Guerlain Homme L'eau Boisee - advice please?

[Sloth]

Hi, from reviews I like the sound of Guerlain Homme L'eau Boisee, as a fresh, clean, sophisticated and masculine fragrance
However, due to not being able to find any local stores that stock it or samples or decants (UK) I may have to blind buy, but this naturally makes me nervous.
I have tried a few Guerlain fragrances, including the much acclaimed classic Guerlain Vetiver, which (blasphemy I know) I disliked, as I found it too dirty and earthy, not at al fresh and clean.
Is L'eau Boisee cleaner and fresher than Guerlain Vetiver, or will I dislike it if I dislike Guerlain Vetiver?
I also read that Guerlain Homme EDP is similar to L'eau Boisee, but with more emphasis on the rum and slightly less vetiver and lime? Is that correct?
So, perhaps someone may have a sample or decant to send me? (I'll pay of course) but failing that I have some questions to better educate a potential blind buy.
Anyone?

 

[TRBeck]

L’Eau boisee is indeed clean, and I would stay its vetiver in particular is less earthy than Guerlain Vetiver. It’s a note but not the focus of the scent. I would also say it’s less earthy than Terre d’Hermes, to which it’s often compared. I sold mine off because I ultimately found it a bit boring, a very ISO E heavy frag after the admittedly wonderful opening.

Homme EDP, on the other hand, has lots of facets, including a smooth patchouli in the base that keeps me coming back for more. If I had a decant to send you, I would, but I foolishly sold that bottle in a failed attempt at minimalism. It has a rum note, but it’s restrained, or I wouldn’t go for it as boozy scents aren’t my thing. Wearable year round in my opinion, but the opening is slightly less fresh than that of L’Eau Boisee.

 

[Sloth]

L’Eau boisee is indeed clean, and I would stay its vetiver in particular is less earthy than Guerlain Vetiver. It’s a note but not the focus of the scent. I would also say it’s less earthy than Terre d’Hermes, to which it’s often compared. I sold mine off because I ultimately found it a bit boring, a very ISO E heavy frag after the admittedly wonderful opening.

Homme EDP, on the other hand, has lots of facets, including a smooth patchouli in the base that keeps me coming back for more. If I had a decant to send you, I would, but I foolishly sold that bottle in a failed attempt at minimalism. It has a rum note, but it’s restrained, or I wouldn’t go for it as boozy scents aren’t my thing. Wearable year round in my opinion, but the opening is slightly less fresh than that of L’Eau Boisee.

Thanks, I appreciate your response and wouldn't expect anyone to send a sample from the US to the UK.
I am encouraged that it is not much like Vetiver and do recall reviews saying it is somewhat linear in development, but that's not always a bad thing for me. Too often I've loved the opening and even mid, only to hate a fuzzy and sometimes cloying dry-down.
I'd like it if it had a smooth dry-down that retained some of the citrus and woods of the opening, just smoothed out so to speak.
I am intrigued by the EDP and would also like to try it against L’Eau Boisee to compare. I also am not into boozy fragrances.

 

[freewheelingvagabond]

I think you'll probably dislike it.

 

[AJ1515]

L'eau Boisse and Homme EDP are much more modern smelling than Vetiver. L'eau Boisee starts with a crazy beautiful lime opening and then transitions to this slightly spicy, green grass, vetiver, and wood mid and dry down.

I found EDP almost soapy as it developed--a beautiful, green, slightly wood bar soap.

 

[TRBeck]

I think you'll probably dislike it.

I found EDP almost soapy as it developed--a beautiful, green, slightly wood bar soap.

That’s a good assessment and probably explains why I enjoy the EDP so much.

freewheelingvagabond was far more succinct than I was, and likely correct

 

[hednic]

I may have to blind buy, but this naturally makes me nervous.

Don't be nervous. My bet is that you'll enjoy it.

 

[Sloth]

That’s a good assessment and probably explains why I enjoy the EDP so much.

freewheelingvagabond was far more succinct than I was, and likely correct

Actually they both sound nice for different reasons!
It doesn't sound like they would make each other redundant either?

 

[Sloth]

Don't be nervous. My bet is that you'll enjoy it.

Thanks Hednic, you may be right.

I had TDH EIV and liked it but didn't love it, so sold it. Although not dirty and still fresh and crisp, it was a little too screechy for me to be honest.
Is L'eau Boisee still as crisp and fresh but smoother and less screechy than TDH EIV?

 

[TRBeck]

Actually they both sound nice for different reasons!
It doesn't sound like they would make each other redundant either?

Thanks Hednic, you may be right.

I had TDH EIV and liked it but didn't love it, so sold it. Although not dirty and still fresh and crisp, it was a little too screechy for me to be honest.
Is L'eau Boisee still as crisp and fresh but smoother and less screechy than TDH EIV?

They are not redundant of each other at all.

I also don’t care for Eau Intense Vetiver. My bottle goes untouched these days. IMO Eau Boisee is far smoother and less grating than Eau Intense Vetiver.

 

[Andy the frenchy]

They are not redundant of each other at all.

I also don’t care for Eau Intense Vetiver. My bottle goes untouched these days. IMO Eau Boisee is far smoother and less grating than Eau Intense Vetiver.

I agree with that.

I find TdH EIV to be sharp, nearly screechy, while EB to be insanely fresh buut well balanced.
TdH EIV is on my sales list, while EB is a keeper for life.

