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Coriolan Conspiracy

post #1 of 11
1/12/09 at 5:30am
Thread Starter 
Trust me,

I'm not big on conspiracy theories, but hell, I'll do this as food for thought.

Coriolan Conspiracy Timeline :

1998 - Guerlain releases Coriolan for Men - Fresh Citrus Fougere Green Aromatic Herbaceous(Basil) Spicy Leathery Chypre Floral(Immortelle) Woody(Juniper) Ambery Patchouli Musky Mossy(Oakmoss) Ciste-Labdanum

2000 - Vetiver is revamped to the current version

2001 - IFRA standards restrictes oakmoss to 0.1% concentration

2002 - Coriolan discontinued

2007 - Mitsouko, now a shadow of its former self, released as a reformulated version with oakmoss substitute

2007 - Coriolan mysteriosly reappears as L'Âme d'Un Héros under Les Parisiennes collection

2009 - Forthcoming 43rd IFRA Amendment (2009) will further restrict the use of oakmoss

Was Coriolan's fate due to poor sales, or did Guerlain decide to pull it off the shelves due to the tightening of restrictions on oakmoss? Will the scent of oakmoss no longer have a place in the future of perfumery?
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post #2 of 11
1/12/09 at 8:34am
that's a too tragic mail not to be nearly comic !
Mitsouko still contains mosses and the reformulation let it as good as ever if not better

and you know what: the fragrances you smell today are surely not the sames than 20 years ago and 20 years ago the fragrances were surely not the sames as 50 years ago ...

the ingredients have changed, the perfumers have changed and above all the consumers' tastes have changed and change more and more quickly
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post #3 of 11
1/12/09 at 8:59am
Like germanomio, I'm not too worried either. The new Attrape Coeur contains oak moss, and changes doesn't always seem to be about restrictions and lowering quality. I'm even close to assuming the changing of Mitsouko to be deliberate. For Vetiver, I assume they wanted the old formula, which could seem slightly dull and short-lived, to be more lively, hence they reformulated the top. And I trust Guerlain when they chose to discontinue Coriolan due to poor sales. I'm still confident that Guerlain tries its best to live up to high quality and people's ever changing tastes. Just call me a naive fool
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post #4 of 11
1/12/09 at 1:57pm
Interestingly, there seems to be plenty of Coriolan around, often going quite cheap. As a 'Guerlain lover', and having never sniffed Coriolan, would it be a safe blind buy?
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post #5 of 11
1/12/09 at 2:41pm
Biolandes has a new speciality oakmoss absolute that has been processed to greatly reduce the levels of sensitizing materials. I have not had a chance to sample this yet, hopefully the processing will not greatly affect the odor.
http://www.biolandes.com/english/par...pecialites.htm

Eden Botanicals is selling a material that is probably the Biolandes product:
http://www.edenbotanicals.com/essentials7.html#oakmoss
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post #6 of 11
1/12/09 at 2:51pm
I thought this thread was about the next Bond movie.
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post #7 of 11
1/12/09 at 3:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trufflehunter View Post

Interestingly, there seems to be plenty of Coriolan around, often going quite cheap. As a 'Guerlain lover', and having never sniffed Coriolan, would it be a safe blind buy?



Yes, I'd say it's a very safe blind buy indeed.

Coriolan is stately and elegant, a sheer green scent similar to Kiton for Men, but more complicated and rich. This is a terrific scent for those days when you want to smell great but don't want to broadcast it too broadly - and for when someone special will be getting "up close and personal."

My only complaint is with the messy cap/sprayer, which broke on my bottle.
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post #8 of 11
1/12/09 at 5:56pm
The Sous le Vent I just bought from Guerlain is full of oak moss.
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post #9 of 11
1/12/09 at 6:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trufflehunter

Interestingly, there seems to be plenty of Coriolan around, often going quite cheap. As a 'Guerlain lover', and having never sniffed Coriolan, would it be a safe blind buy?

It's safe because it's not expensive.... I got it blind in a trade, and I like it but don't love it. It's a masculine green style fragrance with hints of the classic Guerlain sweetness and complexity. My only complaint is that the longevity isn't that great. The bottle is very cool looking and has a flask-style cap.

Of course if you want a really, really good Guerlain green fragrance, do what Ruggles did and buy Sous le Vent (congrats Ruggles!). If you don't want to drop a few bills, go with Chant d'Aromes.
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post #10 of 11
1/12/09 at 7:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sumandre View Post

Trust me,

I'm not big on conspiracy theories, but hell, I'll do this as food for thought.

Coriolan Conspiracy Timeline :

1998 - Guerlain releases Coriolan for Men - Fresh Citrus Fougere Green Aromatic Herbaceous(Basil) Spicy Leathery Chypre Floral(Immortelle) Woody(Juniper) Ambery Patchouli Musky Mossy(Oakmoss) Ciste-Labdanum

2000 - Vetiver is revamped to the current version

2001 - IFRA standards restrictes oakmoss to 0.1% concentration

2002 - Coriolan discontinued

2007 - Mitsouko, now a shadow of its former self, released as a reformulated version with oakmoss substitute

2007 - Coriolan mysteriosly reappears as L'Âme d'Un Héros under Les Parisiennes collection

2009 - Forthcoming 43rd IFRA Amendment (2009) will further restrict the use of oakmoss

Was Coriolan's fate due to poor sales, or did Guerlain decide to pull it off the shelves due to the tightening of restrictions on oakmoss? Will the scent of oakmoss no longer have a place in the future of perfumery?

I would say that Coriolan is the least affected by the drop in Oakmoss concentration. Check out any uber-masculine reformulations from the 70s/80s (Bel Ami, Oscar Pour Lui, Antaeus) and compare them. IMHO Coriolan may be Guerlain's weakest and dullest frag. If it dies out, I won't mind.

Sumandre, where do you get you IFRA info? I've been looking for some info on the web like this when I posted my observations on reformulations a few weeks back.
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post #11 of 11
1/12/09 at 9:15pm
So you ask the question: Is Guerlain more liberal with their use of oakmoss in their more 'niche' fragrances? And are these fragrances put under the same restrictions as the $45 bottle of Vetiver?
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