Top Notes 
Aniseed
Bergamot
Heart Notes 
Carnation
Neroli
Base Notes 
Iris
Benzoin
Vanilla
Tonka bean
Violet
02/28/2016
MasterLi
375 Reviews
MasterLi
Helpful Review
3
A thing of beauty... is a joy forever.
L'Heure Bleue is really a perfume unlike any other. You sometimes have to ask yourself if a perfume is still being made over a century after it was first launched then it really must be quite something, in order to still be able to captivate hearts & minds.
The story is that the master perfumer Jacques Guerlain was one day walking along the banks of the river Seine in Paris during the "blue hour", the very last hour of daylight before evening sets it. In film & photography, this is known as "magic hour", when dusk is approaching twilight, and it is arguably the most beautiful time of day. He was overcome by emotion at that point and felt something so strong that he could only express it in a perfume, and so created L'Heure Bleue, or the blue hour.
This perfume is significant for many reasons... and it's symbolism runs deep. It was created in 1912, the year in which the Titanic sank (at that time the world's biggest ship). It was also released two years before the First World War, which would claim the lives of millions across Europe and elsewhere, and which would leave an entire generation devastated. To some, this perfume represents the last breath of an old world, a world which would later disappear and vanish forever.
The perfume itself follows a very elegant, masterful blend of gentle, sweet, evocative, refined powdery notes (most of which are so well blended that it's hard to pick out). It's very much like an impressionist painting, the painting itself is made up of a host of tiny dots with the paintbrush but which comes together to blend into a masterpiece of art and expression. To me it is a waxy, subdued, sweet, rich, slightly-gourmandish oriental floral perfume. The notes which stand out are iris, heliotrope and carnation, mixed with a deep, almost gourmand oriental vanilla (a typical hallmark of Guerlain). The iris provides the soft, powdery "waxy" note, whilst the strong heliotrope mixed with the vanilla gives a feeling of soft yet ever present sweetness in an almond desert kind of way. The carnation is a dusty floral feel in the background which contributes to this old and otherworldly feel.
For me L'Heure Bleue is a very special kind of perfume. In fact it's less of a perfume and more like an "experience". I have the Eau de Toilette, and I find it very easy to wear. There is nothing shocking about it, it just smells very different to anything you will find today. I really cannot explain the smell more than that, but the last thing I would say is that even if you never own this, at some point you should try it. If you have any serious interest in the appreciation of what perfume is, as a creation, then you should try this. If only to "experience" what it is all about. It doesn't smell modern, for sure, although it's still totally wearable in my opinion. Like some other complex perfumes, you may also need to have a lot of experience with smelling different types of fragrances, in order to really understand this. Try it, and you'll see what I mean. Incredible!
The story is that the master perfumer Jacques Guerlain was one day walking along the banks of the river Seine in Paris during the "blue hour", the very last hour of daylight before evening sets it. In film & photography, this is known as "magic hour", when dusk is approaching twilight, and it is arguably the most beautiful time of day. He was overcome by emotion at that point and felt something so strong that he could only express it in a perfume, and so created L'Heure Bleue, or the blue hour.
This perfume is significant for many reasons... and it's symbolism runs deep. It was created in 1912, the year in which the Titanic sank (at that time the world's biggest ship). It was also released two years before the First World War, which would claim the lives of millions across Europe and elsewhere, and which would leave an entire generation devastated. To some, this perfume represents the last breath of an old world, a world which would later disappear and vanish forever.
The perfume itself follows a very elegant, masterful blend of gentle, sweet, evocative, refined powdery notes (most of which are so well blended that it's hard to pick out). It's very much like an impressionist painting, the painting itself is made up of a host of tiny dots with the paintbrush but which comes together to blend into a masterpiece of art and expression. To me it is a waxy, subdued, sweet, rich, slightly-gourmandish oriental floral perfume. The notes which stand out are iris, heliotrope and carnation, mixed with a deep, almost gourmand oriental vanilla (a typical hallmark of Guerlain). The iris provides the soft, powdery "waxy" note, whilst the strong heliotrope mixed with the vanilla gives a feeling of soft yet ever present sweetness in an almond desert kind of way. The carnation is a dusty floral feel in the background which contributes to this old and otherworldly feel.
For me L'Heure Bleue is a very special kind of perfume. In fact it's less of a perfume and more like an "experience". I have the Eau de Toilette, and I find it very easy to wear. There is nothing shocking about it, it just smells very different to anything you will find today. I really cannot explain the smell more than that, but the last thing I would say is that even if you never own this, at some point you should try it. If you have any serious interest in the appreciation of what perfume is, as a creation, then you should try this. If only to "experience" what it is all about. It doesn't smell modern, for sure, although it's still totally wearable in my opinion. Like some other complex perfumes, you may also need to have a lot of experience with smelling different types of fragrances, in order to really understand this. Try it, and you'll see what I mean. Incredible!
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