Fragrance Reviews
Idylle by Guerlain
10/20/09 13:00:54
By: Wim Janssens
"That night, I was a long way from Paris, up in the mountains, where a man was coming to join me. I did not know him very well, but he had somehow fascinated me since our first meeting. And so I was going to see him again, and I was getting ready as you do when you are not quite sure what will happen, nurturing a secret hope… I had been given a tiny, nameless bottle of an unknown fragrance, and had been told on no account to wear it, since it was not yet on sale. I was a long way from Paris, I told myself, and after all, why not…
Who is going to recognize it? I decided to wear it, I wanted to, and it suited my mood so well it was virtually impossible to resist. I took the phial, and I put a drop of the fragrance behind my ear, like a forbidden fruit, just before dinner. And night fell, poetic, rich with sensations, one of those nights that engender encounters without you ever knowing why, a sensual and sacred night, an endless night after which – it was dawn – he asked me: what is your perfume? I answered, it doesn’t exist, I am not allowed to say its name. And when he searched for the fragrance in the street and in the shops, I knew it was unique. That was the beginning of a dream of love… A journey to the land of promises, of hopes, of silences and expectations, when through the dream, the image of the other haunts your every waking moment and you catch yourself thinking about it. It is as if the whole idea of love were personified in the dream, making it purer and more beautiful…"
"That was the beginning of our idylle."
is the latest creation by
Guerlain for mainstream distribution. It has been created by
Thierry Wasser and it is the first fragrance he created in his position as the succeeder of
Jean-Paul Guerlain, who was the latest nose for
Guerlain from the Guerlain family.
Thierry Wasser worked with
Sylvaine Delacourte on "
Guerlain Homme". They also created together "
Quand Vient La Pluie" (1997) and "
Guerlain Homme Intense" that was launched recently. "
Iris Ganache" was his creation in 2007 for 'L'art et la Matière" - a range that belongs to "The Exclusives" in honour of the noble basic ingredients used by
Guerlain through the years.
Idylle already drew a lot of attention before his release.The website was like a mystery: a preview of
the commercial and
the song, after you had received a secret code by registration. You had to print this code and use your web cam. If the code was positioned correctly, it would be identified - the bottle of Idylle would be revealed - and you could access the website. Then the mystery continued on until the 25th of September this year. It made me very curious and I wanted to try it, smell it, but I couldn't yet! Idylle is classified as an floral chypre. White musk's an patchouli are used as an accelerator, named the "Muscinade".
Very well balanced to my opinion. The scent is soft, floral and not gourmand at all. This in contrast of other and/or older creations -
Shalimar,
Mitsouko,
Jicky,
Vol de Nuit,
Samsara, ... - where the accelerators are different and mostly having a much stronger odour - a lot of them by using the "Guerlinade" - but for Idylle this is just fine. This is new to me from
Guerlain. Every perfumer at the house always had is own kind of signature -
Jean-Paul Guerlain did not like to use musk at all - but I need to get used to this new and daring one. It is completely in honour of
Guerlain - the use of the finest flowers and ingredients - but not that sharp like a lot of the other creations trough the years.
Idylle is the result of pure passion and devotion to the art of perfuming, and is in my opinion a creation that is going to become very popular and a classic over the years. I have feeling with the modern approach at
Guerlain - in total respect for the heritage and the philosophy - and I can find myself in it.
Thierry Wasser wanted to create a fragrance that would at least survive the strong regulations, to avoid reformulation already after a couple of years. Regarding to this matter: I was very delighted to have wonderful conversations with
Sylvaine Delacourte so far.
Sylvaine Delacourte is full of passion about the heritage and the future of
Guerlain. She is in charge of the fragrance development and evaluation at
Guerlain. Our conversations made me understand even more why Guerlain is still alive, full of energy and not doomed to become a boring, not creative perfume house.
She has such a knowledge and works for
Guerlain for more then 25 years.
Jean-Paul Guerlain - as clever he has always been - assured the succession of his family company and he may enjoy his retirement, beauce
Guerlain is safe with
Thierry Wasser and
Sylvaine Delacourte.
Back to Idylle, which I have smelled an worn already a lot. The first time I could try it was on the opening of a the Guerlain boutique in Belgium, where Idylle was already available in "avant-première". The fresh floral notes - combined with the Muscinade - develop into a very intimate and emotional scent. It is soft but pure and reminds me of the sweetness of a love in the past: receiving a bouquet of fresh roses and long walks trough the park where are all different kind of flowers just starting to bloom. The excitement of being in love, a gentle touch, tenderness and pretty feeking... .
"When I asked him how he had created Idylle, he confided to me that, while he was composing it, he was very happy and very much in love. He wanted to shout out loud how wonderful it was to be there, at Guerlain, with the mission to perpetuate such a proud heritage. He wanted to tell the whole world of his happiness, his high spirits, his love.
Scents, he told me, are his words. He had flowers to render a wide colour spectrum, and he composed his bouquet like a florist, with a light, exuberant touch, to encapsulate the idea of the idyll, not as a grandiloquent love affair, but as a joyous, light-hearted romance.
He told me of Bulgaria, of the valley filled with roses, where the petals are gathered and distilled to create the Guerlain rose. He told me of the resonances between flowers, which echo each other in the bouquet, and he told me how tricky it can be to harmonize flowers, when some are quiet and some more strident, some are spicy and others sweet as honey, some mellow and others piquant. In fragrance, as in love, everything depends on getting the balance right…"
I have tested Idylle, to write this review; four times on a card and two times on my skin. Pen and paper next to me, so I could write down my impressions. The bottle in front of me and the press map as background. I wanted to create an atmosphere completely devoted to the concept of Idylle, so I could get more in touch with my inner self. The golden bottle is shaped like an element from nature. Very simple but elegant ant static. It' a drop of gold, a raindrop, just before it's going to burst on the ground. If you turn the bottle upside down, it has the abstract shape of a heart. If you take the cap of the bottle and place it also upside down what reveals the shape of a heel from an elegant ladies shoe. The bottle reflects femininity in its purest form. What really fascinates me is the perfection of the bottle. You have to look very well to see anything of the vaporiser in the bottle.
