“Mon Guerlain”, when introduced in 2017 by famous perfume house GUERLAIN, was an immediate success. By now a whole perfume family has been created around the first fragrance. The only one of the siblings I know is “Mon Guerlain intense”, also discussed here. Please note, the full name of the latter perfume is “Mon Guerlain”, Eau de Parfume Intense. A title fit for a noblewoman. I shorten it here for legibility.
Whilst “Mon Guerlain” seems to have been created by GUERLAIN’s chief perfumer and “nose” Thierry Wasser alone, “Mon Guerlain intense” was created by Thierry Wasser and Delphine Jelk. Thierry Wasser became GUERLAINs principal perfumer in 2008, after the last GUERLAIN family member left the company. The House of GUERLAIN was since 1994 part of LVMH, the biggest collector of famous brands worldwide and naturally there were some changes. Today, Thierry Wasser and Delphine Jelk are responsible for new classics and beloved perfumes like “La Petite Robe Noir” and the “Mon Guerlain” family.
GUERLAIN was never a niche brand, but this blog is also not dedicated to niche brands. Often the fragrances of niche brands happen to be more to my liking, sometimes one gets a disappointment. Just because something is niche, it is not in all cases good. And on the other side, there are incredibly good perfumes in the “normal” lines of brands you can buy at a departments store’s perfume counter. Lancome, GUERLAIN, Dior, Prada, Givenchy, they all have much loved perfumes in their portfolio. “Mon Guerlain”, the original and the “Mon Guerlain intense” version, are exceptional perfumes, that made it to the top of the list of user’s favourites (eg on the parfumo platform ranking of women’s fragrances).
We leave aside here the distinguished history of the company GUERLAIN, founded in 1828 in Paris. The perfume house is one of the French classic ‘maisons’ and world-famous. Maybe some of the historic stories can be told in another post, with another perfume in the focus. The great vintage perfumes from Jicky (1889), L’Heure Bleu (1912) to Samsara (1989), created by family members of GUERLAIN, are worth an own blog post.
Those perfumes are distinctive, powdery and with a soapy touch. It sounds awful, but it is not. It is just that plenty of the older perfumes, even when revamped to today’s liking, do relay heavily on artificial scent notes. It was state of the art when they were created. Everything has a time; currently more natural perfumes are in demand to our overstressed noses.
GUERLAIN today seems to want their perfumes to be recognizable as a group, as almost all are based on certain scent notes. This makes absolute sense; the same notion overcomes the perfume collector when smelling modern Maison Lancome perfumes. Not the one of the special high price lines of the houses, but the ones one can buy at most perfume counters.
In an interview with the magazine Instyle, dated 19th November 2022 and accessible through the internet, Delphine Jelk mentions a scent accord called “Guerlinade”. It consists of rose, iris, jasmine, bergamot, vanilla and tonka.
In an interview with the magazine Mojeh, dated 18th of January 2022 and also accessible through the internet, Thierry Wasser names bergamot, jasmine, roses, orange flowers and sandalwood as the cornerstone scent notes for today’s GUERLAIN brand.
Coming to the scent notes of “Mon Guerlain” and “Mon Guerlain intense”, the website of GUERLAIN is the starting point.
Lavender, jasmine, sandalwood, vanilla are named for “Mon Guerlain”. According to the same source, “Mon Guerlain intense” adds patchouli to the mix.
When you look through big perfume distributor’s websites (like Douglas) for the 2 perfumes, you find many scent notes more. I would like to add the mandarin that I can smell in the “Mon Guerlain intense” version.
In very simple words “Mon Guerlain” contains more lavender, is less sweet and comforting than “Mon Guerlain intense”. Interestingly, “Mon Guerlain” is higher rated on the parfumo platform in women’s scents, making the no. 1 top position as the most beloved perfume (as of today, 18th August 2024). The scent has an air of honest summertime about it, about holiday memories or dreams of walking through fields of lavender.
The colour of the perfumes is dominated by the lilac of lavender.
Both perfumes do immediately give a feeling of being in Provence, the South of France, or at the Cote d’Azur. Wearing them, one can feel like one of the female heroines in Peter Mayle’s books.
Is there more to say? I did not mention the bees, who became the house symbol for GUERLAIN in 1853. In 1853 Napoleon III married Eugenie di Montijo, and GUERLAIN created a wedding scent for her. As bees were the symbol of Napoleon, the flacon was covered in them. Today, very rich customers can have their own bee flacon personalized by GUERLAIN. Somehow the bees just stayed with GUERLAIN.
For the “Mon Guerlain” series the bees are double fitting, due to lavender being unthinkable without bees and bumblebees humming around them.