Benzoin
Carnation
Vanilla
Leather
Musicandarts
230 Reviews
Musicandarts
2
An amazing benzoin-carnation perfume - expensive and scarce.
Delphine Jelk paints the simple carnation on a dark canvas of benzoin and leather in Œillet Pourpre, purple carnation in French. It is a member of the Guerlain L’Art & La Matière collection and is unfortunately unavailable in US currently. Œillet Pourpre was previously marketed as Lui, not to be confused with Guerlain Liu. I suspect that the rebranding of this perfume was to avoid this confusion. This review of Œillet Pourpre was originally written for a sample atomizer from Guerlain that I bought on eBay. I have a full bottle now, which happens to be the most expensive perfume in my collection.
Œillet Pourpre is a lesson in simplicity. It starts with an intense blast of benzoin, carnation, and hints of leather and vanilla. Beautiful it is, but as far as one can get from an old-fashioned floral scent that its name suggests. Structured differently, the carnation—a vintage flower to the core—becomes modern and transgressive, according to Guerlain. Œillet Pourpre is more aptly described as a benzoin perfume that is sweetened by vanilla and carnation with a dash of mystery from the leather. I see the development of Œillet Pourpre as an inverted pyramid. All the notes are present in the beginning, and many drop off in sequence as the perfume ages on skin. Leather gets off the bus in an hour and carnation follows at the next stop. What remains for the rest of the journey is a fantastic benzoin with a touch of vanilla, and they ride into the sunset harmoniously. That is all there is, folks! But what a beautiful journey it is.
Now to the more mundane aspects of Œillet Pourpre. It is a high performer that remains on the skin for as long as 12 hours. The beautiful harmony of benzoin, leather and carnation lasts only for about four hours before it becomes a sweet benzoin that persists much longer on my skin. The sillage is great in the opening hours but comes subdued in the benzoin phase. None of this meant to undercut the overarching beauty of Œillet Pourpre.
Finally, the thorny question of value. As far as I know, it is available only at the Guerlain boutique on Champs Elysees, and online in UK. I cannot recommend Œillet Pourpre at the listed price of £420.00 (about $536) for a 200 ml bottle, though I love it with all my heart. It is unfortunate that the L’Art & La Matière collection is available only in very large unwieldy volumes, or in 10 ml splash bottles that cannot be bought individually. There must be a marketing rationale behind this, perhaps to preserve an aura of exclusivity. But I refuse to believe that there is sizeable population out there that buys a dozen bottles of perfumes that cost more than five hundred dollars every year.
Œillet Pourpre is a lesson in simplicity. It starts with an intense blast of benzoin, carnation, and hints of leather and vanilla. Beautiful it is, but as far as one can get from an old-fashioned floral scent that its name suggests. Structured differently, the carnation—a vintage flower to the core—becomes modern and transgressive, according to Guerlain. Œillet Pourpre is more aptly described as a benzoin perfume that is sweetened by vanilla and carnation with a dash of mystery from the leather. I see the development of Œillet Pourpre as an inverted pyramid. All the notes are present in the beginning, and many drop off in sequence as the perfume ages on skin. Leather gets off the bus in an hour and carnation follows at the next stop. What remains for the rest of the journey is a fantastic benzoin with a touch of vanilla, and they ride into the sunset harmoniously. That is all there is, folks! But what a beautiful journey it is.
Now to the more mundane aspects of Œillet Pourpre. It is a high performer that remains on the skin for as long as 12 hours. The beautiful harmony of benzoin, leather and carnation lasts only for about four hours before it becomes a sweet benzoin that persists much longer on my skin. The sillage is great in the opening hours but comes subdued in the benzoin phase. None of this meant to undercut the overarching beauty of Œillet Pourpre.
Finally, the thorny question of value. As far as I know, it is available only at the Guerlain boutique on Champs Elysees, and online in UK. I cannot recommend Œillet Pourpre at the listed price of £420.00 (about $536) for a 200 ml bottle, though I love it with all my heart. It is unfortunate that the L’Art & La Matière collection is available only in very large unwieldy volumes, or in 10 ml splash bottles that cannot be bought individually. There must be a marketing rationale behind this, perhaps to preserve an aura of exclusivity. But I refuse to believe that there is sizeable population out there that buys a dozen bottles of perfumes that cost more than five hundred dollars every year.
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