Guerlain Part 7

with more to come

an imaginary Guerlain bottle by Ideogram.ai

When last I wrote about the Guerlains, I omitted some less important ones because I was anxious about the fate of the great classics. I’ve decided now to revisit some of the rest to see how they weathered the recent Guerlain slimming cure.

I also noticed a new Art et Matière fragrance called Pêche Mirage, which brought back memories from thirty years ago, when I spent a couple of weeks smelling aromachemicals in the weighing room at Quest, now part of Givaudan. The great technical perfumer Pierre Nuyens showed me two peach bases he had done. If I remember correctly, one was called Peach, the other one Peach Juice. They were both sensational, not so much true to the fruit as to a Platonic ideal of it, or to Roald Dahl’s giant version. I asked for a few milliliters and, while in the lab, surreptitiously added a touch of a suede base. The result was good and very close to Pêche Mirage, except that the leather note in PM comes in part from osmanthus, which also supplies a tangy top note to offset the sweetness. The result is charming in a guileless way. Now if only Guerlain sold this simple sent-bon for a reasonable price instead of £295 ….

For paid subscribers: revisit reviews of Insolence, Héritage, L’Instant Homme, Liu, L’Instant, L’Instant Magic, Idylle, L’Initial, Guerlain Homme and Samsara.