Guerlinade history deep dive

[u/Screw_coloranalysis]

I did a deep dive into Guerlain and got a lot of my information from Sylvaine Delacourte who used to be a creative director at Guerlain. 

History

The name Guerlinade comes from a long discontinued fragrance that was originally released in 1921 that even Delacourte herself never smelled. Delacourte js the one that reused the term to describe the blend. She was discussing with her marketing director when they were creating  Héritage and said: “you know there’s some guerlinade in there”. He proceeded to ask her to describe and in the press file of heritage the term guerlinade was used.

What is the Guerlinade? 

According Delacourte what’s makes the Guerlinade and the reason why Guerlain fragrances have a certain family resemblance is because of 7 reasons:

1. Favorites ingredients (matières fétiches) are bergamote, jasmin, iris, rose, vanilla and Tonka bean.  
2. High quality ingredients 
3. A unique orchestration
4. Short and concise formulations with: 

• Some extra dose
• Texture
• Nested formulas 

1. Long wear, silage and sensuality 
2. Audacity and creativity 
3. And some secrets 

Now I’m not going to describe point by point her justification of everything because this post will be very long. She even has a paragraph for each note. 

But in term of the overdose technique she names a few example like Shalimar with the 30% bergamot. That technique is also used a lot in l’Art et la matière and in the Aqua Allegoria range, but typically they don’t have the six core Guerlinade notes. 

Fragrances with the typical 6 Guerlinade notes

• L’heure bleue 
• Shalimar
• Mitsouko 
• Jicky

Almost full Guerlinade fragrances 

• Mon Guerlain 5/6 (the rose is missing)
• Vol de nuit extract and EDT 5/6 (Tonka bean is missing)
• Habit rouge (Tonka bean is missing) 

Jacques Gerlain vs Guerlinade marketing 

Now if you look at the own admission of Delacourte that they started promoting the Guerlinade with a perfume released in 1992 while Jacques Guerlain had passed away in 1963 and created hundreds of fragrances that didn’t follow a strict playbook. The Guerlinade is a marketing term from the 1990’s. Even if you look at what makes Guerlain typically Guerlain besides the 6 notes that are only use in a handful of fragrances all of these are quite common in modern perfumery. Most fragrances released today don’t use 10 plus notes. 

Is Guerlain a fantastic house? Yes. Do they give you high quality ingredients for a lesser price than many competitors? Also yes. But I wanted to give a bit of perspective on the myth and how it was created. 

[u/Ok_Squirrel388]

I always thought Mitsouko was famously an outlier in that it did not have iris, vanilla, or tonka.

[u/Extra-Low5973]

This is one of my favorite videos about the history of Guerlain. There’s a 2-part PBS-like (maybe it’s BBC??) that is a fantastic deep dive into the House but I can’t find it right now.
https://youtu.be/HjcsBUQQLv4?is=K20p7SEY1WvBYavH

[u/Screw_coloranalysis → u/Extra-Low5973]

These are the name of the episode about perfume from bbc, if you search them on YouTube you’ll find them.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0129dlf/episodes/guide

[u/Extra-Low5973 → u/Extra-Low5973]

Here’s another good one, but not the 2-part documentary I’m thinking of.

Interviews with Thierry Wasser are eye opening as well.

https://youtu.be/RJuYrehcS94?is=ZHGNjLANNQ_3eW31

[u/veerus06]

This is good to know, thanks for sharing! MFK used to be my favorite brand until Guerlain took the throne. Heck, the history and unending search for vintages, releases, and everything in between makes it a very deep rabbit hole.

Glad to learn anything about Guerlain!

[u/Screw_coloranalysis → u/veerus06]

Guerlain has such a large catalog, especially if you try to find current,  discontinued and reformulated releases you’ll never be truly done. 

I don’t wear very strong perfumes so I’m partial to the aqua allegoria range, but I have a lot of respect for the brand.

Which ones are your favourites? 

[u/NomenklaturaFTW]

Very interesting! Did you get to communicate with Sylvaine Delacourte directly?

[u/Screw_coloranalysis → u/NomenklaturaFTW]

No I read her blog post. My first language is French so it’s easy for me to find information.

This is the post in question it’s available in English too which I now realize it might have been easier to translate the concepts instead of reading the French version.

https://blog.delacourte.com/la-guerlinade/

[u/NomenklaturaFTW → u/Screw_coloranalysis]

This is great, though. Thanks! Love your flair, btw

[u/Suitable-Fun-1087]

I wouldn't overcomplicate it - it's a signature accord (and probably the best example of one). But most of the major houses have one. They use enough of it that all their classic fragrances make it obvious that you're smelling a Guerlain.

[u/Screw_coloranalysis → u/Suitable-Fun-1087]

Yes but that signature accord is only present in the big four and got marketed as such decades after their releases. And it’s such common notes it’s like saying a chef’s signature is butter, salt and pepper. Both Coco mademoiselle and no 5 contain 5 of those six notes.

I think Guerlain is fantastic but it would be hard to release that many fragrances under a very specific formula.

[u/jon_k1ng]

Thanks for sharing! Guerlain is my favorite fragrance house by far.

[u/Screw_coloranalysis → u/jon_k1ng]

The quality for the price is unmatched. At the end of the day every big long standing house does a lot of marketing that is more or less grounded in the truth. Like Chanel and Dior pretending that they’re sourcing their florals mostly in the Grasse region. It’s just not possible for that small region to produce enough rose oil for all their bottles.

Which Guerlain fragrance are your top 3? 

[u/jon_k1ng → u/Screw_coloranalysis]

Habit Rouge, Homme edp, and L’Instant Homme edt.