Mahora Guerlain 1999

Bottle Design Robert Granai

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7.8 / 10 182 Ratings

Mahora is a popular perfume by Guerlain for women and was released in 1999. The scent is floral-sweet. The longevity is above-average. The production was apparently discontinued.

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Main accords

Floral

Sweet

Woody

Powdery

Spicy

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Almond blossom

Green notes

Orange

Heart Notes

Tuberose

Jasmine

Neroli

Ylang-ylang

Base Notes

Sandalwood

Vanilla

Vetiver

Perfumer

Jean-Paul Guerlain

Videos

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Ratings

Scent

7.8182 Ratings

Longevity

8.5142 Ratings

Sillage

8.0140 Ratings

Bottle

8.1148 Ratings

Value for money

8.212 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 28.12.2022.

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9 in-depth fragrance descriptions

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07/31/2019

8
Bottle 8
Sillage 9
Longevity 8.5
Scent

Rosaviola

Translated Show original

Rosaviola

Top Review 19

Mahora-the cousin of Samsara

I've known Mahora of Guerlain for a long time. However, I cannot remember where and when I got to know this fragrance. I probably met him at a perfumery testing him once. I had the scent but never possessed it before, that's for sure. I lost the scent from my eyes, but I never forgot it completely.
When I bought a bottle a few years ago and sprayed it on for the first time, I immediately had the feeling that I had known the fragrance forever. Like a deja vu experience, it was.

Mahora is said to be one of the "worse" Guerlains, but I don't have that impression at all. For me he belongs to the Florientals like Samsara and if he had come out 10 years earlier he would have arrived better
The prelude of Mahora is a green and "vegetable", soon I have the impression of almond milk and it becomes sweeter and more flowery. This is followed by an intensive round of white-flowered plants. Orange, jasmine, tuberose makes the fragrance "thick" and warm.
Ylang-ylang gives his sweetness to it.
At first the scent is very intense, then it slowly tames off. For me the fragrance lasts at least 10 hours on my skin!
In the base, beautiful warm sandalwood is almost identical to vintage samsara and soft vanilla. Generally, one notices a strong relationship with Samsara in the base. These two must be cousins
The flacon is artfully placed and reminds me with the golden disc of Johannes Kepler and a planet that rotates in its orbit.

Mahora is really a great fragrance and recommended for all who like samsara. Every now and then you get it at humane prices. I've already secured a spare bottle.

08/22/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 10

an exemplary perfume

Despite the current and seemingly endless 1980s revival of cheap fashion for tweens to twenty-somethings, the 80s are gone. Thank god! Don’t let that horrid decade haunt you! Still, if there were one thing that I could tease out of the 80s and bring to the present it would be polarizing perfumes. To the propagators of 1990s-styled apologetic perfumes, to the radiant Iso-E Super wearers, to the nanny perfume mob who would rid the world of fragrance (Watch out! Color is next, then oppressive fabric.) I say wear Poison! Wear Giorgio and Opium. Blast yourself with Lou Lou and walk in public in the light of day!

Better still, try Mahora. 1980s in scale, 1970s in indulgent style, 1920s in complexity and sophistication, Mahora (2000) paid tribute to the decades that preceded it as it dived headfirst into the new millennium.

From the spicy animalic start, through the creamy floral heart, to the woody-vanillic drydown, Mahora is as rich as they come. Using principles from classical perfumery, but seemingly new compositional tricks, Guerlain laid claim to the fairly unpopulated genre, the spicy-animalic resinous tropical woody floral. This perfume does draw attention to itself. So what? If you don’t like it, don’t wear it. Polarizing is great! Part of the aesthetics of perfumery, as in any art form, is that in addition to critical consideration, we should identify what we like and what we don’t. How else can we proceed in what is both an artistic discussion and an exercise in pleasure?

That said, I disagree with those who do not like Mahora and therefore say that it is a bad perfume. In addition to its volume and attention-seeking, it is calibrated, dissonant enough to hold one’s interest and shows textbook classical evolution. Mahora shouldn’t have been discontinued, it should have been studied.

05/08/2013

5
Sillage 5
Longevity 6
Scent

Coutureguru
223 Reviews

Coutureguru

Very helpful Review 8

A lovely fragrance ... but somewhat disappointing!

Being the Tuberose nut I am, I have wanted to try Mahora since discovering it on various fora ... a scent buddy in Sweden sent me a very generous sample (thanks C!!), and while I find it lovely, I can't help being a little disappointed by it too.

When one is a Tuberose junkie, it is very difficult not to favor the greats ... like Blonde and Fracas, and even some of the modern incarnations like Carnal Flower and Tubereuse Criminelle. The problem that my skin has with Mahora is that it turns quite dowdy ... in the Guerlain-esque way that other classic frags from this house go on me. I have tried to love classics like L'Heure Bleu and Mitsouko ... but the most love I can find for a Guerlain frag comes in the form of Rose Barbare.
I am not saying that Mahora is not a well constructed frag ... quite the contrary ... but I like my Tuberose big and bold ... and I find it a little meek in Mahora, which stays quite green on my skin for a long while and then dips into the Vanilla and Sandalwood of the classic 'guerlinade' base. It's quite creamy with a healthy dose of Ylang present adding to the milkiness I experience here. The Tuberose does eventually rise for a spell ... but by that time it's been subdued by relative masses of Jasmine and Vanilla ... and smells a little like Jasmine rice pudding as a result, at least on my skin which has a predilection for being difficult!
A debate on the similarities between Mahora and Mayotte also exists, but I haven't smelled the latter so I cannot judge. It seems strange that Guerlain would go to all the trouble of discontinuing Mahora and then bottling it under a different name, but who knows what the accountants at LVMH are capable of, seeing that it is they who now control the fate of Guerlain.

