Œillet Pourpre
Lui
2017

Œillet Pourpre / Lui by Guerlain
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8.1 / 10 284 Ratings
A popular perfume by Guerlain for women and men, released in 2017. The scent is sweet-spicy. It was last marketed by LVMH.
Pronunciation
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Main accords

Sweet
Spicy
Leathery
Resinous
Creamy

Fragrance Notes

BenzoinBenzoin CarnationCarnation VanillaVanilla LeatherLeather

Perfumer

Ratings
Scent
8.1284 Ratings
Longevity
7.7252 Ratings
Sillage
6.6254 Ratings
Bottle
8.4247 Ratings
Value for money
6.378 Ratings
Submitted by OPomone, last update on 25.04.2024.
Interesting Facts
In 2021, Lui was renamed Œillet Pourpre and became part of L'Art & La Matière collection.

Reviews

5 in-depth fragrance descriptions
10
Bottle
7
Sillage
9
Longevity
9
Scent
Can777

121 Reviews
Translated Show original Show translation
Can777
Can777
Top Review 106  
The Shadow
LUI. A lot of things remind me of a shadow in LUI. Dark and yet transparent contours that lie over you when you put it on. An intangible presence. Tender darkness surrounded by light. A scissor cut of black and white. A shadow that is difficult to classify, to whom or what it belongs. The outlines of LUI are androgynous, genderless and difficult to classify. Is it a man or is it a woman? Or is it both standing in front of or behind each other and reflecting the shadow cast like a shadow theatre of androgyny? You can't always be sure what contours LUI is taking on. But you don't have to! br />
LUI
From the first seconds on LUI smells like delicate suede on my skin. Soft, warm and almost light as a feather. A very delicate leather which seems to disintegrate more and more into dust. Tones of powdery, spicy, dry clove dust gradually cover the delicate suede, but without making it disappear completely. Filigree smoked benzoin flickers softly around and embraces balsamic, waxy-softly everything that has gone before, gently and quietly. But I can also perceive other balsamic resins. Opoponax, Peru balsam, mastic and a touch of Ethiopian incense could be it. Nothing is loud or intrusive here. All notes seem to expand and contract like a shadow. They rise and retreat without disappearing completely. LUI is a quiet fragrance, which does not mean that it has nothing to say. One never feels harassed or pressed by him in his presence. He is more the quiet friend and listener sitting in the semi-darkness than the extroverted speaker in the spotlight. Also his durability is extremely reliable. He accompanies you like a shadow throughout the day and into the evening. The Sillage of LUI is changeable and diffuse and also here like a shadow play. It shows itself again and again briefly and is already gone without attracting too much attention. But he never disappears completely!

Conclusion
LUI is certainly not without contours. It is rather the contour that outlines everything that dwells within it. It gently wraps itself around and over you without you being swallowed by its presence. It does not overshadow you completely, but allows transparency. LUI is independent and not a copy of anything. Even if it reflects or seems to touch many a big scent on its shadow cast. A Habanita, a Tabac Blond, a Black Cashmere from Donna Karan or a touch of faded Shalimar. Some of these perfumes came to my mind on my trip with LUI. Personally, LUI reminds me a lot of Tabac Blond by Caron. But it's not the fragrance itself or the notes. It's rather its aura of feminine and masculine accents and vibrations that make me think of it. For me personally, Guerlain has sent his shadow far ahead with LUI. Into hidden realms that are rather untypical for Guerlain and are more in the dark and can be found than in the light. And even if LUI is like a shadow on me, he is not in this one with me!
I think it's more than successful!
60 Comments
10
Bottle
7
Sillage
10
Longevity
9
Scent
Profumo

59 Reviews
Translated Show original Show translation
Profumo
Profumo
Top Review 51  
Grows with every test
Which and which fragrance enthusiasts does she not know, these wow moments that occur every now and then. Barely sprayed on, it goes through you like lightning: Wow, what a scent!
One of my deepest and most lasting wow experiences many years ago was the old version of 'Dioressence'.
I first saw 'LUI' about two years ago. The beautiful bottle alone gave me the chance to grab it, but this time nothing happened. No wow, nowhere. Instead, I sniffed my wrist a little at a loss.
A Guerlain? Where was that typical DNA? What is so special about this fragrance?
I found no answer, and classified 'LUI' under: boring, chumming up modern, leathery Oriental, smelled x times, without depth and special development.

How to be wrong sometimes after all!

