Mitsouko Guerlain 1919 Extrait

Bottle Design:
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9.0 / 10 240 Ratings

A popular perfume by Guerlain for women, released in 1919. The scent is chypreartig-spicy. The longevity is above-average. It is being marketed by LVMH.
Pronunciation

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Main accords

Chypre

Spicy

Floral

Fruity

Green

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Bergamot

Citrus fruits Jasmine

Jasmine

Rose

Heart Notes

Peach

Ylang-ylang Lilac

Lilac

Base Notes

Oakmoss

Spices

Vetiver

Ambergris

Cinnamon

Perfumer

Jacques Guerlain

Ratings

Scent

9.0240 Ratings

Longevity

8.7214 Ratings

Sillage

7.8211 Ratings

Bottle

9.2213 Ratings

Value for money

7.678 Ratings

Submitted by Nibelung, last update on 07/06/2025.

Interesting Facts

"Mitsouko" is translated as "mystery" by Guerlain and appears to be their transliteration of the japanese name "Mitsuko" which actually means "Child of Light". It is supposed to be inspired by the 1909 novel "La Bataille" by Claude Farrère in in which a Japanese woman falls in love with a British officer in the early 20th century. Mitsouko is a chypre, in which the scent molecule aldehyde C-14 (Persicol, 1,4-Undecanolid - chemically a lactone and not, as one might suspect by the name, an aldehyde) was used the first time. 1,4-Undecanolid is responsible for natural peach flavour and was synthetically produced for the use in Mitsouko. Thus, Mitsouko was a milestone in modern perfumery. Charlie Chaplin is supposed to have been a prominent user of Mitsouko. It is said it was his signature fragrance of which he kept several bottles in stock at home and in the studio. The fragrance was reformulated by Edouard Fléchier.

Variant of the fragrance concentration

This is a variant of the perfume Mitsouko (Eau de Parfum) by Guerlain, which differs in concentration.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Mitsouko Eau de Parfum

Mitsouko Eau de Toilette

Mitsouko Eau de Cologne

Diaghilev Parfum

Jubilation 25 Woman Eau de Parfum

Envy Me 2

Reviews

6 in-depth fragrance descriptions

01/21/2025

7
Pricing 10
Bottle 7
Sillage 9
Longevity 10
Scent

Elijahrb67
110 Reviews

Elijahrb67

1

Mitsouko at its finest

My love for Mitsouko is endless. I could write paragraphs exclaiming the pure joy I get whenever I smell this fragrance, and the extrait is the most worthy of these exclamations. I try not to over-compare current fragrances with their vintage counterparts, but I must say that this iteration of Mitsouko is 1:1 with the vintage versions I've smelled. The opening is iconic, a blend of ylang-ylang, rose and jasmine with just a touch of fruity sweetness, and a lactonic note from the peach that tops it all off in a glorious fashion. I find the opening of the extrait to be a bit less intense than with the EDP, and more well-rounded as well. The dry down is characteristically Mitsouko, leaning into it's classic spicy and mossy DNA that has marked the fragrance as a legend and a masterclass in the chypre genre. Worth noting is that this extrait is shockingly mossy given IFRA restrictions on oakmoss. Whether this is real oakmoss or not, I cannot say, but whatever it is, it is very true to the original formulas.

It's so refreshing to see that Guerlain has kept Mitsouko as true to it's original form as possible with this extrait version. Although the price is steep, I cannot recommend this iteration of Mitsouko enough, especially for chypre lovers. Mitsouko will likely remain my number one fragrance as long as I live, and this extrait is a testament to it's pure, unadulterated beauty. I'm so glad that I was able to add this to my collection, and further my love for this legendary fragrance.

07/21/2024

7
Pricing 10
Bottle 8
Sillage 9
Longevity 6.5
Scent

SwabGames
86 Reviews

SwabGames

1

The first Guerlain scent that I didn't really like

The scent is, of course, feminine, but here you can recognize the characteristic style of the Guerlain company - making women's fragrances not quite typical. At the beginning there is jasmine with lemon. The beginning of the fragrance feels very balanced and pleasant due to the fact that Jacques Guerlain was not afraid to add and bring forward lemon, and not a very sour one at that. In the middle, which gradually began to sound, peach and ylang began to sound. The aroma is, of course, unusual, and on all levels, but for me the middle did not seem very pleasant, especially after the start. And the heart was replaced by moss and vetiver. The aroma became unusual again, this time in a good way. This set of scents is usually used in men's perfumery, and they sound harsher there, but Jacques Guerlain was able to make moss and vetiver more delicate, soft, and sometimes sweet. As for me, the aroma is ambiguous, and I was shocked that for the first time I did not like something in a Guerlain tel years scent.

02/13/2025

2
Scent

celeblas
119 Reviews

celeblas

1

What's Old is Young Again

I enjoy smelling this. I don't want to wear it, and I'm not sure I would want to be too close with someone who was wearing it, but I wouldn't mind smelling it on someone a bit further away from me. There's a clarity and sharpness to it, not freshness because that's what Jicky does. The clarity of it is almost like alcohol, which might be the oakmoss. That isn't a favourite note of mine and I find for me it comes to dominate anything it's in (like Floris Sandalwood & Patchouli room scent for example). I much prefer the Parfum of this to the EDP.

In the contemporary context my mind goes immediately to "grandmother" when I smell this. But I can see how, through a diﬀerent lens of a diﬀerent era, this is entirely young and fresh, and masculine and feminine, all depending on the context. It's far too easy to dismiss this when you first wear it because practically every cheap drugstore and mail order perfume for the last 100 years has inherited something from this. If only I could smell this in a world where it were new.

