Why Do I Hate Guerlain??

You're welcome to hate Guerlain for all I care...

I can say that Carons generally do nothing for me, and Hermès is one of my least liked houses. Smell is subjective.

How about Guerlain Vétiver? I notice you didn't mention that one.

I like Guerlain quite a bit, but I certainly can understand not liking their fragrances. They definitely exist in their own universe. To each, his own.

It's odd, since while I certainly can understand the distaste for the older Guerlains, since I find that there is some commonality among them, I don't find that I can generalize ALL Guerlains into any category. Especially the newer stuff, bares little if any resemblance to any of the older ones, nor do they impart an image of "Eau de Old Lady", which again, I can understand for some of the older stuff. Bois d'Armenie, doesn't even feel like a Guerlain, it's much more in line with current niche fragrances than classic Guerlains. I don't know why you dislike them all, but I'd attribute it to mere circumstance rather than anything that can be traced to all Guerlains. There's just too much variance between them.

Edit: And one of your top 5 PdN New York, often gets the "Old Lady" tag thrown in its direction. And you're fine with that but find all Guerlains to smell feminine?

I love Guerlain. It's my favorite house.

I suffer from something milder: Guerlain apathy. I appreciate a number of scents, but nearly always there are ones I like better.

Mitsouko is gorgeous, but I know of so many chypres I find to be more gorgeous. Same can be said for Shalimar and orientals.

Samsara was a good jasmine, but I'd already found something so much deeper and more me in Gandhara.

L'Apres L'Ondee will be missed, but not half so much as I miss Midnight Violet.

A number are truly awful on me, including L'Heure Bleu, Nahema, and Vol de Nuit.

The mens I don't find particularly special. Vetiver and Habit Rouge, two that are hugely popular here, are shrug-inducing fragrances for me; neither fish nor fowl.

I don't hate Guerlain, but if all Guerlain suddenly ceased existing, I'd think "oh, that's too bad" and probably never give it another thought. I'm afraid nothing deeply moves me in their catalog.

A line I hate? CB I Hate Perfume. Weak, unpleasant scents I've found to be uniformly bad. Let's just call my stance GB I Hate CB.

Eh, I never really looked into the Guerlain house besides Vetiver, L'Instant, Cologne du 68, and Homme. Besides the latter three, the rest of the lineup's too "old school" for me and it doesn't fit my style at all. I think for anyone who hasn't smelled a Guerlain fragrance should just give it a try once in a while.

I'm ambivalent on them, my location hasn't afforded me much opportunity to try much beyond Guerlain Vetiver and I got a sample of L'Instant somewhere along the line. All the others, and there are a lot of others, have escaped my perusal thus far.

I like Guerlain's Habit Rouge and Shalimar, but unimpressed by later releases like Champs-Elysees and Too Much--nice but not masterpieces. I have a hard time with L'Instant and the candy-concoctions of Insolence and My Insolence...

I don't see it written anywhere that says you have to love any house, or for that matter even like it. To each their own.

I think your nose is broken

Oh and I'd just like to add, that Cologne du 68 is AMAZING. And I dislike L'Instant PH EDT, I find it rather generic and the citrus/gourmand combo, just like in HM, is discordant and irritating. BUT, L'Instant PH Eau Extreme, is truly great, and one of the best gourmands out there.

Thanks for saying this!

I, too, don't have much love for Guerlain. Some of their scents I downright dislike. Most others I find are "meh." The only one I care for is Mitsouko, which was the first (and so far only) I have felt the need to own a bottle of. Hubby had a bottle of Habit Rouge and I couldn't wait for it to be used up, ugh.

I have not tried all of the line in men's or women's, but I don't care for the Guerlinade accord and I'm in no hurry to try the others.

Only way to know is to give it a try.

It's very common, so it shouldn't be too hard to find.

I've been uniformly pleased with Guerlain scents but not exactly wowed as I'd expected.

Shalimar is supposed to be the pinnacle of the oriental genre? The edp smells like vanilla baby powder with a few floral/amber/animalic notes to spice it up. Pleasant but not exciting. Mitsuoko is lovely while it lasts but I've only smelled the reformulation that's missing the oak moss and I'm told it's just not the same.

I did manage to find an empty bottle of Shalimar EdC in an antiques store (the old ones with the gold cap and the Middle Eastern look) with what looked like a tiny bit of dried perfume oil left in the bottom. I opened the bottle for an inquisitive sniff and wow, just wow. The perfume dross was incredibly warm and mixed equal sections of amber and vanilla with gorgeous civet powering the top notes. If that's what Shalimar used to be I can see why people would rave about it.

