Mitsouko (1919)
by Guerlain

This review is under revision.

Mitsouko - meaning 'mystery' in Japanese - was the first of the chypre fragrances after the original 'Chypre' by Coty. Created by Jacques Guerlain in 1919, Mitsouko is still today recognized as the quintessential chypre, exemplary because its formula is short, simple and refined. It boasted the very first use of synthetic peach fragrance - aldehyde C14 - in a perfume. The name was derived from the heroine Mitsouko of Claude Farrere's novel 'La Bataille' about the love affair between a British naval officer and the wife of a Japanese admiral. The fragrance itself can be said to live up to its name since it's extremely abstract: Its notes are some of the hardest to decipher among all the Guerlain perfumes. Mitsouko is in a different world than the flowery orientals, at least as strange as it is sensual, as peculiar as it is pretty, both violent and wonderful - some even call the scent 'disturbing'. Fans will die for it, while others are downright put off by it. Due to a bottle shortage after the First World War, Mitsouko shares its design with L'Heure Bleue. Taken together, L'Heure Bleue and Mitsouko are said to mark the beginning and ending of World War I. Recent European health regulations have banned the use of oakmoss in perfumes and led to a reformulation of Mitsouko, leaving the new Mitsouko brighter and 'younger' - but no less enigmatic.

The first "women's" fragrance I've worn out of the house (Shalimar's probably next, not coincidentally also an older Guerlain) and without the slightest twinge of self-consciousness.

This juice can hang out with the guys and kick everyone's ass at pool, poker, insert stereotypically masculine pursuit of your choice here. And still remain to its core a sensitive and pensive soul. For those who've navigated a third path in life, effectively and intelligently splitting the difference between sensitive and scrappy.

Oh, and it's powerful, not to mention ineffably classy in a fascinatingly abstract and most un-obvious way...a mystery that never betrays a hint - but a goal well worth working toward.

If I had to choose only a one perfume to wear for a lifetime, that could be Mitsouko. It is such a unique and classy scent. It smells very nostalgic, yet not in an old-fashioned way. This perfume is able to recreate itself to harmonize with the spirit of all times. I would not try to define how this perfume smells, cause to me Mitsouko smells like Mitsouko and nothing else!
Everytime I wear this scent I get compliments. There is more than that: Once, a man overtly tried to sniff me!

I got this as a present for my girlfriend as a blind buy based on all the great reviews on this site. All I can say is it is a spice bomb, despite other reviews saying differently. Both my girlfriend and mother who smelled it said they were reminded of their grandmothers. Any woman under the age of 50 has no business wearing this scent.

i've tried the new formulation
and i found it far more pleasant that the old one
yet they are very close, the new one has lost this "frying oil" odor i got in the old one and found so displeasant ; it's maybe less earthy and mysterious, but still as deep, rich and complex and surely more wearable by men even if it's more floral
some will think a masterpiece has been massacred and some, as me, will think that a new masterpiece was born !