According to Guerlain folklore, this was named after an English student whom Aimé Guerlain fell in love with. It was in fact named for his nephew, Jacques Guerlain. It was the first 'abstract' perfume as it wasn't reminiscent of one individual note.
Apparently a fave of Sean Connery.
Jicky Eau de Parfum fragrance notes
Head
- lemon, mandarin, bergamot
Heart
- lavender, rosemary, basil, bay, orris, jasmine, patchouli, rose, vetiver, cinnamon
Base
- leather, amber, vanilla, sandalwood, civet, tonka bean, incense, benzoin, Rosewood
Where to buy
Latest Reviews of Jicky Eau de Parfum

As with most of my favourite Guerlains, the scent is too composed to detect and single element, until the unmistakeable lingering delicious vanilla dry down. Fun, light but not "clean", breezy but not "fresh", this is probably my most frequently-worn fragrance.
I have smelled both a vintage extrait and (strangely) a modern extrait that they had available at the Guerlain desk for sampling (but not purchasing). It's all incredible. This is the heart and soul of my love of fragrance.

I would not wear Kouros - it’s too grimy - but I like Jicky a lot.
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Sure, it is furthest from modern that a fragrance can get, but Hell if I care about modernity. Modernity has also brought reality TV and fast fashion.

For me, Jicky is a big 'love', but it is not for everyone, and not a safe blind buy. But it is also not a scent to spray once and reject. There is a good reason why it has been in production since 1889.
(later) I snagged a small bottle of vintage extract - Oh. My. God. This is Divine. Still very herbal and earthy, but somehow the harsh edges of my modern edp are smoothed out in the vintage parfum, bringing the lovely dry down to the front much sooner. Certainly, this is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. But if it works for you, it is marvelous.

As so many of the comments here attest, this grand old classic doesn't work for everyone. The civet, which must be synthetic in the current, post-IFRA formulation, is too animalic for some folks to find it tolerable and for others, the interplay with their personal scents or body chemistry causes this fragrance to go unpleasantly fecal.
For me, it does neither. It is just a shimmery olfactory portal to Belle Epoque Paris. It is not entirely clean smelling, to be sure, but it is magical. I don't imagine Belle Epoque Paris smelled entirely clean either. Indeed, current day Paris doesn't smell altogether clean.
The citrus opening here is lovely as is the spicy, slightly powdery (from the orris) mid note. As things move toward the base, the patchouli and vetiver bridge the scent into the animalic leathery incense and vanillic Guerlinade notes that feature in this and so many of the house's fragrances that followed Jicky.
I think it is quite a commentary on the quality on display here that this fragrance has been in continuous production for more than a century and a quarter. I cannot conceive of this fragrance having originally been marketed as feminine. To my nose, it is perfectly unisex if not somewhat masculine. Projection is moderate and longevity is impressive on my fragrance consuming skin.
I do not find this fragrance to be an old lady smell. But I do imagine that a fair number of folks will simply not want to smell like Jicky. For this reason, as well as the aforementioned fact that this scent doesn't work with everyone's scent and/or chemistry, you really do need to sample this fragrance before buying.
For my part, I enjoy Jicky for its historical significance and for how well it performs. But mostly, I like how it smells.