I'm not a massive Guerlain fan, I hate their most popular frags (Vetiver and Habit Rouge) and the only one I really like is the one everyone else hates - the current Pour Homme. So I guess I kind of agree.

I love Guerlain. As a matter of fact one of my birthday presents this year is a round trip to Toronto to visit the Guerlain shop. Sometimes when I'm in a department store; I wonder how long those tester bottles have been sitting out there on the counter in the heat and etc... That cannot possibly be doing the fragrance a great deal of good.

After buying Guerlain Vetiver and not liking it I have been reluctant in trying any of their other fragrances.

Why?

None of their other fragrances smell anything like Vetiver.

I like Guerlain a lot, but I also respect your right to hate Guerlain. I would never hate you for your opinion of any scent.

What I find a little strange is the tone of unconscious (I hope) ageism and sexism that people sometimes resort to in putting down scents they don't like. Why is being old or being a woman the ultimate put-down?

I'm not so old. (I'm getting there at the same rate as all the rest of us though I may have started before some of you, but I have every confidence that we'll all get there some day if we're lucky enough to live that long.) I'm not a woman, either. Yet it rankles me to see these attitudes persist, because as long as they're around, they keep alive behaviors that make some people's lives less full than they could be.

Hate all the fragrances you like, and put them down with a vengeance. Just please don't do it in a way that puts down people at the same time!

It's just me I have this perception that as a lot of their fragrances are old fashioned or date back a few decades that they may have a house note in the ingredients that will be off-putting to me. In their Vetiver fragrance there was a plastic/doughy note that I could not live with and I am just a bit weary that the same notes may be in their other fragrances.

I'm sure I'm just been paranoid in thinking if a fragrance is old that it has unfriendly notes that are not user friendly to the modern fragrance user. If that makes any sense.lol

I have a 19 year old daughter who wears Apres L'ondee and Champs-Elysees. She tells me that she gets many compliments. I have to confess that I feel happy when she goes past me to leave the house. She smells so nice.

Wow WC... you certainly have a WC directness.

If you've tried all their scents and hate them uniformly... just wait for their next scent. Who knows, you might love it. (I don't really like the vintage Mitsuoko, based on a sample only, and really like the new formula... go figure, as that runs contrary to what I've read here.)

Nothing wrong with hating a scent.

But don't expect hate back. Scent is soooooo subjective to the chemistry and the likes, and the mood... of the one who smells, wears and buys.

The only exception I take is indeed some "stereotyping" that you do, related to gender and age. (I'm female and over 50 btw) ... but I just write that off to the Chi-town 'tude. And your being an attorney, which makes you suspect of arbitrarily argumentative behavior. (stereotyping? Hmm.)

LOL...

Each to his own I guess. I'm not a Creed fan, but love Original Santal which is widely despised by many on here.

But I have many Guerlain fragrances and genuinely love them, although bizarrely I am not overly struck on Mitsouko... so go figure.

I think its perfectly alright not to like their fragrances. There are always perfumes that we like and dislike from a particular house except for Creed where I have yet to like a fragrance from them. I just don't get why people love and rave about their perfumes so much. I must give it more time I suppose.

I think you should try more from Guerlian.

+ 1

Guerlain covers so much territory with so many options, I would think most fragrance lovers would find something they like. But you haven't found one, I respect that as well.

I have just scratched the surface with them and have found two for myself: Eau de Cologne du Coq and Spiritueuse Double Vanille.

For me most Guerlains are not appropriate for everyday wear. I love (though I once hated) Mouchoir de Monsieur and Jicky. I also enjoy Guerlains Eau du Coq and Imperiale.

It's ok. I hate gum popping. Across the board. A girl would have to be way hot for me to get over it. Nope, I'd still hate her.

I do think it's silly you pulled the "old lady" card though. If I ever met an old lady smelling of Gourmand Coquin, I might have to inch a little closer.

I find it fascinating that there is an entire thread dedicated to a house that someone dislikes. For some reason that really cracks me up. With so many Guerlain fragrances I really doubt you hate them all, but I can respect that you hate the ones you have tried. I rock my inner old lady a lot. I claim it, and wear it proudly!

Nicely played, mrclmind!

I don't think it is. Or at least, no more than Luca Turin's review of Polo Double Black ("This fragrance is what the local street kids in my trash neighborhood are wearing, and I don't feel any particular kinship to their tribe") makes being a tribal street kid the ultimate put-down. The point is that the fragrance gives a strong impression of "for someone else."

