau de Toilette, the third instalment in the Mon Guerlain series and the second to launch this year – we can’t accuse GUERLAIN of being lazy, that’s for sure!
Mon Guerlain Eau de Toilette is presented by GUERLAIN as a “citrus oriental” with notes of mandarin, carla lavender, sambac jasmine and vanilla tahitensis. They see it as a scent that presents a freer expression of the GUERLAIN woman – one that is seen through a lens of transparency and freshness. Let’s speed sniff.
It’s not unusual for a fragrance house to redress a classic fragrance for modern times but it’s difficult for them to get the balance right – the balance between maintaining all that makes the fragrance do distinct and special, and providing a fresh twist that makes it attractive to new, younger consumers. CHANEL did it with Nº5, using modern florals to make an entry level interoperation in the form of Nº5 EAU PREMIERE, and switching aldehydes for citrus and musk in Nº5 L’EAU. GUERLAIN did it beautifully with the ill-fated but stunning Shalimar Parfum Initial (amping up the iris, dialling back the leather smoke), but nobody has really done it with a masculine classic, well, until Habit Rouge Dress Code, that is.
Habit Rouge Dress Code is not a new fragrance. It actually launched a few years back (2015 if we are being specific) as a limited edition – a reworked version of Jean-Paul Guerlain’s 1965 original created by Guerlain Perfumer Thierry Wasser. Playing on the dandy character or Habit Rouge, Wasser gives us what Guerlain calls “the neo-dandy’s dress code” in a fragrance more suited to a fashionable lad about town on his vespa than an artistocrat in his sporting reds on a country lane. It’s a fragrance that takes the key elements of Habit Rouge to more vibrant extremes – it’s iconic citrus is fizzier, more electric, whilst its gourmand facets are richer, more textured. Dress Code is cooler, more modern and more audacious.
Dress Code was never previously available in the UK, but this autumn it is making its way across the channel, dressed in handsome camo livery, to take residence exclusively in Harrods, and I for one, am very glad to welcome it to Blighty!
I’m always crushing on something scented or other. My nose knows no limits. Candy Crush is where I showcase the beautifully scented things I’m crushing on right now so you can hopefully develop a crush too.
I often feel as if I should have been born a handsome and stylish Parisian gentleman. The type of Frenchman I’d like to be is the artistic, knitwear-wearing, reflective type who absorbs culture like good wine. He loves art as much as the gym, speaks numerous languages and is an excellent cook. I’d be called Gabriel or Gaspard, or maybe Jules (can you tell I’ve not thought about this at all?) I’d actually enjoy coffee (why does it smell so good yet taste so bad?!) and I’d be really bloody cool. Oh and I’d wear GUERLAIN exclusively (Jicky I reckon) because why wouldn’t you? A boy can dream of being so chic, but sometimes a fragrance can be the closest thing one gets to making such a fantasy become a reality. Enter Le Frenchy by Guerlain.
Le Frenchy is part of Guerlain’s ‘Les Parisiens’ family – an exclusive collection of reissued masculine fragrances featuring the likes of Derby and Arsene Lupin. This one is a modern reworking of a historic lineage: Aimé Guerlain’s Verveine from 1872, which itself was reinterpreted by Jean-Paul Guerlain as ‘Eau de Verveine’ in 1983. Now we have Guerlain Perfumer Thierry Wasser’s take on ‘verveine’, cheekily entitled ‘Le Frenchy’ (The Frenchman). GUERLAIN calls it “chic and relaxed” which is so not my physical aesthetic, so perhaps Le Frenchy can help me out a bit, after I all I may not have the “bold elegance” of the fragrance, but I reckon I could pull some “natural charm” out of the bag. Let’s see…
I’m just spoiling you with these Escentual posts this week! This one is my review of Météorites Le Parfum by GUERLAIN – the scent of Météorites Pearls bottled. Click here to check out my review.
