Saint-Germain-des-Prés Celine 2019

Paris! Ah! When one thinks of Paris, everyone has their own unique way of envisioning this city. There are as many associations with Paris as there are countless sights in this city. With such a plethora of options, describing the places, spots, and buildings visited can often be challenging. If you want to tell someone where to see something magnificent, the terms arrondissement or quartier will eventually come up. And that's when it gets confusing. Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements. Each of these 20 districts is further divided into 4 quartiers, making a total of 80 neighborhoods. While the arrondissements are spirally arranged clockwise from the Louvre, the 80 quartiers follow no discernible pattern. Moreover, we often talk about Parisian quartiers that aren't actually administrative districts. For example, the Quartier Latin, which is located in the 5th arrondissement, is not a district in itself but merely describes the university area. Or the trendy Marais in the 4th and partly 3rd arrondissements with its numerous small boutiques and cafés.

Of course, Paris can also be humorously divided according to the preferences of tourists. There are those hopeless romantics on Montmartre, singing the Moulin Rouge soundtrack while crying or climbing the Sacré-Cœur in Zorro costumes, eating raspberries off their fingers. Or under the Eiffel Tower, where the World Expo enthusiasts gather to snap selfies. In the Quartier Latin, on the other hand, you encounter the library nerds and endless students sipping beer on the go. Around the Louvre, you find royalists and art historians mumbling to themselves, sporting nickel glasses and questionable Mona Lisa smiles. Then there's the Marais, where predominantly queer tourists parade through the narrow streets and populate the countless street cafés in the name of freedom and tolerance from early hours. And there’s the Rue Saint-Honoré with the haute couture houses in the side streets, where mainly members of the Parfumo community drag themselves and their killer collection from perfumery to perfumery.

And then there is the Quartier Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

It is indeed a real quartier, located in the 6th arrondissement, and is considered THE neighborhood of intellectuals and artists. At least it used to be. Here, existentialism was born, along with many other -isms of art and literature. From the mid-20th century onwards, all the greats of painting, literature, music, film, and the boulevards mingled here. It is said that in a small attic apartment at Quai Malaquais No. 3, Romy Schneider and Alain Delon were still in love during their early years, while in the famous cafés like Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore, stars and starlets would admire each other.
Apparently, Hedi Slimane, as the creative mind behind the new Celine perfume line, often sat in one of the cafés on Boulevard Saint-Germain and drew inspiration for this scent. He speaks of a quarter of eternal youth with its look shaped by novel and film heroes that he claims to have captured here.

The fragrance starts off fresh-green thanks to petitgrain and neroli, possibly alluding to the addition "des Prés," which means "in the meadows." However, this fresh green excursion to the meadow disappears after just a few minutes, and a characteristic powderiness typical of the line develops. The scent remains bright, and despite the increasing sweetness, one can still sense the neroli for quite a while. As it progresses, iris, heliotrope, and vanilla take the lead, and the fragrance evokes melted butter without being overpowering. The scent concept remains bright, creamy, powdery, dry, sweet, and darkens slightly towards the end. The presence of the fragrance is rather subtle and close to the skin, creating a fine and clean, not overly sweet butter-vanilla-cream aura that lingers throughout the day. This caters to the current zeitgeist with more sweetness in perfumes, yet it is never overwhelming or excessive. I would still classify the fragrance as unisex despite its powderiness and sweetness. If one is looking for comparable scents, one might imagine soft, creamy variations of Dior's Bois d'Argent and Guerlain's Cuir Beluga.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a bright, slightly greenish, light powdery-creamy, very noble, and high-quality clean scent that I have come to appreciate and love. Nothing here scratches or bites, so the association with the namesake quartier doesn't quite succeed for me. Given the history, I tend to think of something colorful, exciting, playful, shimmering, and unconventional when I think of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, while the fragrance fails to convincingly deliver the expected sophistication in that regard.
But as a Paris lover who enjoys sitting (at least out of a certain tradition) in the touristy Café de Flore and people-watching, I will wear the fragrance next time. And then I’m sure I will feel much younger and perhaps even strike up a conversation with one or another star or starlet. Maybe. Or maybe not. It doesn’t matter. As long as I feel young. As long as it’s Paris. Ah.