03/17/2024

6
Sillage 8
Longevity 9
Scent

Violett
46 Reviews

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Violett

Top Review 31

Connected with migratory birds

I swear that was her scent.
Strictly braided bun.
The brown fur cap always had to sit at an angle on Her Highness's head when she was taken out in her turtleneck. The scent hung in her coat, the white blouses, the fabric pants. Yes, even in her breathtaking jewelry: the necklace made of light silver, filigree flowers. Beautiful to kneel down to. And then there was the particularly extravagant one with the many large, blackened spiders crawling between shimmering gold amber stones. It takes courage to wear something like that.
That's what she used to wear.
Her long, white-grey hair, so beautiful when it hung loose in a hundred little waves down her back.
"You're just as pretty as your grandmother," they said to me. Yes, of course that was exactly what a young girl wanted to hear. To be as beautiful as an 80-year-old. Maybe the silly uncles and aunts just liked the way my jaw dropped at this compliment. It always made me feel unspeakably old - at least as old as them.
At least we had the melancholy in common back then.
In the 1920s, she was a member of the Wandervögeln, a youth movement that was close to nature and wanted to break out of the constraints of middle-class life, driven by the desire for freedom and naturalness. So you were a kind of early hippie, Grandma?
She loved telling fairy tales to the children from the neighborhood on the street in front of the house.
She was cruel. Nothing and no one could ever live up to her expectations.
Two husbands, two wars, 6 children... She experienced so much. So little was left of her when she lived with us. Her lack of interest in us children was boundless. Nobody built the bridge. We never got to know each other again.
She remains unknown to me, a mystery.
Mitsouko is a melancholy fragrance. But it also provides comfort. The good friend, mother, grandmother who takes you in her arms, who knows life. With all its ups and downs.
Mitsouko smells close to nature, above all spicy and mossy, delicate and soft. Apart.
The subtle peach note lends it a light sweetness and friendliness. Flowers quietly and creamily subordinate themselves to the fragrance.
Green, blurred gardens at the edge of the forest at dusk, my nose tells me.
Memories of the past.
But there is also elegance, sophistication, even a certain solemnity in the fragrance.
Mitsouko, where haven't you been? At countless theatrical performances, in circle circles, at funerals, at social gatherings, serious conversations, lonely walks...Yes, even at the film shoot with Charlie Chaplin...
When the going gets tough, when things get serious, or when I just want to feel connected to the past and to nature,
also with the generation of our grandmothers, who lived so differently from us, had so many exciting, amazing stories to tell, or could have told, and in the end were people and women just like us...
So if I want to feel connected, then it has to be Mitsouko.
With Mitsouko, I am an adult, a child of nature and yet at home in urban life, protected by the good spirits of the past.
Mitsouko, the "child of light" is the art of fragrance,
Fragrance magic that you don't often find.

12/20/2024

8
Bottle 8
Sillage 10
Longevity 9.5
Scent

Skydiver19
38 Reviews

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Skydiver19

Helpful Review 15

Sterntaler

With a long lead time and in an undisturbed period of time, I dared to approach this venerable fragrance. And immediately my eyes were flooded with tears, the flow of which washed the innermost soft parts to the surface. Feelings of tender emotion, of a light delicacy that almost hurt. A silent something seemed to want to communicate with me. And this something felt like an everything, a greater part of me - or me of it? Which was there before me and would still be there after me...?

A deep longing for unconditional, human love gives rise to legends in many cultures. First and foremost, the stories about the good deeds of saints, of which all world religions have heart-warming tales to tell. But there are also 'normal' people who bring and have brought light into the darkness of this world. A touching example of such a legend was recently taken up by @Marieposa in her review of "Lady Godiva". And even if only some of the stories are based on fact, they give cause for optimism and reflect a deep-rooted human longing for the realization of our brightest potential.

My first scent contact with M reminded me of the fairy tale "Sterntaler". This touching story of a poor girl who shared what little she had with those in need, until she stood barefoot and naked except for a thin undershirt in the cold winter forest. She acted unreasonably, we would say - more precisely: our mind would say that. Our heart judges according to a different logic, one that understands the idealistic meaning of star talers.

No question, we need both: heart and mind. Both need to be lived in the right context at the right time. As a survival manager, the mind is responsible for everyday matters that ensure our survival and reproduction in the broadest sense. No more, no less.
We humans are not just material bodies that need to be nourished, protected and duplicated through time. We are also a feeling spirit. A spirit that is largely indifferent to transient life and seems to follow a higher purpose. A purpose that wants to lift us out of the physical constraints of our existence - and can, if we let it. And M seems to want to trigger this allowing and open us up to those starry stars.

*
The fragrance journey begins with a virginal, delicate sweetness. A spherical, transparent cloud of flowers swirls around the senses, whirling them up in the light of a radiant comet's tail. The fragrant creature knows nothing of worldly desires, is simply what it is: a child of light - the meaning of the name 'Mitsuko' in Japanese.
In its starry cosmos, it can be carefree, self-forgetful, desireless, absolutely free...

As the maiden matures, her altered sweetness now seems to want to give us a subtext. Its language is not easy to decipher, the subliminal message speaks in riddles. But perhaps the point is not to understand exactly what is going on, but rather to engage with one another, to feel one another. Without curtailing what we perceive in order to lock it up in a prison of letters.
And M invites us to do this, now as an adult, female mystery.

It is almost impossible to escape its alluring, fruity ripeness, which seems to spring from a pure desire for life, a desire of life for itself. And this desire is fed by an almost infinitely bubbling spring. The inviting softness is surrounded by the pure tenderness of fluid, spicy moss and lovely, creamy amber ... time rests ... everything flows ...

No, there are no more words to lose here - they would only diminish the sensation...

*

1000 thanks for the precious bottling, dear @ElAttarine

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