Pierre-Francois-Pascal Guerlain was born in Abbevile France. His dream was to become a chemist and went to London in 1820 to study. He worked in a shop that sold aromatic vinegar and soap to earn some money. He became the assistant of the masterperfumer and in 1828 he returned to France to open his own shop. He was a specialist in making personal perfumes for his costumers. But he also made toothpaste, soap and creams.
Soap label from 1890
Pierre became very famous and delivered perfume to the Belgian kings and the prince of Wales. He created Eau de Cologne Imperiale for the emperor Eugenie and became the official deliverer of the emperor Napoleon the third. His son Aime followed his father and wanted to make heavier perfumes instead of the fresh eau de colognes that where popular in that time. The result was Jicky. .jpg)
This perfume came in 1889 on the market and was nothing like an imitation of the nature or a creation of flowery smells: it was a combination of sensual notes; Civet, Coumarine, Vanilline and Linalool all synthetic products and Lavender and Bergamot. Jicky was "new", it was so new that people in that time need to get used to the perfume and only 20 years later it became a success.
In that time there where created a lot of perfumes and some of them are still around. One of them is L'Heure Bleue form 1912. The clear part of it is created by Bulgarian rose, Iris and Heliotroop, and the magical dark heart is created by Vanilla, Jasmine and Muskus. Until now perfumers use the basenotes from this perfume to variate with it to created a new perfume inspired by L'Heure Bleue.
The company Guerlain is still alive and there where always followers in the family. The last perfumer until now is Jean Paul Guerlain.
The company Guerlain created a lot of perfumes here are some of them:
Mitsouko
1919.
Type: Chypre.
Notes: Bergamot-Rose-Jasmin-Peach-Spices-Oakmoss.
Guerlinade
1922
Type: Flowery Oriental
Notes: Bergamot-Tonka bean-Vanilla
Shalimar
1925
Type: Oriental
Notes: Bergamot-Iris-Vanilla-Ambar
Vetiver
1959
Type: Woody
Notes: Vetiver-Nutmeg-Pepper
Jardins de Bagatelle
1983
Type: Flowery
Notes: Jasmin-Magnolia-Gardenia-Tuberose
Samsara
1989
Type:Oriental
Notes: Jasmin-Sandalwood-Rose-Narcis-Vanilla
L'Instant
Type: Flowery Oriental
Notes: Lemonhoney-Magnolia-Ambar
6 comments:
Jenny, thank you for your notes on Jicky. It never occured to me that the "success" of this perfume was a matter of 20 or so years. This tells us how avant garde it was back then (and maybe this is why it is still appreciated today) and it tells us that good things need time...
Fragrant wishes
What a great summary of Guerlain's history!
Hi Andy, it's incredible that a perfume made in 1889 still is admired. Think about that your perfumes still would be sold in the year 2123!!!
Hi Sean,
The history of Guerlain is great and so are his perfumes. I will write more about the perfumes one by one, this was just a short discription of the perfumes.
Always enjoy a synopsis on my first, and favorite perfume dynasty !
As I said to Andy-
If it's good design, it will always be good- regardless of time elapsed...
Dikke kus-
Idaatje
Hi Chaya,
Yes good things will allways stay. Guerlain has made the most wonderful perfumes. Sometimes I try to recreate their perfumes to learn from it.
Kus
Jenny
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