Last year, in the throes of a mad purchasing binge, as a newcomer, I tried LhB current formulation EDT. I was way too inexperienced in perfume appreciation to have any real idea of what I was dealing with. I found it old fashioned, a challenge to the olfactory senses, too medicinal and aniseedy to get any idea of what the fuss was about. It just seemed impossible that anyone could wear it in today's world. How wrong I was.
This is a cautionary tale for those who are new to Guerlain, and new to vintage. It took me perhaps a year to develop my olfactory senses to even the point where I could detect the nuances of various perfumes.
I tried and rejected a number of lovely examples of classic perfumes too hastily. That Nahema that I felt was just too much to be wearable is now a personal treasure that I value above so many of my other treasures. I'm getting Shalimar again, because I think there's going to be far more to appreciate now, than my inexperienced senses could cope with last year.
I feel obliged to give my reassessment now. Having just purchased a darling little vintage mini parfum, a tiny exact reproduction of the classic bottle complete with little glass stopper, I finally realize what this perfume is all about.
I'm a lover of glass, though not besotted by bottles, but seriously this little bottle is a delicate work of art, so lovely to look at, so fragile in its composition, that having it for the bottle alone is worthwhile. Its adorable little stopper has an impossibly thin glass heart shape on it, just like the real thing
A couple of little dabs yesterday and I finally 'got' it. This is a work of art. I won't bother trying to analyse the notes, which have been done by far more experienced noses than mine. For me, the perfume brought out an almost addictive desire to smell that wrist again and again.
The mood, far from being pensive or introverted, for me was a pleasure-filled discovery of nuances, now violet, now aniseed, now florals, a hint of iris, sandalwood carried on a soft breeze, truly lovely, but all too fleeting on my skin. I find it surprising that others say this is a strong perfume, with decent longevity. On me it lives like a gorgeous poppy, for just a moment, and then disappears, leaving behind a longing to experience that feeling again.
I'm fortunate to have just bought an older EDT, the one in the blue box with the Art Deco style silver fountain on the front. There are high hopes for this. I think the blending of the notes in the modern EDT has coarsened the experience intended by Guerlain and lost the harmonious, melodic journey that the vintage creates. That medicinal note is totally absent to my nose in the parfum. The anise in the vintage is just a hint, a pretty short brushstroke on a broad canvas. The violet is impossibly delicate, again, just a recurring theme, in a symphony of notes.
This is a cautionary tale for those who are new to Guerlain, and new to vintage. It took me perhaps a year to develop my olfactory senses to even the point where I could detect the nuances of various perfumes.
I tried and rejected a number of lovely examples of classic perfumes too hastily. That Nahema that I felt was just too much to be wearable is now a personal treasure that I value above so many of my other treasures. I'm getting Shalimar again, because I think there's going to be far more to appreciate now, than my inexperienced senses could cope with last year.
I feel obliged to give my reassessment now. Having just purchased a darling little vintage mini parfum, a tiny exact reproduction of the classic bottle complete with little glass stopper, I finally realize what this perfume is all about.
I'm a lover of glass, though not besotted by bottles, but seriously this little bottle is a delicate work of art, so lovely to look at, so fragile in its composition, that having it for the bottle alone is worthwhile. Its adorable little stopper has an impossibly thin glass heart shape on it, just like the real thing
A couple of little dabs yesterday and I finally 'got' it. This is a work of art. I won't bother trying to analyse the notes, which have been done by far more experienced noses than mine. For me, the perfume brought out an almost addictive desire to smell that wrist again and again.
The mood, far from being pensive or introverted, for me was a pleasure-filled discovery of nuances, now violet, now aniseed, now florals, a hint of iris, sandalwood carried on a soft breeze, truly lovely, but all too fleeting on my skin. I find it surprising that others say this is a strong perfume, with decent longevity. On me it lives like a gorgeous poppy, for just a moment, and then disappears, leaving behind a longing to experience that feeling again.
I'm fortunate to have just bought an older EDT, the one in the blue box with the Art Deco style silver fountain on the front. There are high hopes for this. I think the blending of the notes in the modern EDT has coarsened the experience intended by Guerlain and lost the harmonious, melodic journey that the vintage creates. That medicinal note is totally absent to my nose in the parfum. The anise in the vintage is just a hint, a pretty short brushstroke on a broad canvas. The violet is impossibly delicate, again, just a recurring theme, in a symphony of notes.
