Eau de Guerlain
Guerlain (1974)

I'm blown away by how good this stuff is.

Take the smile of a child, add the wag of a puppy's tail, plus a cat's soft purr along with the scent of a garden and the feel of the softest cotton. Combine all of that with an easy breeze on a sunny spring afternoon when you have nothing to do but lay in a hammock, enjoying the first really warm day of the year. From across the lawn, your neighbor says "Hey, I just made lemonade. Let me bring you a glass." Ooh, thank you. And as the neighbor approaches, in the distance, there's music playing. Is that...? Yes it is, because of course it is. It's Louis Armstrong.

"I see trees of green
Red roses too
I see them bloom
For me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world"

That's the smell of Eau De Guerlain.

It's the smell of almost-too-much niceness, bottled, with just a teeny tiny bit of funk in the base that makes it the smell of a person rather than the smell of a garden or the smell of citruses and flowers.

Yes, this scent is from 1974, but it's timeless. The top and heart smell like a scent that could have been released this year, but the hint of funk in the base harken back to the 70s, though the scent as a whole does not smell like it's from the 70s. It smells modern, with a nod toward the past. I have to assume it was ahead of its time.

I'm honestly blown away.

With Eau de Guerlain we have one of the most well-composed of citrus aromatics, with such a balance of components masterfully blended by Jean-Paul Guerlain at a time in the 70s where green, clean, outdoors livelihoods were all the rage as reflected in not only fragrance but fashions. Here, we have agrestic herbs and caraway mingling with classic eau de cologne citrus and a summer bouquet, anchored with the beloved Guerlainade base.

The citrus is terrific here: the bergamot is natural, lingering and lasting for its nature, zesty and cool, with the lemon supporting and not overpowering, and the basil and fruits adding a unique dimension, fleshing out the accord, if you will. The caraway and florals eventually override the citrus and lend a mystique to it all about 30 minutes in.

When it becomes a skin scent, which in due time all of 'les eaux' surely do, a jasmine and neroli hum somehow hovers over musk, moss, and patchouli (I can never get enough of that Guerlainade). And yes, we are talking about this newish bottle. Brilliance.

The Guerlain EDCs are the house's unsung gems, respected but rarely "hyped," perhaps because they fall into fairly common lanes.

Eau de Guerlain, for instance, may call to mind such fragrances as Eau Sauvage or Eau de Rochas (it's more floral than the former and more delicate than the latter), both of which are more robust takes on the classic EDC format. This, too, is a more robust creation than some of the other Guerlain EDCs.

But putting novelty to the side, this is an exquisitely beautiful thing, and I cannot find fault with it. Eau de Guerlain showcases bergamot, lemon verbena, jasmine, and herbs united in a beautiful dance.

This Eau de Cologne has much more than the others of the same kind. The fruit is ripe, bursting, and there's an unusual, vintage, floral note. The bawse is pollen and honey. Great performances as well!

Rumor has it that when it came time for Jean-Paul Guerlain to follow the time-honored tradition of making his own eau de cologne to be added to the ranks of each house perfumer's eau since the first, he decided not to make something fresh and ephemeral as his fore-bearers, but to instead make more of a lasting fragrance while staying at eau de cologne strength. Little did he know then that years later a market would emerge for longer-lasting takes on the eau de cologne style, particularly in higher-end designer and niche markets, but his original Eau de Guerlain (1974) was perhaps the earliest example of what we now would probably call a luxury eau de cologne. You can contest that "extra-vielle" variants of the original Farina recipe released by Roger & Gallet predate this, but they don't really have much longer wear time than most standard eaux, plus the contents of the alleged first "Olivier Creed Eau de Cologne" bottles from when Creed re-appeared as a perfumer (after the centuries-old haberdasher/leather maker ran by Charles Creed shuttered) cannot really be confirmed. With that out of the way, it's safe to say Eau de Guerlain is the world's first "strong" eau de cologne, but this strength comes at extreme cost to fidelity with the traditional neroli-lead eau de cologne style. Also, this was marketed to men, but like most takes on the eau de cologne style, is thoroughly unisex, because lemons and florals don't exactly declare themselves endowed one way or the other.

