Guys, I FINALLY created an Instagram account and have been going nuts taking photos of my fragrance collection.๐คฃ I never knew it would be so fun and satisfying to get these little portraits done of my bottles.
If you are on Instagram, come on ova and give me a follow and I will follow you back! @fragamour
Here’s a few highlights so far:
And so many more to come!!! โคโคโค
Another city inspired fragrance and this time it’s all about sweet hookah tobacco and Doha nights.
If you ever buy or order hookah, the tobacco leaves come very wet compared to other forms of tobacco. It’s typically infused with flavored syrups and packaged in either resealable bags or jars to keep it from drying out. Most hookah tobacco is dyed bright red for aesthetics. Flavors often resemble those you would find in a candy store from fruity to minty to chocolaty or even actual candy flavors like gummy bears.
Nuit a Doha focuses on immortelle, tobacco, and vanilla and it’s very sweet. Immortelle is somewhat difficult to describe but it smells fruity, with nuances of hay, and maple syrup. In this fragrance, I pick up hints of ripe peaches, mango, and sweet cream as well as buttery caramel, and a tiny bit of licorice. Ginger and vetiver are listed but I don’t pick up on either of them.
Tobacco can be very loud and offensive in any form and setting, but as a perfume note in this fragrance it’s very subtle and polite. It’s unburnt and adds robustness and depth to the composition.
On a trip to Nicaragua a few years back with my beautiful Canadian friend, we stopped at Doรฑa Elba’s cigar shop in Granada to learn how to make hand rolled cigars. It’s located in a Spanish Colonial house, with an open air center courtyard that featured a garden with parrots. The cigar rolling station was on the courtyard patio and the materials and equipment used were all traditional, which included dried tobacco leaves, agave gum to seal the cigar, and a wooden press, to compact and form the cigars. The smell of the dried tobacco leaves wafted all around on the warm tropic breeze and I could still smell the sweet tobacco on my hands after we left. Before burning, tobacco can be a very pleasant scent but most associate tobacco with cigarettes, and that’s not at all what this perfume is about. This perfume is sweet, warm, and ambery with no smoke.
While this frag certainly sounds like it would be very unique, especially since immortelle and tobacco are mostly niche frag notes not commonly found in mainstream perfumes, I get an overall generic feel from this fragrance. There’s nothing really unforgettable about it. Dont get me wrong though, it’s a beautiful fragrance with a lot of depth made with materials that are clearly of great quality and I do really like it, but I’m not compelled to own a full bottle though I’m glad I’m got to try it.
The projection is moderate to high as it’s potent juice and the longevity is fantastic. It’s a beautiful fragrance that will certainly not offend anyone nor challenge the wearer. And if you enjoy immortelle and or tobacco, you should definitely check this one out!
Season: Works well year round
Top: Fennel, mandarin orange, ginger
Heart: Immortelle, tobacco
Base: Vanilla, vetiver
Though I would classify this as a masculine fragrance, I believe certain women could wear it as well. Bold, confident, perhaps even an audacious woman. She wears bespoke pant suits and is a CEO or major shareholder. She makes moves and big decisions. It would seem foreign on a pink glitter, girly girl though, like a heavy cloud was following her, as if she had dark secrets. But on a bold woman in a position of power, it would be the scent of womens progress: how far women have come in terms of equality and holding their own. Needless to say, this is a power fragrance that makes a bold statement.
The first time I tried Black Gemstone was well over a year ago and I must say, I was not ready for it. I remember thinking burnt rubber and gasoline haha. So I put it away for another day and since I’ve been on a roll with SHL 777 lately, that day has come.
My initial reaction was an overreaction though. This is a beautiful woody resins bomb. The top can be an overwhelming blast of lemon, cedar, and frankincense which create an almost pitch tar aroma. After a few wearings though, it’s one of my favorite parts about this fragrance. The lemon makes the resins really sparkle and gives it a fizzy, effervescent quality, though the heart is really where it’s at for me.