 

[AJ1515]

Third-ing the opinion that they are not redundant. At one point I owned all 3--L'eau Boisse, EDP, and Veiter--and all they have pretty striking differences.

 

[Sloth]

This looks very promising, I really need to sample this, both in fact.

 

[FOXHOUND]

Hi, from reviews I like the sound of Guerlain Homme L'eau Boisee, as a fresh, clean, sophisticated and masculine fragrance
However, due to not being able to find any local stores that stock it or samples or decants (UK) I may have to blind buy, but this naturally makes me nervous.
I have tried a few Guerlain fragrances, including the much acclaimed classic Guerlain Vetiver, which (blasphemy I know) I disliked, as I found it too dirty and earthy, not at al fresh and clean.
Is L'eau Boisee cleaner and fresher than Guerlain Vetiver, or will I dislike it if I dislike Guerlain Vetiver?
I also read that Guerlain Homme EDP is similar to L'eau Boisee, but with more emphasis on the rum and slightly less vetiver and lime? Is that correct?
So, perhaps someone may have a sample or decant to send me? (I'll pay of course) but failing that I have some questions to better educate a potential blind buy.
Anyone?

I have both Homme EDP and Homme L'eau Boisee. The Homme L'eau Boisee is definitely worth the purchase and it complements the Homme EDP without being redundant. Great spring/summer scent that is well worth it to me and I'm glad I bought it.

 

[L'Homme Blanc Individuel]

How do you feel about synthetic woods? I liked L'eau Biosee until the fresh part of the scent faded. I didn't enjoy the synth wood base at all.

 

[tspencer]

My take,

Guerlain Homme L'eau Boisee is a gentlemanly 'everyday' lime fragrance that is light, masculine, unoffensive and good for warm months. I don't wear it much because I like fragrances that are often different or a little exaggerated in some respects. Guerlain Homme L'eau Boisee would be a really nice daily-driver fragrance for a middle-aged man. If you don't want to offend but still want to enjoy an occasional light whiff of a nice scent off of yourself then this works. It's a scent you could wear to court or a doctor visit or to the office.

 

[saminlondon]

How do you feel about synthetic woods? I liked L'eau Biosee until the fresh part of the scent faded. I didn't enjoy the synth wood base at all.

This pretty much sums it up for me too. I enjoy wearing it in the summer heat when I need a change from eau de colognes, but Guerlain could have paid more attention to (spent more money on) the drydown.

By the way, if you think you might like it, try it out and stock up soon: it's been discontinued.

 

[TRBeck]

How do you feel about synthetic woods? I liked L'eau Biosee until the fresh part of the scent faded. I didn't enjoy the synth wood base at all.

I don’t even always mind synth woods. I don’t like them overdosed, especially norlimbanol, but I don’t get that here. It’s just pretty flat to me in the drydown, sort of one dimensional.

 

[ShawnS]

Homme L’Eau Boisee is excellent stuff and unfortunately discontinued so eBay is your best bet for this one excellent lime note mixed with vetiver. Homme Eau De Parfum is an excellent one too a very clean upscale easy to wear fresh fragrance and performance is good. Both are worth trying and you can’t go wrong with either one.

 

[andym72]

I lay claim to the first-ever post on Basenotes about Guerlain Homme L'Eau Boisee!

Have a read of this:

https://basenotes.com/threads/a-tale-of-2-leaux-that-ends-on-a-high.296678/

It's got some typos in it but I'm not editing it now, it's over 11 years old!

Not a single reply to the thread, got ignored at the time as you can see.

I'm on my second bottle of Homme L'Eau Boisee, I've since bought Terre d'Hermes Eau Tres Fraiche, Declaration L'Eau, and a really rare flanker, F by Ferragamo Free Time. I also really liked TdH Eau Intense Vétiver, but since I already had Eau Tres Fraiche it seemed a little redundant. And you can group them all together by saying this: Take Terre d'Hermes as inspiration and make a new fresher scent.

I also own Guerlain Homme EDP which is its own thing and a dam good thing, so theres not enough overlap with L'Eau Boisee not to have both.

The closest thing to compare Homme L'Eau Boisee to is TdH Eau Tres Fraiche (I have one on each wrist right now). They are both fresh takes on the Vetiver plus ISO E Super base accord started in Declaration and popularised in Terre d'Hermes.

I don't like the original Terre d'Hermes, never have, primarily because of the "Terre" accord that is supposed to smell mineral, like the smell given off by flint rocks when you work them and chip flakes off. It smells unpleasant to me.

TdH Eau Tres Fraiche is not just the fresh version, for me it is the bearable version. It has a little of the flint smell and a little of the Cumin that links back to Declaration. But for the most part it is Bitter Orange up top, rosey green leaves of Geranium in the middle, and the Vetiver plus ISO E Super accord in the base, but you don't just get the base when it dries down, the Geranium and a bit of citrus tang hang around.

Guerlain Homme L'Eau Boisee swaps the Bitter Orange for Lime, which is sweeter smelling, and adds Mint and a bit of Rum but not enough to smell boozy. There little or no Geranium in the middle, which is odd because that is the heartnote in every other version of Guerlain Homme! And then again the Vetiver plus ISO E Super accord in the base but the Vetiver this time is quite smokey smelling. But it does dry down to just that, a smokey Vetiver with that velvety woodiness effect of Iso E Super.

Saminlondon, are you sure L'Eau Boisee has been discontinued? If it have I better get yet another backup bottle!