For starters, the opening blast of Eau de Guerlain is not neroli and bergamot, but rather lemon verbena, bergamot, and petitgrain, the last one often considered a lower-cost substitute for neroli. Petitgrain has a much sharper smell than neroli, being extracted from the leaves of the bitter orange rather than from orange blossoms, and this adds the desired potency alongside the cleverly-placed verbena and rosemary, but at the loss of the soapy fresh opening you expect from an eau de cologne which neroli brings. That isn't to say Eau de Guerlain isn't fresh, but it's a rather smart freshness instead of a soft one. Caraway seed leads into some evolving jasmine and rose later into the dry down, which is completely unlike most eau de cologne formulas except maybe the aforementioned Creed Original Cologne/Pure White Cologne (2011), which uses some rose. The floral chypre demeanor here in Eau de Guerlain presages later floral masculines like 1881 pour Homme by Nino Cerruti (1990), while also being a bit on the dry woody side like Eau de Rochas pour Homme (1993). Being as this is about 15 years before the second one, that puts Eau de Guerlain in pretty futuristic footing for the time, but the traditional oakmoss chypre base boosted with sandalwood, white musk, and amber, shows the true traditional face of the scent. Wear time is going to be eight hours, which is definitely an improvement over a bottle of a Farina-style eau de cologne, and projection is moderate to light, but still more than you'd expect.

As with most eau de cologne style fragrances, this is purely a warm weather treat, because even with enhanced performance thanks to some stiffer ingredients and a heavier base, Eau de Guerlain still disappears under the nose in cold weather, unless wearing indoors after a shower. Like all eau de colognes available from Guerlain, this one has also been moved to the spray-topped 3.4oz/100ml "bee bottle", where it can be found most places that handle a larger selection of Guerlain beyond the token Shalimar (1925) and maybe a few others. Geoffrey Beene Bowling Green (1986) and Verveine L'Occitane (2003) get pretty close to this in style, particularly the former, with it's focus on the verbena, sandalwood, oakmoss, and lemon. Neither of these have the soft dandy rose/jasmine core, but perform better than Eau de Guerlain does. Also sadly, there is no discernible "Guerlinade" here, but I don't think it gets included in the eau de colognes anyway. One last thing of interest here is that this would be the last "cologne de parfumeur" made by an actual Guerlain, as Jean-Paul would be replaced by Thierry Wasser, who would literally name his entry into the cologne canon as La Cologne de Parfumeur (2010), likely to show his relative anonymity as a perfumer hired to curate the house of Guerlain rather than being a blood-relative of the namesake family. Definitely not your average eau! Thumbs up.

A beautiful burst of natural smelling lemon with mint and watery notes is what I get on first application. It smells very refreshing in a lemonade way.

Soon after you get light herbs and lavender with a very subtle floral rose note. The scent is very light and aromatic and weaved with a complexity that has you thinking how have they done this.

Eventually moss and musk with a lovely airy light jasmine note dominates the drydown. Very nice and what a lovely journey from start to finish.

It stays close to you and I get about five to six hours longevity which is great for this type of scent.

All in all a pleasure and they truly do not make them like this anymore. Big thumbs up!

The opening blast is fairly typical of the good Cologne: bergamot, lemon and petitgrain, providing the fresh and summery touch. This is, in the traditional way, combined with some herbs, with basil being expected, but a caraway provides and a slightly unusual twist. All balanced beautifully.

The drydown sports a lovely jasmin in its core, but the floral side is more complex, with the carnation and the rose coming first, with whiffs of geranium present transiently too. The rose is not prominent; it is a darkish rose that is a bit green and not very voluptuous; it is on the trimmer side and fully integrated into the whole mix as an equal, not as a ruler.

Later into the heart notes an interesting patchouli arises, which is a restrainedly crisp patchouli but overall on the softer side.

Towards the base a wood note leads into the base; touches of sandalwood are there but only faintly. The base is a rather more spicy affair, rioted is a dark musk and enhanced with a mossy amber that rounds it off.

I get moderate sillage, very good projection twelve hours of longevity on my skin.