Mon Guerlain Florale, the new flanker, reviewed on Escentual (and there’s a giveaway too). Check it out here. There’s a giveaway too!
The volume of the output from the house of GUERLAIN is staggering. Last year they launched 15 fragrances and for 2017 they have launched 11 so far, which includes their blockbuster new signature fragrance Mon Guerlain. It’s easy to see why they are launching so many scents – not only do they wish to expand and make more of a name for themselves, but GUERLAIN have also amassed quite the collection of collections, each of which cries out for regular new addition. Where would we be without a new Aqua Allegoria or L’Art et Matiere fragrance each year? And what would La Petite Robe Noire do if she didn’t have a new dress for the season? Whilst not every single one of these fragrances can be a GUERLAIN masterpiece, some do strike gold, which brings me nicely on to today’s subject – something new created by GUERLAIN perfumer Delphine Jelk under the creative direction of GUERLAIN chief nose, Thierry Wasser.
For their latest fragrance, Lui, GUERLAIN are taking cues from the past. The name and bottle may look familiar to you and that’s because they pay homage to a GUERLAIN classic (1929’s Liù) with the feminine name and iconic tea caddy bottle of the original subverted into something more modern. Lui is billed as a fragrance that is “not entirely feminine, nor truly masculine”. GUERLAIN call it “the perfume for a new gender order” and describes this new unisex scent as having an “ambiguous fragrance trail” that is “based on benzoin”. Let’s be real, the idea of unisex perfumery is nothing knew, nor is it particularly unusual in this day and age, especially since the rise of niche has really blown the doors open on the idea that a perfume can be worn by whomever fancies it. But heck, it may not be a new idea but I’m always here to embrace the lack of gendering in a perfume. So let’s put Lui to the sniff test.
A new Guerlain is always an exciting thing! So I guess that means you should all be excited about my review of the new La Petite Robe Noire Black Perfecto. On Escentual no! Clicky here.
L’Homme Idéal Sport, the brand new masculine from Guerlain (and the first of theirs to boast ‘aquatic’ notes). Reviewed on Escentual. Clicky here to read.
Love it or hate it, it’s impossible to ignore Mon Guerlain and unless you’ve been hiding under a (rather fragrant) rock for the last month or so, it’s incredibly unlikely that you’ll have not seen or sniffed it. This is a Guerlain launch unlike no other – it is literally everywhere and the brand has gone balls to the wall (for want of a better phrase) in terms of promotion. Not only have they chosen Oscar-winning actress, director and human rights campaigner Angelina Jolie as the Mon Guerlain muse (an excellent choice IMHO), they’ve also worked with director Terrence Malick on the accompanying film. Not to mention the huge push in terms of press that the launch has had, which overshadows any other offering from Guerlain in the past. It really is a huge launch.
This post isn’t going to be a review of Mon Guerlain. I’ve already put together my thoughts on the scent, in isolation from its concepts and history for my Escentual column, and you can read those thoughts here. I stand by the fact that I really like how it smells. To me, Mon Guerlain is a novel take on lavender, one that amps up the material’s natural burned sugar notes and folds it into delicious butter candy and musk. It really is lovely, commercial yes, but undeniably lovely and made with top notch materials too. It’s also very Guerlain as well, especially seeing as the house is well know for being the utter dons at making gourmand treats for the nose. Mon Guerlain is no exception and it smells great.
So if this post isn’t a review, what is it? Well, Mon Guerlain is such a huge launch and such a game changer for Guerlain, I wanted to explore the commercial context in which it has arrived and what it may mean for Guerlain going forward. From a house that brought us Jicky, Shalimar, Mitsouko, L’Heure Bleue, Vol de Nuit and Chamade (I really could go on and on, and on) with little fanfare, Mon Guerlain says that Guerlain has finally arrived to play with the big guns like Chanel and Dior. And guess what? They mean business.
The Candy Perfume Boy 