The overall feel of this fragrance is dry, smokey woods but frankincense is a sweet resin and this frag is loaded with it along with myrrhe. So while it’s dry overall, there is a sweetness about it. It’s like you can smell the layers here. The main layer being a dry and opaque wood that’s covered in a sheer veil of sweet resin. The heart is all about frankincense and I pick up on rose and saffron though they aren’t listed. This accord reminds me of Encens Mythique without the heavy dose of ambergris.
I found the top to be loud and overpowering but it quickly mellows down. The projection is moderate to heavy and the longevity is quite good. I applied some on my wrists last night before bed and I could still smell it after I woke up.This perfume has the weight of a traditional oud in its deep woody robustness. And like most ouds, would work best as an evening fragrance or cooler weather. This is a pretty heavy hitter and not for everyone so testing is highly recommended before buying. But if you enjoy woody fragrances and incense, it’s definitely one to check out.ย
There’s something very formal, maybe even highbrow, about Black Gemstone. I don’t see it as a casual, day-to-day fragrance to be worn frivolously. Something this complexย and extraordinary should be reserved for special occasions. This is burning incense inside the Kaaba or Holy of Holies, precious and rare.ย This fragrance is a dark gem indeed.
Season: Fall/Winterย
Top: Lemon, cedar
Heart: Myrrhe, resins
Base: Teak wood, frankincense, tonka
Judging solely on the notes listed on Fragrantica, this isn’t a fragrance I would have fervently sprung for even though I am a huge osmanthus fan. Combining osmanthus with a leather note raised a red flag, because leather notes can be very dirty. But I received samples with my purchase from LuckyScent and man this stuff is GOOD! I will definitely be ordering a full bottle!
Soleil de Jeddah opens with a sweet candied lemon, osmanthus, and ironically intense chamomile accord. I say ironically because chamomile isn’t typically a note that comes to mind when thinking about intense perfume notes, like oud for example. After drydown, the lemon gives way to a delicious vanilla note alongside the osmanthus, and chamomile. Vetiver isn’t listed in the notes but my nose picks it up here nonetheless. It’s a very light vetiver though and gives the composition a very subdued masculine feel, making this frag very unisex, though overall it DOES lean more feminine. The heart is sharply sweet from the osmanthus and vanilla, with moderate projection, so even though it’s sweet, it’s not all in your face. And it’s not sweet so much in the gourmand sort of way but more floral sweet. This stage lasts a long time, but it does seem to me that SHL fragrances have some serious lasting power, which makes it a more justifiable purchase since frags from this house do not come cheap. The base is a softer version of the heart. I never really detect the leather or the ambergris.
Here in the southern US osmanthus, or commonly known here as “tea olive”, is a fairly popular evergreen landscaping shrub. While the flowers are in no way showy or even particularly attractive, the fragrance is incredibly intoxicating. They are potent in the same way that gardenias are, where even a gentle breeze can carry their fragrance on the wind. And even though the plant itself looks like a plain, generic green bush, they are anything but and make beautifully fragrant additions to any garden or landscape. And Soleil de Jeddah is one fragrance that really does justice to this incredibly gorgeous smelling flower. It really amps up the chamomile and gives it a much more heady aroma.
This fragrance is very unique but not completely alien to my nose since I can pick out some of the notes. But it’s surely something you won’t smell on everyone since these notes are not so commonly used like rose and jasmine are, for example.
I’ve never been to Saudi so I cannot really understand the connection between this perfume and the city of Jeddah. My associations are all based on my experience with the notes themselves. But I do know that Jeddah is a huge business hub and basically the gateway to Mecca, so I imagine the people do their best to keep it nice. And if this is what Jeddah sunshine smells like, count me in! Because it gorgeous!
