Olfactory description of resurrected heritage perfumes
A big thank you to Thierry and Fred Sacone, Guerlain junior perfumer (already at the head of a beautiful collection of Guerlain bottles), for allowing us to smell all these marvels again. It is the result of a colossal work: deciphering and decoding of complex formulas "with drawers", research of disappeared raw materials, creation of animal dyes "homemade for real". These perfumes are curiosity perfumes that can only be smelled, but not bought, because they no longer comply with current standards.
This allows us to salute the creativity of the former Guerlain perfumers, who had an overflowing imagination! And prolific. Jacques Guerlain created several per year. These perfumes are on the Champs Elysées, on the first floor, and other boutiques will soon have the privilege of offering enthusiasts new resurrected perfumes: ask our perfume experts to help you discover them.
In our secret book of formulas, with about 850 fragrances, there is still plenty of material to take you on a journey through time.
Pao rosa - Eau de Cologne 1877
Like all the eau de Cologne, the top notes are fusing bergamot and neroli. In the heart, we perceive rose notes (essence), animal notes: a real tincture of musk and civet.
A travers champs - Extract 1898
Even if bergamot, lavender and petitgrain are present at the top, it is a real floral bouquet: rose, ylang-ylang, with a very strong note of carnation, therefore spicy, on a powdery iris base, but above all leathery (real birch stain), woody and quite sensual with its amber and animal notes.
Voilà pourquoi j’aimais Rosine - Extract 1900
A custom-made perfume for Sarah Berhnardt, whose first name was Rosine. I found a Shalimar spirit with very strong top notes of bergamot, lemon, lavender, a slightly floral heart: rose, jasmine, iris, until then, I always think of Shalimar, but the base is so leathery, smoky, almost a lapsang souchong (birch) and real oak moss: dyes, that I quickly go elsewhere. What a character!
Fleur qui meurt - Extract 1901
For me it's an overdose of violet, with its leaf, a touch of cassia flower, enhanced by a classic floral heart: jasmine, ylang-ylang, a woody and chypre oakmoss base, enhanced by costus (very present).
Voilette de Madame - Extract 1904
A wedding present offered to a couple of friends by Jacques Guerlain.
I remembered the reissue, and here: shock, because the original is much richer and more faceted. It is a very powdery floral bouquet, very violet, iris, cassia flower, supported by other flowers: rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, neroli, the very rich base: oak moss, thanks to the animal dyes, there is a beautiful sexy tone!
Mouchoir de Monsieur - Extract 1904
Again, the same observation, so much nicer than the current one, which I find too animal for my taste (still on sale, less good, sorry). But here, these animal notes are very nice. In this very elegant, dandy fougère, very bergamot, geranium, patchouli, and other woods. The base is soft, slightly vanilla, tonka and powdered by the iris, it's so good!
Après L’Ondee - Extract 1906
If you smell this perfume, you will cry with happiness, for two reasons:
- Firstly, you will be surprised to discover an even more extraordinary fragrance than the "vintage" one you knew before it was withdrawn from the catalogue!
- Secondly, you will miss the extract even more. You can still find it as an eau de toilette, which I could compare to a "pastel version" of this fragrance!
It is a magnificent floral perfume, the precursor of an even more faceted masterpiece: L'Heure Bleue, my favourite fragrance. At the top, rosemary, bergamot, lavender, but very quickly arrive anisic aldehyde, helitropin which were used for the first time in this perfume. In the heart, a violet, iris, jasmine and orange blossom effect (as in L'Heure Bleue) the base is less warm and gourmand than that of l'Heure Bleue, but still with a beautiful and true musk as a bonus.
Sillage - Extract 1907
White flowers: jasmine, tuberose, ylang-ylang on a leather, oak moss base and always these dyes, signature of that period.
Candide effluve - Extrait 1922
A very ylang/lilac floral, on an amber base: benzoin, myrrh; quite woody: patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood; and in the background this birch leather note.
Cachet jaune - Eau de Cologne 1937
1937, the year Jean Paul Guerlain was born, he was bathed in the scent of this fragrance which was worn for a long time by his mother. A soft and light fragrance, floral rose, jasmine, carnation, iris on a vanilla, tonka and musk base.
Bouquet de faunes (only Lalique bottle by Guerlain) - Extract 1922
It is a very costly leather, quite animalic perfume with musk and amber, a little floral: carnation, jasmine, rose, neroli, iris. A fragrance that must have been segmenting, even at the time it was born.
Muguet - Extract 1908
Nothing to do with our current Muguet which is much more figurative. This one is an abstract lily of the valley, quite carnation-like, smelling clean, very lemony in the top notes.
Sylvaine Delacourte perfumes
Discover Sylvaine Delacourte's brand with her Orange Blossom, Musk and Vanilla Collections. You can try them thanks to the Discovery Boxes (5 Eaux de Parfum x 2 ml) and rediscover these raw materials as you have never smelled them before.