Shalimar's new bottle

I returned Private Collection at Estee Lauder and ventured over to Guerlain because I've quite frankly become obsessed with this house. While I enjoy PC I kept thinking it was too strong and brash and I came to realize that softer and more refined perfumes are more "me". I bought a small bottle of Shalimar and while I love the old bottle dearly the new one isn't as bad as I thought. The spray mechanism is quite interesting, as you have to twist it to "turn it on". This scent is so intoxicating to me. It's a perfect balance of sweetness, spice and smokiness. It stays close to the skin and it calms me every time I get a wiff. I also got 3 compliments while shopping, and I never get compliments. I think this is an oriental that one could wear year round, night or day...so long as one is careful with the application. I've never tried the vintage Shalimar and I'm quite sure its fuller and lusher, but I think the recent version is perfect. I don't feel the same way about the EDC, EDT or "Light" version....just parfum and EDP for me. I also tried Samsara and it just about knocked me out, way brasher than Shalimar. It's not bad by any means, but not nearly as nice as Shalimar to me. Jardins de Bagatelle is very, very floral and smells like sweet jasmine and woods, not something that I would wear at all. They also had Jicky (only the PDT tester and two refillable 1.7 ouncers), I don't care for it. I find Shalimar gives me the same feeling but with a dreamy sweetness that makes my mouth water. No Mitsouko or LHB here though, hell I was surprised to find anything out of the big three Guerlains. Champs is nice, but very girly and polite. I can imagine a soccer mom wearing this. Ok lol I'm done.

BTW, am I the only one who thinks Shalimar's opening smells a little like Neutrogena Rainbath (orig. scent). I've always loved Rainbath and maybe thats a drawing factor for me with Shalimar.

Update....Shalimar dries down to a soft, slightly sweet vanilla(not like usual vanilla)/smoky/sandalwood/opoponax on me. It resembles Bulgari Black (and to a lesser extent CK-Be) on me, but much more refined. They both have a sweet sandalwoody baby toy rubbery thing that I think is very erotic, but kinda innocent too. It's isn't powdery on me in the slightest. Shalimar is most definitely unisex IMO. If Jaipur homme is masculine, Shalimar defintely is. I can imagine this wafting to peoples nostrils and making them swoon. It's very mysterious. This is one scent where I can honestly say that it changes completely from beginning to end. I'm afraid this will turn alot of people away who test it and don't spray it on the skin. The top notes are nothing compared to what this baby transforms into. While it's considered an oriental, I think Shalimar is just Shalimar. It's like an exotic, sweetly smoky skin scent. Yum.

Now I'm getting some sweet tobacco from it. I know it's not listed, but I'm reminded of high quality sweet tobacco. I never noticed before how heavy the peru balsam and opoponax was in this scent. It keeps changing and going back and forth. When my body heat rises it just wafts like a sun of a gun. Truly complex. Just for fun, I tried a tiny amount of Mitsouko EDP on the inside of my elbow to try and compare them, but Mitsouko like usual started making me queasy. I love it sprayed in the air though. There's just this sweetness in it that doesn't agree with me, and I'm sure it's the peach. It seems to have tons of moss which I can't handle. I don't think I'm a chypre guy. I prefer soft sweet scents that stay close to the skin. I sure hope LHB is like Shalimar in that it never shouts but sits there close by and smolders.

Today I bought a 7.5 ml (1/4 oz) of Shalimar parfum at a kiosk in the mall, sealed and all. When I put it on it burned me a little, lol. I find the scent very close to the edp, but maybe a tad darker and less hesperide accord. Never been burned by a fragrance before though. Must be pretty potent stuff.

BTW, I got this for 56 bucks which I thought was a steal. Beats paying 90 for it at a dept store.