Season: Spring/Summer
Top: Lemon, chamomile, osmanthus
Heart: Iris, ambergris
Base: Vanilla, leather, iris
This is a strange perfume I really enjoy though it’s not a frag I couldn’t live without, I’ll admit. You definitely won’t smell it everywhere- it’s a very “niche” niche scent. I absolutely adore the flacon though! Stephane Humbert Lucas’s presentation is top notch! You can really feel the quality in the heavy weight of the bottle and especially the cap. The juice is also incredibly potent. They only come in 50ml size but a little goes a long way. One or two sprays max is plenty for good projection.
Mortal Skin opens with a strong, hyper-realistic ink note. It’s sweetened by blackberry and warmed by the smell of unburnt incense, nag champa incense to be precise. On me the scent remains fairly linear as I can still detect all three of these main notes all the way until the end. I also detect cold metallic iris in the composition. The projection is moderate to heavy depending on how heavy your hand is when spraying it on.
This piece is very different from the 777 collection, which mostly center around amber notes and all have a Middle Eastern vibe. In fact, he made it a point of creating an entirely different collection called the snake collection to separate it from the 777 collection.
Some fragrances fall short of living up to their concept. Angel, for example, is anything BUT angelic in my opinion lol. It’s a monster actually haha. Alien as well, being a huge white floral, does not smell “alien” to me. A fragrance called Alien in my book would smell closer to Nebula 1. Mortal Skin with the metallic snake concept, nails it. It’s cold like snake skin. When I try to imagine what snake venom might smell like, this would be it (accurate or not).
I’ve always had a slight fear but at the same time, facination of snakes. Being born and raised in Texas, snakes are part of the culture here because they are literally everywhere. Venomous, non-venomous, we have them all in great quantities. The worst ones are the coral snakes and the pit vipers: copperheads, rattlers, and cotton-mouths or water moccasins, which are aggressive and known to give chase if one gets too close to a nest. The bite of a pit viper can be lethal if not given medical attention, though deaths are rare since there is plently of anti-venom around. Occasionally I find tiny brown grass snakes in my garden and will pick them up. They will interlace themselves between your fingers if you let them and they don’t bite. But I was raised to be cautious of snakes, to know how to identify them, to respect them, and most important- if you see one, give them space, especially if it’s venomous.
Many people are afraid of snakes and for good reason. Even the thought of a snake disturbs some folks, giving them rapid heart beat and the “heebie jeebies”. So this perfume and its snake motif may incite that primal feeling of fear and even disgust.
I also want to point out that the name, “Mortal Skin” is almost a play on words, reminiscent of “Mortal Sin”. And that conjures up images of the whole Adam and Eve story with the snake, who according to legend, committed the original sin and brought mortality to mankind. Needless to say, but the use of snake imagery and metaphor is a much more gothic noir/ avant garde approach to marketing and branding than most perfume houses who typically opt for more light and airy themes like the Angel concept or flowers and candy and such.
I’d say that this perfume is unisex, leaning feminine. The blackberry note gives it a bit of sweetness not typical of masculine fragrances but men can definitely still pull this off.
For those who love unique scents, this is a definite must try. I ordered a sample off LuckyScent for around $7 and sprung for a full bottle after only testing twice. It’s edgy and boldly unique but it’s not for everyone and also not cheap at $290 USD for 50ml, so testing before buying is recommended. But whether you end up loving it or disliking it, this perfume is a very unique experience.
