The phrase “L’art et la Matière” is drawn from thoughts on art written by the first-century Roman rhetorician Quintilian. It is safe to say that Guerlain’s art direction is not steeped in the Classics; witness the name Aqua Allegoria (two Latin nouns strung together) which they gave to another of their lines. As I have said in a previous post, the ALM line started as a panicked reaction to Serge Lutens, imitated his tall rectangular bottles, added a brass stripe up the side for maximum claassy effect, and filled them with fragrances totally unlike the faux-simple Lutens/Sheldrake compositions. By far the best of the early ones was Bois d’Arménie, composed by Annick Ménardo. Below are reviews of some of the more recent ones.
For paid subscribers: reviews of Musc Outreblanc, Tobacco Honey, Fève Gourmande, Oud Khôl, Cherry Oud, Oud Nude and Jasmin Bonheur.
Samples from department store.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Luca Turin on perfume etc. to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.