Shalimar Guerlain 1925 Extrait

The bottle of this I'm trying is old. How old? I'm unsure. But old. It's from an auctioned lot of an estate sale.

Yes, Guerlain is as French as possible. But yet...this fragrance gives me vivd mental imagery of imperial Russian monarchs, the Romanov family, bitterly frigid conditions outdoors, and the absolutely un-processably gorgeously lavish Winter Palace indoors.

This is to say, this fragrance is unreal. It's difficult to even make sense of it all.

On my skin, it's pissy when it opens. Vinegar-y, sharp...skanky. I believe the bergamot is shot. I've made vinegar from citrus peels....this is reminiscent of that.

But it doesn't last long, as that evaporates, the smoothest, orris-y, leathery, decadent AGED tonka just BLASTS off. There's dry, matriarchal rose. There's golden dusty narcissus (probably not actually, but that's how it reads to me). There's INDOLES like mad, a dignified sexuality. What am I even saying? No...it makes 0 sense. But it actually makes perfect sense.

Overwhelmingly though is simply...emboldened elegance. And warmth. Warmth enough for absolutely anything.

This bottle is going to my mom, because Shalimar was always her signature. I have the EDP anyway, it's aging gracefully, and the EDP is FAR more wearable (an eldest princess, but not the Grand Duchess). No doubt I'll inherit this anyway when the time comes (though I don't care to dwell on that, but this perfume will be a balm for my heart on that day).

So beautiful, beyond description, beyond time. A masterpiece.