Season: Winter/Fall. I like it year round
Top: Blackberry, ink, incense, labdanum
Heart: Opoponax, artemisia, myrrhe, iris, cardamom
Base: Ambergris, styrax, cedar, birch, sandalwood, musk
Rive Gauche, which means “Left Bank”, refers to the left bank of the river Seine in Paris, which is considered the trendy and hip boho part of town where Yves Saint Laurent first opened his boutique in the early 1970s. I came across this little gem through a fragrantica swap about a year ago. I never would have tried it otherwise, I’ll be honest here. *sigh* Though you should never judge a book by its cover or a perfume by its bottle for that matter, I am, nonetheless, drawn to perfumes not just by the notes but also from the aesthetics. I mean, come on, who doesn’t love a pretty perfume bottle on their boudoir, right? And I hate to say it but for a women’s fragrance, it isn’t contained in the most attractive bottle. It’s metal and looks more like a guys fragrance. It actually reminds me of those aerosol canister body sprays that were so big in the 80s and 90s. Malibu Musk anyone? Anyone? Bueller? haha But I supposed it was something different at the time it was released, way before Malibu Musk.
Aside from the bland presentation, the juice itself is a really nice clean fragrance. This has got to be the epitome of an aldehyde if I’ve ever smelled one. It opens with a burst of soapy aldehydes and damp green oakmoss. The heart develops into a slightly metallic, herbal floral musk which is also very powdery from the iris. I can faintly detect vetiver but it’s very light. I can definitely smell the rose, though it is fairly tame. The overall feel of the perfume is a lightly green and powdery soap. This fragrance won’t offend anyone, though some people find aldehydes migraine inducing. But aldehydes are top notes, so unless you spray it on right then and there, you shouldn’t have a problem. Aldehydes themselves are a rather soft, airy type of perfume material, so even an overload doesn’t mean powerhouse, because Rive Gauche is anything but. If you aren’t sure what aldehydes smell like, think Chanel No 5 which is also an aldehyde bomb. It’s the waxy, clean soapy smell that permeates the top notes, before the florals really bloom.
About four years into my fragrance journey I swapped a few perfumes I wasn’t wearing for a perfumers kit, complete with 2 different aldehydes (there are many different types of aldehydes) so I’ve become familiar with how they basically smell as singular notes. And from what I can tell, Rive Gauche is composed mostly of aldehydes and oakmoss. Those are the two main notes I detect front and center stage. The rest of the notes play minimally supporting roles, though the nuances ARE there.
Though it was produced as edt, edp, and parfum, I believe only the edt remains in production. It was also reformulated since it was first released in 1970. The edt is very easy to get online at fair prices but the edp’s have become very rare since being discontinued and the prices for them have skyrocketed. I own both edt and edp, and they are so similar that I don’t think it’s even worth the trouble or money to hunt down an edp. I acquired both of my bottles through swaps, otherwise I would surely not have the edp. But I’ve hoarded it away as a collector piece and never wear it though I tested it a few times after receiving it.
If you enjoy Chanel No 5 and enjoy clean laundry type fragrances, I think it’s a safe bet to say that you’d probably like Rive Gauche as well, though keep in mind Rive Gauche is much less sweet and floral than No 5. There’s a bit of greenness to it from the oakmoss and it wears on the powdery side from the iris. It’s considered a feminine fragrance but I think in this day in age it’s fairly unisex since it’s not overly floral or sweet, plus I think the bottle would appeal to guys too. Overall, it’s a very simple, minimalist fragrance, though timeless and classic and easy to wear.
Year: 1971
Season: Year round
Top: Aldehydes, honeysuckle, peach, green notes, bergamot, lemon
Heart: Magnolia, iris, gardenia, jasmine, ylang, lily of the valley, rose, carnation
Base: Oakmoss, sandalwood, tonka, amber, vetiver, musk
I was introduced to this frag about 5 years ago by a fragrant friend whom I consider my perfume mentor though I was in no way ready for it back then. It smelled sweaty and dirty. But I’ve come a long way in the past 2 years as far as chypres and animalics are concerned and this one is loaded with both!
Though it’s considered a chypre fruity, and it really is fruity for a chypre, it’s also loaded with cumin that gives it a real dirty twist. Fragrantica has it listed as a “leather” note but I couldn’t disagree more. I own lots of leather goods and have worn many leather frags and this is definitely cumin, not leather.
