L'Heure Bleue Eau de Parfum
Guerlain (1912)

The current "Legendaires" EdP gets a 9/10 from me. A striking blue-flower combination lingers (iris, heliotrope, violet). It is perhaps more flower-forward than the vintage versions I've experienced, but it is a winner. The dry-down is more complex than the straight-up Guerlinade endings of other Guerlains.

I myself find the floral heart too focused for my own usage, but my partner loves it, and I love smelling it on him. Bravo Thierry Wasser.

Vintage L’Heure Bleue was a 3D perfume, the actual eau de parfum is 2D at the most.
It smells good, but what made L’HB so striking and unique is gone : the contrast between head and base, the complexity and depth, all sadly flattened.
And by vintage I mean 15 years back, it was probably even better in the 90’s and earlier.

According to the batch code on the new bottle I just got of LHB, it was made in January 2022, and is from Guerlain's Les Légendaires collection. I loved LHB until the IFRA forced Guerlain to massacre it ~ and just about every other perfume I wore. Whenever I wore it, I had this overwhelming, but beautiful feeling of melancholia. Sadly, all I got from this current version is powdery smelling licorice. Well, I can cross another perfume off my list of favorites thanks to the IFRA!

And you can send me dead flowers every morning

Send me dead flowers by the mail

Send me dead flowers to my wedding

This scent is all about the evocative powers of dead flowers...to me!

In my possession is a 2002 batch (MEQXR) and from the very opening, it is everything I hoped to experience and more (I can only imagine the beauty of a well-preserved older vintage).

There's a radiant kaleidescope of cherry-pie-play-doh heliotrope, anisaldehyde-heavy aniseed, parma violets, spicy carnation, and cool and watery iris. Its a confluence of several favorite notes, and it is utterly BLISSFUL.

It smells of crepuscule, bittersweet and uncertain, but of a profound beauty. As time passes, it becomes more impressionistic, almost phantasmagorical, as if it follows into the night, unabated but mutating into woods, benzoin, and vanilla. Hours pass, and the legendary Guerlainade base remains, eventually whispering.

One of the few fragrances that is profoundly personal. I wear this at night, mostly for myself or for meaningful company. I don't think the world that is ageist and obsessed with what's de rigueur can really understand L'Heure Bleue, so why cast pearls before swine?

One part orange blossom, one part spicy carnation, one part violet. Throw in some heliotrope, some anise and other spices, and you have this remarkable, edible masterpiece.

I have not tried this in some years. I have a fluted EDC bottle, and an EDP from the "striped" gold box. I prefer the Cologne for its less-intense approach.

Women have worn this their entire lives, and it makes perfect sense why. It's all downhill after this.