There's a TV ad running in the U.S. these days for a some kind of medic-alert system. It features an attractive older woman who says, "When my daughter first suggested I get Product X, I thought 'Oh, that's not for me! That's for some old woman!'" Clearly, "for some old woman" isn't intended in this context as "the ultimate put-down"; it means "of course this product has nothing to do with me."

I think WindyCity's comments are in much the same spirit. For the record, my assessment of most Guerlains is similar: they smell like something that belongs on a well-dressed lady of a certain age at a luncheon for the opera steering committee. They're classical, familiar, the kind of fragrances that come to mind when the average person thinks about "what perfume smells like." It's not that I particularly want to bash Guerlain and that "lady of a certain age" is the worst insult I can think of; that is the actual, specific connotation of those perfumes for me.

Great news! One less person to fight with me for SDV.

I don't see how you can hate every fragrance the house puts out
maybe most of them, but there should be at least one you like
oh well

I think a more accurate statement by Turin would be that the fragrance "is not for me." The imagery of the street kid is compelling, but what does Turin actually mean? (I'm thinking it's "it's not my class of fragrance" as soon as the street kid tribal imagery is invoked.)


To me, this is a tangential argument... that particular ad seems to me not only to be in production values cheap, but fear-mongering, as in "This could happen to you too, pretty granny!"

Hmm. I'm wondering what is wrong with "classical"... not edgy enough? Not "niche" enough? I completely understand the marketing angle, but what smells good, smells good. Scent IMO should be judged completely by those who wear it... if they do not like it, don't wear it.

But of course that would not sell x-thousand bottles of Scent Edge Nouveau, would it?

Very interesting argument!

I am not a big fan of their traditional 'old lady' fragrances as you put it - theres only so much gourmand tonka attack I can take and after sometime they all seem to smell the same. That said this is their main domain and has a big following and I would take an old lady gourmand Guerlain over the pretentious and uncouth Lutens concoctions anyday.

Also, the Guerlain eauxs are very good and are the main Guerlain representation in my collection. What do you think of them? They are hard to hate.

I like Guerlain Vetiver. Only Guerlain I own. I like it because it smells unusual and the drydown is green and spicey. Don't know about the other ones....isn't L'Instant reminiscint of Egoiste? I seem to recall it had that sort of oriental boozy sweetness to it. didn't mind it. I do mind people raving about Davidoff scents. Well the two I've owned are 1) Cool Water and 2) Zino.....which I found, respectively, 1) Meh! and 2) *gag*

What, indeed. Did I say there was something wrong with classical? Did I say anything negative at all? :-)

No dear, you didn't. I'm railing against the marketing machine. As if you couldn't tell.

Your wardrobe will help some of the pros here help you find a Guerlain you will most likely love.

I don't quite get mesmerized by any Guerlain either, except for their Vetiver, both pour homme & pour elle.
Samsara & SDV also get a bit of my love but they are largely unwearable.

I've tried Shalimar, Mitsouko, Heritage, eau de cologne but none grabbed my attention.

Obviously there are a large number of their offerings that I have never smelled so I can't make a judgment just yet.
However I am in no rush to go out of my way to get my hands on them.

Knowing Brad quite a bit, it's not a surprise to read that he dislikes Guerlain with a passion. Actually, Brad dislikes most scents that he tries. That's ok; I know where he's coming from. I'm close to owning 200 bottles and an untold number of samples and I still haven't found something I absolutely adore, either.

But part of me wants to agree with him; for as many scents I have, I rarely find myself going back to Guerlain. It's not that I don't like them; I do. (As a matter of fact, L'Instant EdP is my favorite of all the Guerlains that I own.) I just think there's a specific situation to use each of them. Unfortunately, I rarely get to experience those situations.

Oh... so you mean what my grandmother used to smell like. I'm unsure "what an old woman smells like" these days.

But, scent being the best trigger for memory, I get what you're saying... I think!

The old women smell used to be mothballs which was used in in wardrobes back in the old days that has a stale musty odour to it which would cling to your clothes.

Don't sweat it, WindyCity. As many have said before, there is no universally loved fragrance. And although I wince at comments that fragrances smell like "old women", or "old" in general, I can understand the sentiment. To me, the dividing line is between those of who appreciate fragrances for themselves (the art of fragrance) versus those that use them as a means to an end - to smell good to others. Even within that context, there is no right or wrong - that's just the way it is.