The play of cumin on oakmoss reminds me of Alexander McQueens Kingdom, though Kingdom is much drier, brittle, dusty almost. Femme is humid, chewy, and rich in comparison. ยกMuy rico!
But Femme gets compared to Mitsouko the most and while they are both fruity chypres with peach notes, Femme has a lot more going on than Mitsy, being much more fruity since it also features a plum note not to mention all that cumin. The fruity notes give it a chewy, jammy, boozy feel.
Did I mention the cumin? Haha I read a review on Fragrantica recently where one perfumista compared Femme to the smell of her armpits after eating curry hahaha. I died lol. French perfumes are known for layering the sweet over the skank, most immortalized with the use of civet in the icons Shalimar and Chanel No 5. Femme followed right in their trails, being released roughly two decades after them.
Femme is NOT for everyone clearly as she is no dainty lady. She’s a femme fatale, but classy, sultry, and not afraid to get her hands dirty. She works for a living. She’s on the go, never idle. That dirty note can only be compared to the infamous Putain des Palaces from the House of Etat Libre d’ Orange, ohhh la la! Haha. While these two fragrances do not actually smell similar at all, I do think they have a comparable level of the skank factor. PdP being a leather note and Femme being cumin.
After coming around to Mitsouko the last few months I HAD to revisit Femme, which I still had that sample given to me 5 years ago and this time around I fell head over heels for it. I went online and ordered a vintage bottle right away. The bonus here is that it’s not expensive at all but definitely does not smell like a cheap perfume. I paid $40 USD for 100ml, “new old stock” vintage with the gold cap.
When I think of Femme, I think Josephine Baker but not in the banana skirt. No, she’s a little older here and on the run during WWII after her beloved France was under German occupation. She’s in North Africa, fighting for the French resistance, using her celebrity status as an entertainer to gather intel, a spy of sorts in the tradition of the one and only and oh so infamous, Mata Hari. She’s still a lady but she’s working up a sweat, but not from dancing but fighting for the things she believes in.
Femme is not some damsel in distress, teeny-bopper syrup spray. This is a classic chypre for the people, it’s affirdable, attainable. It’s a favorite pair of broken in dress flats, it’s lived in, comfortable, sexy, and so very feminine. This is leather and lace and will make you smell sophisticated and even a little intimidating. Femme is the scent of a confident, independant, intelligent woman that knows how to handle her business. She is her own boss though men still trip over themselves trying to open the door for her. And best of all, it’s soooo easy to get your hands on. I feel zero guilt spraying without reserve. Grab yourself a vintage bottle before I buy them all ๐ lol.
Year: 1943
Season: All
Top: Cumin,Apricot, Plum, Cinnamon, Cumin, Peach, Bergamot, Lemon, Rosewood
Heart: Rosemary, Carnation, Cumin, Iris, Jasmine, Clove, Ylang, Rose, Cumin
Base: Leather, Cumin, Amber, Patchouli, Musk, Benzoin, Vanilla, Oakmoss, Cumin
When it comes to writing down my thoughts and feelings about perfumes, I never approach the task flippantly, most especially when it comes to the older iconic fragrances. It took years before I felt I was ready to opine on Shalimar, for example. It’s been around longer than my grandmother after all and what could an inexperienced, beginner perfumista have to say about it anyway? Nothing, that’s what. Nothing worthy of paying any attention to anyway. And Mitsouko is even older than Shalimar, being released in 1919. I just don’t form opinions on things I don’t understand. And it took a long time for me to “get” Mitsouko, but alas, I finally understand.
