Guerlain Homme
Eau de Parfum, Guerlain (2009)

Guerlain Homme Eau de Parfum by Guerlain (2009) was originally called Guerlain Homme Intense (2009), and was released as something of a planned capitulation to predicted criticism of the previous year's Guerlain Homme (2008) being too weak. By 2016. Guerlain Homme Intense was quietly repackaged in the "Listerine" bottle as Guerlain Homme Eau de Parfum, while all the other varieties save for Guerlain Homme L'Eau Boisée (2012) were discontinued, including the original eau de toilette that launched the line; by the end of this switcheroo, the up-market EdP was the pillar as it always should have been. It's not really Guerlain's fault per se, as they were just following the advice of LVMH's marketing gurus, who saw how much success designers were having with this same tactic of sub-standard performing pillars paving way for the up-charged "intense" varieties in the days before the toilette/parfum/elixir hierarchy we all suffer through now; that despite moans and groans from fans, ended up selling like hot cakes among Johnny Q Public. The real mistake with Guerlain Homme wasn't the concentration strategy then, it was the scent itself. This is a very good and competent scent, having an odd structure made with common materials expressed in an uncommon way, but bearing no resemblance to anything people expected from Guerlain. In fact, this is the most un-Guerlain mainstream Guerlain male release.

Guerlain Homme is at its essence, a vetiver scent. In fact, this is so much a vetiver scent that one could be forgiven into thinking that it was built up from Vetiver Extrême (2006) a few years before it. As such, the rest of Guerlain Homme is a layer of obfuscation over that vetiver, which is grassy and feels more Haitian in variety than the usual Bourbon vetiver Guerlain is known to use, paired with cedarwood and some patchoulol for a woody punch. The opening is the real trick shot to Guerlain Homme, and the love-it-or-hate combination of mint, lime, and clear rum notes that recalls mojitos or cheap malt beverages flavored as such, depending on your experiences. This fresh, vibrant, bracing green opening was almost all there was to the original eau de toilette, with only a sliver of vetiver and cedar to anchor. Here in the eau de parfum (née Intense) we see additional white floral filler courtesy of ionones and everyone's favorite lillial and lyral materials, granting a sort of old-school women's floral chypre component that is not present in the original Intense or eau de toilette. Beyond that, we get a beefier base carried over from the EdT. This style would not really be copied all that much, and always remained a low-key seller, as a year a later both Bleu de Chanel (2010) and Creed Aventus (2010) fell to Earth like the Chicxulub asteroid, and wiped all other prevailing men's styles out in an extinction-level event.

Thierry Wasser was saddled with Sylvaine Delacourte as perfumer co-pilot the same way Jean-Paul Guerlain got stuck with Anne-Marie Saget until LVMH took over, after the back-to-back sales disasters of Eau de Guerlain (1974), Parure (1975), and Nahema (1979), even if all of those went on to become classics in time. With LVMH at the helm and not the rest of the Guerlain family this time around, it was more because L'Instant de Guerlain (2004) and L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme (2004) from Maurice Roucel failed to chart alongside Jean-Paul's Mahora (2000), and they weren't about to trust Tierry Wasser on his own to repeat those failures. Mahora itself sold so poorly it was already off shelves long before Guerlain Homme even hit them. In both cases, the co-pilot was really directing the show, and the perfumes that resulted were not so Guerlain-like, although fragrances made by Jean-Paul with Saget were at least containing the "Guerlainade" accord. Guerlain had slowly been losing its soul to the company store since 2002 anyway, when Jean-Paul finally stepped down and went off to make his little limited collections in semi-retirement, and Guerlain Homme is the first real evidence of this on the men's side of the counter. It's a very good fresh woody vetiver with a chypre heart, but could have been released by any number of designers in 2009. Thumbs up

A Wasser cocktail imitated over and over yet an ever so pleasing accord for daytime ventures that leaves one in a minty doozy, floral woozy propelled by a woody aromatic base of humbled patchouli, hinted cedar and a truly honorable bossy vetiver... A lovely creamy mojito finito for a summer’s day.

I love it ever since I got it. It's my spring and summer staple. So easy to wear, transparent and refreshing. Mint, lime and rum on ice. Mojito in a bottle. Classy yet modern. Personally I'm wearing it to non-formal casual dress, but fits formal suit as well. Longevity - 7-10 hours on my skin, sillage is medium.

Big disappointment due to the powdery, white floral accord that is not a part of of the Guerlain Homme DNA.

I originally had straight L'eau which was the best glass of pink lemonade out there and the mintiest of the bunch. Fresh, fresh, fresh and gone in 60 seconds! I used to keep it in the fridge and spray like crazy on hot days. Those old 80ml bottles looked fabulous, but the sprayers were terrible.

After that, I got L'eau Boisee and that had the citrus/minty top with a hint of cool vetiver. It was also the safest scent ever. I burned through a bottle of that as a work scent in no-time.

I also tried Intense way back in the day and probably should have bought it. The rhubarb was an interesting touch.

So having had a couple bottles from the line, I thought they couldn't possibly go wrong with the EDP in the Listerine bottle and neither could I with a blind buy. I was wrong on both accounts. Performance be damned, I wanted that mojito, that citrus, that cool vetiver! Not powdery white florals over peppermint.

Taken on its own with no expectations it might not disappoint, but I think for longtime fans of the line and the long-discontinued flankers it misses the mark.

What a beautiful classy scent! I blind-bought this one based on reviews and I'm certainly glad I did (tester bottle under $30). Definitely a more mature scent, but not in a bad way. The juice is well-blended and as others have noted a slight 'mojito' vibe to it. Not boozy mojito but rather a smooth and creamy lime / mint blend that is absolutely addicting and really done well. I find longevity on this one satisfactory on my skin and gets more pleasing the longer it wears. Definitely not beastly projection but certainly enough for other's to detect and comment on as you pass by. Every time I catch a waft of this on my skin I can't help but think "Damn, this smells great!". Pure elegance in a bottle.

Guerlain Homme - Guerlain
A classy perfume: calm and confident with a dignitive charm. Kicks off with a cool lime-anisic vibe that morphs into a minty-pine tonality and a soapy bitter-herbal lavender with slightly floral facets. Impression of icecold white rum/vodka which later gets a boozy-spicy tone supported by the liquorice and a note of fatty sheep-wool. The dryout is very smooth, refined and multi-faceted as many notes pop up and interact with eachother. Some raspy sweet tobacco, whiffs of gasoline, creamy woods, salty vetiver, earthy patchouli, cool incense, indolic-urinic musks and the tiniest sight of vanilla. It alltogether shows a magnificent display of warm vs cool impressions that creates great harmony. Also, the dryout seems to 'echo back' the fresh 'rum-on-lime' start which integrates a great natural fraicheur into the structure. Somehow I had a lot of flashbacks to Amouage Dia pour homme while sniffing this, and although that one is a lot more incense orientated, they share the same kind of cohesive soft- and richness through and through. Topmarks for this one- its a great storyteller that captivates its audience without a slightest effort and without the slightest need for showing off at the same time.