As for me, I love Guerlains for their wonderful, complex, and evocative beauty. I don't have to wear them in public to enjoy them, but I often do, and I feel no self-consciousness in spite of the fact that they're old school (also, I'm 55, so that may have something to do with it). Hopefully, Guerlain will still be around when you reach a stage in your life when their fragrances will feel appropriate.

At first, I either disliked Guerlain or this house was entirely meaningless to me

but even the frags by Guerlain which I now nearly worship, I oddly didn't like them from the very first time, they required a long accommodation period on my behalf

I didn't like either Heritage or L'instant Eau Extreme the first time I smelled them but somehow I kept trying them and right now I love them both.

Hate is a strong word and I'd be careful to apply it to what was once the leading perfume house of the world and key force behind the emergence and growth of classical perfumery. If you have an interest in perfumes you can learn alot from smelling Guerlains (the older, the better), even if you don't like wearing them. After all, modern perfumery without Guerlain is like modern art without Picasso. I prefer not to think in houses, but in scents (with a few exceptions, that are political in nature). If it's the Guerlinade, have you tried Djedi, Vetiver pour elle, Acqua Allegoria Pamplelune, Impériale, Eau de Guerlain? You're perfectly entitled to your opinion, of course, but do try to make sure you haven't slipped into a Guerlain-dislike-predisposition. BtW., I think PdN NY could easily be part of the Guerlain line

Subconsciously, I must have been missing a thread like this on the men's board. To me that makes more sense than bashing 'niche' fragrances, for example. There is indeed a Guerlain signature in most of their masculines, and even more so since wearing feminine Guerlains has become quite a trend among Basenote's men of any age. I hope you feel relieved and comfortable now that you said it, WindyCity For me you have brought a bit of normality back to this community.

I myself quite admire the house. I wouldn't go as far as calling them the greatest French perfume house, but from the honorable big French names Guerlain's has survived best. It stands out as the one house that saved a rich heritage for us to smell in the 21st century, all of it more or less intact. This alone deserves respect.

I personally look back on ten years only with Guerlain masculines. I didn't like them in my youth, and obviously my father had never touched a Guerlain other than Imperial Cologne either. But Imperial, just like Farina and 4711, never counted as a fragrance in (old) Europe. Although I now own most of their masculines, and consider them staple, I reach for them less and less. There are just no events big enough to keep spraying Héritage or Derby on. And I hated Habit Rouge (a first gift) with a passion, right from day one! Coming to think about it, if it hadn't be Habit Rouge I might have loved Guerlain earlier. I wear Vetiver and L'Instant on summer days now. They are relatively 'simple' and hopefully least irritating to others at the office, or around people you haven't chosen to spend a lot of time with.

My perception of the richer concoctions keeps changing over the years, but it's more admiration than love what I feel for them now. Derby is kind of a masculine Mitsouko to me, but the latter is by far more unique. Coriolan I could reach for more often than I do. If I don't, it's for whatever new thing has come along my way from Montale, Divine, L'Artisan and Lutens. While Kouros is always a bit sexy, Guerlains leave something missing there except for Jicky perhaps.

Every young person should start with more fragrances from the presence, I believe. Guerlains, I hope, will be around for another while, and if you or any other younger men will develop into conaisseurs, they may give them another chance, just as Snafoo has already said. Ages 40, 50 or later are early enough to enjoy our fragrant heritage. If not, stiff collars, silk ties, and golden pocket watches are no longer needed for a happy and successful life.

I didn't have to grow into Guerlain, thank goodness. I've always really loved the house overall (even when I was much younger).

I am quite new to Basenotes but what I have noticed that there is a lot of people, young and old, seem to lament discontinuation or reformulation of old fragrances. Guerlain is one of the very few houses that still sell old, even antique fragrances such as Jicky. I think we need these houses in the industry. They set the scene of what is called classical perfumery, they are the memory of the fragrance industry. To some extent if Guerlain or Chanel did not exist anymore, I am not sure the Frédéric Malle, Etat Libre d'Orange and Serge Lutens would exist, because there would be no need for something called innovation, and innovation only exists when there is room for tradition. In other words, "your Malle is innovative only because my Guerlain is traditional".

That is a good point!

There are Guerlain genes in the perfumer to be certain!

You hate Guerlain? That's great! Could I have your Guerlain samples/decants then?

The problem with Guerlain "Masculines" is their EdPs are far superior to their EdTs but the EdPs are hard to find. Also, it doesn't help that Vetiver has been reformulated beyond repair. Their EdP's are quite easily the best of the lot, and I wouldn't waste my money or time with the EdTs & EdCs.