When I was first introduced to this perfume over 5 years ago by Johnathan Nieto at the Guerlain boutique in Palazzo Vegas, my only thought was why on earth would anyone want to smell like this? I ended up buying Mon Precieux Nectar that visit lol. I knew nothing about Mitsoukos historical context, or what ingredients were even available at the time of its creation, nor the inspiration behind its name, or even its predecessor, Chypre de Coty. No, I knew none of these things and didn’t even consider their existance. All I knew was that it didn’t smell like the squeaky clean, sweetened concoctions that had been in vogue most of my life. To me it smelled sour, musty, and very very dated. And while it IS dated, now that I really understand oakmoss, it no longer smells sour and musty, but sweet and woodsy. I’ve actually grown to adore Mitsouko.
So you might ask, how on earth can something go from smelling bad to smelling good and the only thing that’s changed is a mindset? Well, the nose is funny that way. And really, it’s like anything else that’s an acquired taste. I mean, who really loves beer the first time they taste it? Or “stinky cheese”?
It wasn’t until I started tinkering around with essential oils and absolutes that I developed a love for oakmoss. And after I had tested an original, very rare-over 90 years old formula of Chypre de Coty, the original chypre of mass production, I was inspired to create my own chypre with all natural ingredients just to see what it would smell like. So I researched where to get the best (legit) EOs and Absolutes, researched basic chypre composition, and ended up ordering Patchouli and Oakmoss Absolute from Piping Rock and Labdanum, Cistus, and Bergamot from Gritmans along with a few others, and began my little experiment.
Oakmoss has been mostly banned from perfumes in the last 10 years or so due to alleged allergens, but after playing around in it for weeks, I can say I am in no way allergic to oakmoss. And what I discovered was that the Mitsouko I had originally tested was but a shadow of a ghost of its original self, for it contained little to no oakmoss. And oakmoss is an imperative ingredient in any true chypre. Like baking bread without flour, or spaghetti without any tomatoes, a chypre without oakmoss is not really a true chypre.
What I ended up creating over those few weeks tinkering with EOs, was a very “rough around the edges”, unrefined hint of what Chypre de Coty was and I ended up developing a real love for oakmoss. But my experiment was very much lacking, and compared to Mitsouko, the most obvious thing lacking was the peaches.
It’s funny how things are relative. Like how originally, Mitsouko was sour and musty to my nose with nothing sweet about it. But a side by side comparison of Mitsouko to Chypre de Coty, proved how much sweeter Mitsouko is than Coty because of the peach note. When you cut out all the sugar from your diet, things begin to taste sweeter. And that’s just what I experienced with my nose with my chypre creation experiments and wearing Mitsouko and Coty. I avoided all the sweet gourmands and orientals for a while to focus on chypres, and all the little nuances began to really shine within them.
The other facet of Mitsouko that I loved even before the fragrance itself grew on me, is the incredibly romantic inspiration behind the fragrance in the first place. Mitsouko was metaphorically meant by Jacques Guerlain, to ring in the end of WWI and to inspire hope for the future. The namesake, Mitsouko, came from the book, La Bataille by Claude Farrere. It is a story of forbidden love between two lovers whose countries were at war against each other. From wiki:
” The story of Mitsouko is found in Farrรจre’s novel La Bataille (‘The Battle’, 1909), which is a romance based upon Japan modernization and westernization during the Meiji period and upon the 1905 naval Battle of Tsushima when the Imperial Japanese Navy defeated the Russian Imperial Navy . In Claude Farrรจre’s book ‘La Bataille’, Mitsouko was a beautiful Japanese woman whose name meant both ‘honey comb’ and ‘mystery’, who was married to a noble Japanese Navy officer and who had an ill-fated love affair with an English officer. ”
So that brings me to how I grew to love and appreciate Mitsouko. And after swapping my reformulated EdP for a decant of Royal Extract, I decided to replace it with a vintage edp, that still contained all that glorious oakmoss. And I just looooove it!
