Hiram Green Shangri La is back!

[Italia]

Hiram Green has just announced that his magnificent chypre, Shangri La, has returned from its discontinuation four years ago, and is available for pre-order from his website. Hopefully it will return to specialty retailers as well.

While some may be a bit skeptical about its reformulation, HG has addressed this issue, and given that he made the difficult decision to discontinue it because he could no longer source key ingredients, I can only conclude that this reformulation has been created with the utmost thought and care to reproduce the spirit and sensibility of the original.

While I backed up my original bottle before its discontinuation, I'm nevertheless excited to try this new version, and am happy for chypre fans that this beauty is once again available.

He posted this message:

Ever since I stopped production of Shangri La in 2018 my customers have asked me to bring it back. I thought I should finally listen and am pleased to announce an updated edition of Shangri La.

The original Shangri La was introduced in 2014 as the followup to my debut fragrance Moon Bloom. It was inspired and named after the fictional land descried in James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon. Hilton describes Shangri La as a mythical Himalayan utopia, an earthly paradise isolated from the rest of the world where people are almost immortal. I translated the beauty and purity of Shangri La into a contemporary interpretation of a classic chypre perfume.

Chypre perfumes are characterised by a contrast between a fresh citrus accord and a woody-oakmoss base. The first chypre dates from 1917 and since then this fragrance genre has enjoyed enduring appeal.

It takes a good nose to distinguish the 2022 edition from the original Shangri La. The most noticeable difference is perhaps a lighter and warmer character with greater emphasis on floral and spicy notes. Adding more oak moss was not an option as the original version already includes the highest regulatory amount possible.

Shangri La is a bright and airy perfume with a lush and exotic character. The fragrance opens with a sharp burst of lemon, orange and bergamot that is followed by a rich bouquet of peach, jasmine, orris, rose, cinnamon and warm spices. This opulent heart is anchored by an earthy base of vetiver and oakmoss.

I continue be inspired by mythical themes. Earlier in 2022 I launched a fougere perfume that takes its cue from the natural splendour of Arcadia.

Please forgive my fan girl gushing...this is one of my very favorite fragrances ever, and I hope it finds new fans to keep it going into the future. 😊

 

[cazaubon]

I love Shangri La too and am thrilled to hear it is back. I backed it up when the discontinuation was announced but I'm hoping retailers will stock it so I can sample the new version. Given how meticulous Hiram Green is, I expect it to be very close to the original.

 

[hednic]

Read this in the news article posted yesterday. It sounds very nice.

 

[heavy black heart]

ordered!!

huge fan of Hyde & love Slowdive too

been meaning to get my hands on this one

 

[darinaldi]

Count me in as another Shangri La lover who's happy to see this is back. I bought a backup bottle as soon as he announced the discontinuation last time, and I'm also curious to compare the new formulation to the old to see what differences there are.

Now if only he would bring back Dilettante....

 

[lfc1892]

I’m keen to try this, but it sounds a little sweet perhaps?

 

[La Fleur]

I'm excited to try this one! Maybe one day Voyage will make a return as well, still kicking myself for not grabbing a bottle of the 2019 version.

 

[grayspoole]

Dear Hiram Green—

Please reissue Dilettante next. It was really good and all I have is a tiny sample. 😭

 

[emtee]

Slight rant but I’ve wanted to try this house for a while now and I can’t remember why I hadn’t until I just went on their website and tried to order some samples. So the discovery set is 8 x 1ml samples for 40eur which is pretty expensive but then they want another 7.5eur shipping? So 47.5eur just to try some fragrances where I may end up spending several hundred on the ones I really like? I know it’s a niche company but come on there must be a better way to try these scents, MFK for example do a very reasonably priced sample set, as do Heeley, why can’t HG do the same? There’s a good chance I’d spend a lot of money on full bottles if I could try them for a reasonable price.

 

[Tilt]

Slight rant but I’ve wanted to try this house for a while now and I can’t remember why I hadn’t until I just went on their website and tried to order some samples. So the discovery set is 8 x 1ml samples for 40eur which is pretty expensive but then they want another 7.5eur shipping? So 47.5eur just to try some fragrances where I may end up spending several hundred on the ones I really like? I know it’s a niche company but come on there must be a better way to try these scents, MFK for example do a very reasonably priced sample set, as do Heeley, why can’t HG do the same? There’s a good chance I’d spend a lot of money on full bottles if I could try them for a reasonable price.

I understand the frustration with sample prices. With quality houses like Hiram Green at least you can consider it an adventure as they’re all interesting perfumes even if you don’t love all, or any, of them.

It’s unfair to compare a one man operation making natural perfumes to MFK who are owned by LVMH, one of the biggest corporations in the world. The formula cost for those perfumes will almost certainly be tiny and free samples can be written off to an extent (while hoping to get a sale of course).

Do you have a local stockist of Hiram Green where you can try some and then maybe get a sample of the perfumes that take your fancy?

 

[Schubertian]

Hah I saw that and while I missed the original release, I went and pre-ordered this… I really like Hiram Green and I love chypres so much, but nice ones are rare as hen’s teeth nowadays.

 

[darinaldi]

Dear Hiram Green—

Please reissue Dilettante next. It was really good and all I have is a tiny sample. 😭

Unlike with Shangri La, I did not find out about Dilettante in time to purchase a bottle and all I had was the dregs of an old 10-ml travel spray from back when he still made those. I was fortunate to snag another travel spray from a fellow BNer getting rid of hers. Dilettante might be my favorite orange blossom fragrance and I would love to see it come back. But if he ever gets rid of Moon Bloom then I might have to fly to the Netherlands to have some stern words with him.

 

[Schubertian]

My bottle arrived, and I'm wearing it. I like it, though I've yet to fall crazily in love with it.

It's recognisably a Hiram Green perfume, having tried several. I've never tried the original Shangri La, so I can't comment on similarity to that.

It's nothing like Mitsouko imo. Perhaps more reminiscent of Rochas Femme. I'm also reminded a bit of Rogue's Flora & Fauna, but I'll need to wear F&F to see if I'm completely off the mark here. On my skin Shangri La is very fruity and aromatic, complex and a little sweet. I can smell some similar spiciness as in the base of Moon Bloom, perhaps it's the HG signature.
Shangri La is less dark, mossy and green than I expected, I think, based on the reviews I read. It feels lush, rich, sunny rather than shady, and very suited to the in-between seasons, autumn for sure but perhaps spring, too.

In short: Shangri La won't replace Mitsouko or vintage Femme in my affections, but it's very well done, definitely smells like a true chypre and is also highly wearable.