This scent for cooler summer days and evenings starts off as a classic Cologne with an original touch. After about three hours the character of this creation changes, extending the customary floral/herbal stage, toning down the woods and finishing of with a spice mix as a complimentary enhancement. Whilst the bigger emphasis on the spicier notes dims the fresh Cologne character, especially after the top notes are gone, the overall result is quite convincing. The quality of the ingredients is excellent, the performance splendid. 3.75/5.

A more interesting take on eau de colognes from Guerlain (compared to, say, Eau de Cologne Imperiale which I have always felt so let down by).

This edc has a richer, longer lasting quality to it which has more going on within to make it MORE than just another edc: This citrus aromatic is fresh and spicy, helped along by the presence of fancy ingredients like sweaty caraway, tasty basil, and pleasant floral of rose, jasmine, and unusual carnation blossom. All sit atop a warm amber-moss-musk base.

Compared to other edc's, this one has a sharper touch to it, which makes it stand out. Initially, it can come across as cloying, but give it some time to settle down and "move" in its development before making a final decision.

Worthy of having the "Guerlain" name! :-)

Not a fan.
Starts out light and masculine.
Then, the rose takes over.
Which would be fine if I didn't mind walking around smelling like someone's Nana.
I do mind.
Not good.

I'm very satisfied with the longevity of the current 2016 formulation of Eau de Guerlain. It is quite ugly straight out of the sprayer, with citrus freshness mixed with what I think smells like rancid mould-pocked lemon peel, but I love that about it. Somehow the citrus stays on me and becomes creamier, which is remarkable for a cologne. I think it's undeniably classic or retro, simple, direct and hits the bulls-eye. I bet the contemporary materials Guerlain are using have helped make this robust and seemingly natural.

For example, it lasts way longer on me than Chanel Pour Monsieur, which is smoother and woodier, and at times I prefer the relaxing nature of the Chanel. Guerlain's Eau can strike me as brutish to begin with, but it's an invigorating morning scent, develops and never, ever bores me in the daytime, whilst on the other hand Chanel Pour Monsieur is so beautifully refined to begin with but fades quickly to more of an aura. Eau de Guerlain doesn't have Acqua di Palma Colonia's heavy and dark undertones either. Also I think I'm picking up on the sandalwood and later on I start looking forward to layering some Hermessence Santal Massoia for the evening, another one I'm loving this summer.

Eau de Guerlain bursts out with a bright éclat of citrus and then transitions into a light EdT.

After the initial excitement of the citrus calms down the atmosphere becomes one of decorous restraint. But even if the feeling is rather conventional, the structure of this cologne is not ordinary at all.

Jean-Paul Guerlain wasn't trying to create something new however, he was attempting to conserve, for as along as possible, the fleeting effect of the cologne formula. He takes a similar approach to that of Acqua di Parma's Colonia (1916) but where they boost the heart accord right up with rose, he uses the fixative action of EdT base accords, including the trademark Guerlainade, to extend the basic cologne structure in a different direction.

In EdG the emphasis is very much on the opening, and then it runs straight down to the base at the expense of any distinct middle phase. The effect of this is to make EdG technically heartless. Not quite the void displayed by the much admired Jicky - which contains no heart notes at all, but the similarity is there, and I believe his grandfather's masterpiece may have influenced Jean-Paul when he composed this.

The transition from extrovert citrus to musky amber base with occluded neroli makes EdG coherent - its a managed decline rather than change of direction, but the price for this is the muted feeling the profile has for much of its life.

After the citrus hit (and on exposed skin this is fleeting) Eau de Guerlain doesn't really shine. What you get is musk, amber and sandal, with a neroli overlay, and a touch of moss; the whole of which seems to go against the spirit of a citrus cologne.

EdG is the benchmark bright, fresh and clean fragrance for spring and summer. This is what all other summer fragrances should be measured by IMO, especially the "Eau" fragrances. It's citrus, with some prominent lemon, light floral and sweet herbs. Good staying power for the category and adequate sillage. Refreshing and invigorating and brightens any mood. Big Thumbs Up.