Mitsouko is definitely an acquired taste for the young noses of today, that have been spoiled by clean sugary sweet, mass market fragrances. Not only is it an acquired taste, it can be somewhat of a difficult taste to acquire because Mitsouko can be a bit on the temperamental side. The notes that dominate can depend on the weather, humidity, and the moisture levels in ones skin. Sometimes I get lots of peaches and Mitsy is sweet and well behaved, other times, I get more bergamot and vetiver, which do not play so nice on my skin. So if you try it out and do not like it at first, do yourself a favor and try again at another time. I’ve known lots of perfumistas that disliked Mitsy at first, but I don’t know many that didn’t grow to just love it. There’s a good reason, after all, that it’s still in production after almost 100 years when many new fragrances get discontinued within a decade. Despite its temperamental nature, Mitsouko is truly an endearing classic fragrance that I’m sure will be around many more years to come.
Season: All
Top: Citrus, Jasmine, Bergamot, Rose
Heart: Lilac, Peach, Jasmine, Ylang, Rose
Base: Spices, Amber, Cinnamon, Vetiver, Oakmoss
Royal Extract falls into a small group of anomalous perfumes Guerlain has released in limited productions over the years. Vol de Nuit Evasion, Attrape Cลur, Guet Apens, Royal Extract, and a few others too. They all have different names and different packaging but they are all essentially the exact same fragrance.
Among Guerlain collectors, it’s more of a third tier collection piece. Top tier being the รผber rare, $25k collection piece flacons, like Shalimar Indes & Merveilles or the L’Abeilles flacons, which are practically museum worthy pieces. Second tier being the Lalique or Baccarat crystal pieces and even the porcelain Mitsouko flacons, for example. But for regular folks like myself, THIS is top shelf stuff.
I’ve had the pleasure of hunting down and owning three versions of this fragrance in Vol de Nuit Evasion in the traditional Cลur cap “L’heure bleue” bottle, Attrape Cลur in the Persiennes bee bottle, and Guet Apens in the cobalt blue lantern bottle. Royal Extract took several years to be able to test though because it’s such a limited exclusive and was only released to Harrods in London, so testers in the US are few and far between, much less full bottles. I was lucky to come across a decent size decant for swap on Fragrantica and I swapped my partial bottle of current formula Mitsouko EdP for it (which I’ve since replaced with a vintage full of oakmoss). To me, it was a great score because I’ve been dying to test it out and compare it to the others.
Guerlain is known for often releasing previously discontinued fragrances. But the re-releases more often than not come with some tweaking of the juice, meaning of course, reformulations. And this frag was tweaked every time it was released. It’s very obvious not only in the color of the juices, but in side by side comparisons. The scent itself, Royal Extract, is much more refined, cleaner, brighter and even sweeter than Guet Apens but it’s still that same fragrance I’ve come to love so much. Over the past 3 years, this perfume has become my most favorite fragrance to date. And not because of the “thrill of the chase” with it being such a rare, discontinued unicorn, but the scent itself is so incredibly gorgeous, it sends me into bliss. I could drown myself in this juice, figuratively speaking of course, ha. To me, it’s the most beautiful ambered vanilla I’ve ever had. And Guerlain is well known as the master of vanilla perfumes. From their iconic and historical flagship fragrance Shalimar to their coveted exclusives like Spiriteuse Double Vanille, Cuir Beluga, and Mon Precieux Nectar, which are considered some of the creme de la creme of exclusive vanilla perfumes and I own them all and truly love them all, but I love this one the most. I just really can’t get enough.
Though these are Orientals, Guet Apens and to a lesser degree, Evasion, are heavy with labdanum, giving them a woody chypre undercurrent, faint but detectable. Royal Extract on the other hand, leaves out this “dirty” bit and focuses more on the vanilla and peach. To my nose, it’s very similar to Mon Precieux Nectar in that they both carry the same sweet honey viscosity (not literally, in the thickness of the juice itself, but rather how it is perceived). They are about the same level of sweetness, brightness, though MPN features a prominent almond note, Royal Extract being peach. I would dare say they share the same base.