"
Guerlain has always attached great importance to its bottles, which are like jewels, works of art, sculptures with rounded forms and precious, gilded colours. For
Idylle, I discovered a droplet of gold. A form at once simple and complete, a feminine form with a woman’s shapely hips, a form that soars like a tower, full of grace and sensuality.
Ora Ïto was caught up in the romanticism, the idealism, the absolute femininity treasured by
Guerlain.
He used all his talent and audacity, his concept of new perspectives, his instinctive understanding of the moment, with its modernity and minimalism, its love of forms and functional rationalism, to create the design of the bottle, which encapsulates what he calls “simplexity” – creating the illusion of simplicity for objects with a complex purpose. The encounter with a woman’s fragrance, he says, is about contact, ergonomics, gesture, elegance, fluidity and dynamism. Around the history of
Guerlain, around love, around a raindrop, he succeeded in sculpting a form that would evoke all these worlds, yet still be unique. A new curve was born, defining the moment with dazzling elegance and simplicity. A curve that was also a drop, a woman…
The bottle, a gilded, futuristic curve, shines like a golden teardrop, a tear of joy and feminine happiness, close to the human body. Of course, the bottle is a woman – it is indeed the quintessence of womanhood. It is gilded softness, a drop of gold, like the shower of gold into which
Zeus transformed himself to make love to
Danaë."
I applied
Idylle on a card, to test it. I waited a moment and then I closed my eyes... . The first notes that blossomed was lily of the valley, immediately followed by jasmine, freesia and and sweet rose petals. The rose petals intensified, yet did not overwhelm. then, to my nose, i inhaled the captured the "Muscinade" accorde- very soft and balanced
After ten minutes, I noticed that the patchouli and white musk beautifully contrasted with the rose petals - the most dominant note. the result? A warmer and more intense bouquet.A perfect marriage between floral notes and the "Muscinade".
When I wear Idylle, i feel as if I am sitting in a the most lush flower garden - resplendant with roses peonies, and lilly of the valley. there is a Ilittle fountain in the garden - filled with scented water containing white musk and patchouli.
Due to the quality of its ingredients, the sillage of Idylle is better than average, and wafts close to the skin, which is perfect for everyday use. Although it is marketed as a female fragrance, It is certainly suitable for men. "
Idylle" is also like a soft fitted shirt that you wear very close to the body. It is comfortable and you can wear it all the time. At least you would want to.
I recommend that you test
Idylle your skin and wait at least five to ten minutes to give it time to develop.the scent unveils slowly, layer by layer, and may not be love at first sniff. ( I still remember the day I tried
Shalimar for the very first time. The very first impressions were horrible! A minute of five later, I smelled it on my wrist again, and I felt in love with it. A love that is still standing)!
Guerlain surprised me again, this time in a very special way... and I believe Idylle may surprise you as well.
"It started with a rose. The rose was a blend of Bulgarian roses, the 2008 harvest being fruity, with overtones of raspberry and litchee. To this blend was added the Plessis Robinson rose, created by
Jean-Paul Guerlain out of love for the past – an old rose with fruity accents and a pungent fragrance. This, in turn, was mingled with a chypre harmony, emblematic of
Guerlain, composed of patchouli and white musk, selected for its warmth. And lastly came the bouquet that complemented the roses to perfection: lily-of-the-valley, lilac, peony, freesia and jasmine.
And so the fragrance was born: a shower of flowers, of petals, of subtle yet incisive freshness, balanced by sensuality. A nectar of flowers, an ode to life and love, in the warm light of radiant jasmine and the darker warmth of chypre, to express an ambiguity of feeling, and musk, like the scent of cashmere on the skin, a comfortable, intimate, physical sensation. In this combination of the personal, sensual, emotional facet of chypre, and the physical aspect of musk, and the declaration of love with the bouquet of flowers, the inexpressible idea was expressed, tender and ethereal, sensuous and romantic, fleeting and eternal."
Images: Guerlain, rawheadrex, Tie Guy II, audreyjm529
Author:
Wim Janssens (
MrGuerlain)
Fragrantica Writer
Wim Janssens is a writer for Fragrantica and an expert in Guerlain Fragrances. Wim is born on the 2nd of November 1977, lives in Bruges - Belgium, and he catalogues and test Guerlain fragrances. He enjoys to travel, to visit museums and to collect fragrances. He loves British detective sitcoms & movies, cinema, Belgian fashion, and modern composers like Wim Merten, Phipil Glass and Michael Nyman. His favorite city is Paris, where he would love to move to in the future. His signature fragrance is L’heure Bleue from Guerlain.
source:
Fragrantica.com
A fragrance with the name La Petite Robe Noire seemed very Chanel to me – because Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel did invent it in 1926, and for that era it was considered very revolutionary and daring. So now there is a connection, Jacques Guerlain and Coco Chanel were both revolutionary artists who created legends that still live on today. 
I apply some fragrance on my wrist and wait a few seconds before I smell. The first notes are very sweet and gourmand. I really smell the Rose Macaroons from the famous “Ladurée” at “Rue Royale” near “La Madeleine”, “Rue de St.-Honore” and “Rue de Faubourg-St.-Honoré”. I discover lemon notes, almond, vanilla and liquorices. It is very fresh during the first minutes and then the heart is sweet and intense.
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