When all is said and done, I find Mahora to be a pleasing fragrance ... but not one that deserves a place in my top 5 list of Tuberose fragrances. Then again, I should also start realizing that just because a fragrance contains this note, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a Tuberose fragrance.

10/14/2014

10
Bottle 7.5
Sillage 10
Longevity 9
Scent

MasterLi
375 Reviews

MasterLi

Very helpful Review 5

Sweet forest nectar...

This is a fragrance with a controversial past (and really... aren't all good fragrances controversial in some way? Fracas, Poison etc?). This was Jean-Paul Guerlain's last major fragrance release before he retired, and it's one he didn't make for the market at the time. It's loud, it's full, it's heavy and sensual... and for these reasons it was a flop, people at the millennium did not want so loud and sensual a fragrance, a "throwback" to other heavy florals of the 40's, 50's, 60's etc. Mahora suffered a terrible fate of having a large portion of the stock destroyed once it was pulled off the market. However, with time, people can see this fragrance in a kinder, more loving light.

Part of it's notoriety is that Mahora seems to be a fragrance that elicits strong reactions. It's one of those "love/hate" fragrances that people either swoon over or can't stand. I think I'm in the "love" crowd here and find it quite intoxicating, in a tropical, floral kind of way...

And Mahora is a tropical floral, without a doubt. It's named after the island in the indian ocean where Guerlain keep plantations of ylang-ylang and jasmine (called "Mayotte" in French but "Mahora" in the local language). I don't find this one as loud as people say (I have the Eau de Parfum),, to me it's a sweet, honeyed floral, with a host of white flowers. You name it this fragrance has it, Jasmine, Tuberose, Frangipani, Gardenia, Magnolia (or at least that's what it feels like to me) there's also orange and almond blossom in there, which I enjoy smelling. Still, I don't find this fragrance particularly cloying, although I'm sampling it in cool weather and I think this would be too much if over-sprayed. There's a ylang-ylang and sandalwood combination (much like Samsara) but there's also a wonderful, green-on-the-verge-of-ripe tuberose, and although I haven't smelled Fracas, I actually enjoy the use of tuberose in fragrances.

Mahora can be a very evocative fragrance, like a "vacation in a bottle" type thing. With me the scent of this transports me to places I haven't been... like an island in the indian ocean, or south pacific. I get a real connection with somewhere in south america, maybe Brazil, I think of exotic events, like the Rio de Janiero carnival (of course in my mind's imagination!). I see women with dark skin, and garlands of white flowers around their neck, or a flower in her hair (like a woman from Tahiti... another place I've never been to).

I think this is one worth testing out if only for these kinds of experiences. It's very sensual in a tropical, voluptuous kind of way. I think that loving or hating this comes down to whether you are intimidated by white florals. Fortunately, I love the slightly green, yet borderline ripe & creamy tuberose, which is rich and buttery, especially when joined by jasmine, ylang-ylang and gorgeous sandalwood.

One to try, just because of the wide range of reactions it provokes in people. For me it's one I love, and again, as with all "heavy" or borderline cloying fragrances, less sprays, and cooler weather, but on the right person it could be worn any time of year. Again, for me... this is an example of pure escapism in a bottle! R.I.P. Mahora...

10/27/2012

5
Sillage 5
Longevity 6
Scent

Missk
1165 Reviews

Missk

Helpful Review 7

Dry and dusty white florals

Mahora by Guerlain is tuberose done a little differently. I should have realised just by looking at the advert, (with Australia's landmark Uluru as a background feature in the Mahora photoshoot), that this was not going to be a straight-up, luscious tuberose scent.

This tuberose is dry, a little bitter and green, mixed in with some wet sand. When I first spritzed on Mahora, I thought that perhaps my skin was turning the scent bitter and dry, so I dabbed it on paper to see whether the tuberose was fresher there. I then discovered, much to my surprise, that Mahora is composed to smell like this. It is the quintessential desert scent, alongside Dior's Dune for Women.

Once I got over Mahora's puzzling nature, I began to enjoy the scent for what it's worth. I welcome its different approach, and applaud Guerlain for having changed my opinions regarding tuberose and other white florals. Who knew that white florals could be dry rather than moist and green?

I'm hesitant to suggest Mahora for cold weather, as on my skin it strikes me as best suited to humid or intense heat. The heart makes me think of a red, hot sun and a wilting bouquet of naturally sweet ylang ylang and orange blossom. Aldehydes and sandalwood create an interesting dusty feel.

The drydown introduces a buttery quality, which is perhaps the only traditional aspect of the tuberose that has been kept. In addition to the buttery florals, the sand accord is quite prominent, as is the slightly sugary whisper of vanilla. At this point, Mahora sits very lightly on the skin, almost as if transforming into a skin-scent.

The lasting power is good, but not great. However this fragrance's complexity makes up for most of it. Actually Mahora could possibly be one of Guerlain's most overlooked fragrances. It's a pity to realise that many consumerss are unaware of this fragrance's existence.

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