Though many perfumistas couldn’t care less about this relatively obscure little group of discontinued perfumes, much less this one incarnation of it, die-hard Guerlainophiles go nuts over this stuff and clearly I am in that latter group haha. Why is it that Guerlain continues to seduce and tease with these limited releases? Why change the name, the bottle, and presentation of this fragrance every time? Though I have no idea, I can say definitively that it lends an air of mystery and evasiveness even, to the entire “hoopla” surrounding this fragrance and its history. And it gives us Guerlainophiles sort of a scavenger hunt if you will, that adds notches to the perfumista belt of experience. Because the truth is, not many perfumistas will ever get a chance to try even one version of this fragrance, much less four versions of it. And yes, I am proud of this little accomplishment, truth be told haha.
In every case of collecting items, whatever they may be, there are always coveted pieces that are rare and highly sought after. From stamps to train sets, to art and even cars, perfume collecting is no different. So I feel very lucky and very grateful to that super Fragrantican that afforded me the opportunity to try out this rare and gorgeous fragrance. And even though I practically already knew what it was going to smell like before I even received it, I’m still super thrilled that I got to experience Royal Extract and its subtle differences for myself. โค
* Fragrantica has this currently listed incorrectly as “Royal Extrait” instead of Royal Extract.
I finally, FINALLY got my hands on a bottle of this insanely rare perfume and I’m just smitten. In fact, I got not one but TWO formulations of this rare elixir, that has eluded me for that past 3 years, popping up in eBay here and there but just out of reach since the listings typically go for around $800 and up. And that’s just beyond my budget, unfortunately.ย But I found one at a reasonable price and snagged it right up. I don’t think it had been listed more than an hour lol.
So the fragrance itself is exactly what I was expecting it to be: it smells like Evasion, but perhaps a bit less creamy. The top notes are subtly different and it really takes a few minutes until it gets into the heart of the perfume, for that familar, intoxicating fragrance to begin seducing the senses.
This Bee Bottle flacon that I bought is, from my understanding, the second version of Attrape Cลur, aside from the other named incarnations. It’s a reformulation. The juice is golden yellow as opposed to that familiar shade of peach that I have become accustomed to from Evasion. But the scent itself is the same.
Now for the original formula, which I acquired as a 15ml decant from an incredible swap partner on Fragrantica. It’s incredible. It’s BEYOND incredible! This juice IS peach colored only deeper, darker than Evasion. It’a also a bit “dirtier”. From what I’ve learned, the original Attrape Cลur contained oak moss, which shortly thereafter production, became banned by the IFRA. So it was reformulated with a different tree moss. But the original is thick, syrupy and wears like an extrait. Perhaps it IS an extrait, I’m not sure, but it certainly feels like and wears as such. But it is amazing and I would consider selling a kidney to get a hold of a full bottle of the original haha.
The reformulated version is definitely lighter, more effervescent and doesn’t have nearly the longevity of the original. In fact I think Evasion actually wears longer than the reformulated version, though the longevity IS fair for an EdP.
So now I’m left with two more versions of this precious liquid to try: Guet Apens and Royal Extract. Though there ARE actually several other versions of this fragrance that were released over the years, they were such limited and exclusive releases that it’s just not plausible I will ever get to try them. But I’m happy to say that I located and purchased a partial bottle of Guet Apens from a person in France, though it will be several weeks until I see it. But I definitely have something to look forward to!
For die hard perfumistas and serious Guerlain aficionados, there are only handful of perfumes from this house that are truly considered real unicorns, holy grails, the “El Dorados” of fragrance and Attrapeย Cลur is right up there at the top. It is truly a masterpiece and I hope Guerlain continues to tease us over the years with more mysterious releases of this elusive perfume.ย โค
Season: Any and every chance you get, but it wears great year round.
Top: Peach, Rose
Heart: Iris, Jasmine
Base: Vanilla, Amber, Oakmoss, Woods
๐~FragAmour~๐ A Fragrant Affair 