L'Heure Bleue by Guerlain Eau de Parfum Spray / 2.5 fl.oz. 75ml

Product Information

I hate the start - way too powdery and something else my inexperienced nose can't quite identify, probably iris. It's a drab, rainy, chilly afternoon right now, which seems to fit its mood quite well, but I think it would work year-round. I thought I’d never get on with it but it opened out to a very interesting violet/floral note with some spicy background from the cloves. Add to it the signature Guerlain vanilla, which is not sickly sweet and spices, which take some time to appear from the background. The woods and vanilla, as well as some of the other flowers - I think I can single out ylang-ylang and heliotrope - develop afterwards, as well as a very faint citrusy element mixed with spices, like one of those old-fashioned pomanders made with oranges and cloves.

LHB is probably within my Top 5 favorite scents of all-time, and I hope never to be without a flacon. I have noticed that a lot of modern perfumes tend to have excellent top notes and then never again live up to those first 2 minutes (I blame perfume counters oddly enough)--whereas vintages seem to have rather ~challenging~ openings which completely disguises the 6-8 hours of beautiful dry-down that follows. Which doesn't mean that I think extroverted brunettes can't wear it, just that it doesn't feel right on me.

I get hugged a lot while wearing this fragrance, and I do think it has a decided allure of it's own.

I feel like I've finally "grown into" vintage Guerlain as I previously felt too young to appreciate this. A ceramic hand-painted lamp appeared in my mind with a thick layer of dust on its crystal-tasseled lamp shade. I aroused some curiosity and heard comments about wearing an elegant perfume that stood out among the reigning masculine ambroxan. L'Heure Bleue, Mitsouko, Jardins de Bagatelle, Samsara, L’Instant de Guerlain, L’Instant Magic, Insolence, Champs Elysees, Idylle, Lui, L'Initial, Jicky, Chamade, Nahema, Vol de Nuit, Après L'Ondee and Chant d'Aromes.And I think this idea is well represented here, in this olfactory orchestration of life and death as two necessary sides of the same human experience. For me and on me this is better in warmer weather not so screechy on me like in the winter, but again the dry down is absolutely beautiful! Within 10 minutes, L'Heure Bleue shifts into its next form - a heavy, purple-tinged shroud of musky violet and iris, velvety rose, and a single carnation. I get strong floral + spices + Shalimar DNA from the first 20 minutes or so, and then it dries down to a nutty, white-floral powder that almost reminds me of a much less cloying Mon Guerlain.