If 'LUI' wasn't in this strikingly beautiful art deco bottle, I probably would have avoided it with such labels. But that's how he kept drawing me back. Could it be that there really was such a boring and banal fragrance in such a pretty bottle?
Yeah, it could be. At least that is what the following tests showed.
Then, a few weeks ago, suddenly everything was different, for whatever reason.
Actually I just wanted to see if the new 'Bois Mysterieux' still smells the same as my old 'Songe d'un Bois d'Été', but there was no tester available. Instead there was this seductively beautiful 'LUI' again. Rather bored and actually assuming that I had already discarded the scent often enough as uninteresting, I took it up again.
What was that? Suddenly, a seductive aroma escaped from the pretty boy!
What had happened?
Nothing, really. The scent was clearly the same, but somehow a switch seemed to be flipped. What I had previously found banal and boring was suddenly interesting and exciting: a wonderfully aromatic powdery clove aroma, combined with something subtly fruity, lay over a smoothed, civilized leather note that was lolling on a bed of resinous-balsamic benzoin - great!
But: so far, so unspectacular. It really wasn't the first benzoin leather scent. But suddenly I had an 'open nose' for the real strength of this fragrance: its quality.

LUI' does not score with originality, does not throw itself at any niche oud, saffron or immortelle hype, but does not offer itself to any contemporary mainstream synthetics either.
No, 'LUI' is basically - that's how I experienced him the first times - an inconspicuous guy whose advantages, even elegance, don't really want to show to advantage. Fortunately, however, he is wearing this chic outfit - rarely has a bottle been such an eye-catcher.
But now that my nose has opened for this fragrance, so to speak, I actually no longer feel any discrepancy between beauty on the one hand and inconspicuousness on the other. Both, inside and outside, actually fit together quite well: This bottle jewel actually contains a fragrance jewel. One that does not immediately appeal to the inclined consumer, but rather wants to be discovered.

Reading reviews and comments on 'LUI', the question keeps coming up as to what on earth this fragrance has to do with its sister fragrance 'LIU', the decade-old aldehyde bomb once contained in a very similar art deco bottle. In 1929 Guerlain launched this fragrance, reminiscent of Chanel's 'No 5', inspired by a character from Puccini's last opera, 'Turandot', which was very popular at the time. Liu, the slave, resists all torture and chooses suicide rather than reveal her secret. It is this strength, this courage, that melts the ice shield of Princess Turandot.
Aldehyde-pregnant fragrances like 'LIU', but especially Chanel's 'No 5', launched 8 years earlier, were very popular with women wearing garçonne fashion. Flapper-look and short-hair hairstyles contributed to the rather boyish appearance of the garçonne.
Guerlain's 'LIU' came quite late though. Again.
As with 'Mitsouko', 'Shalimar' and later 'Vetiver', Guerlain showed that you don't have to constantly tap into your creative potential to reinvent the wheel again and again. Sometimes it was just more advisable to demonstrate that one simply knew one's craft better than the others.
What was achieved with the three fragrances mentioned above, however, could not be repeated with 'LIU'. Chanel's 'No 5' remained unmatched, no matter how popular the opera character whose name was borrowed and how beautiful the bottle. LIU' did not become one of the great Guerlain legends, but nevertheless remained permanently in the Guerlain catalogue, probably because of its undeniable qualities.

LUI it is.
No aldehydes, no rose, no jasmine and no iris, but vanilla and woody notes, which can be found in the wide range of scents of benzoic resin. Here, 'LUI' docks on 'LIU' and expands this spectrum with lots of resinous and balsamic facets, adds leathery, powdery, aromatic and discreetly fruity ones, thus shifting the clearly feminine fragrance cosmos of 'LIU' in a much more masculine direction. LUI' thus becomes the male counterpart of 'LIU', but does not break the bridge to the feminine language of fragrance with benzoin, carnation and pear.
If a garçonne of the 20s and 30s may have chosen Chanel's 'No 5' or 'LIU', a garçonne of the present time would certainly prefer 'LUI'. In my opinion, 'LUI' is indeed a modern garçonne fragrance, even if it refuses to follow fashion trends and synthetics. Its modernity consists rather in adapting a nearly one hundred year old fragrance concept to today's habits and preferences. Women have long since begun to capture the woody, leathery and spicy scents of their partners, to adopt them for themselves - a 'LUI' is not really necessary.
But 'LUI' works a little differently, it is not an unambiguous men's fragrance, just as it is far away from an unambiguous women's fragrance.
But it's not unisex in the true sense of the word either, because I find its basic tendency to be more masculine: a masculine fragrance with an open side to the feminine. Just as 'lui' in French usually means 'for him', but not always: it can also mean 'her'. Je lui dis' can be 'I tell him', or 'I tell her', depending on the context
Of course, 'LUI' does not offer a novel fragrance concept with these qualities. There are countless similar fragrances that elude the platitudinous unisex label and play much more cleverly with homme/femme attribution. And yet with 'LUI', Guerlain has succeeded after a long time in doing something for which this house has long stood, namely not completely reinventing things, but simply making them better.
Bravo, Guerlain!!
LUI' has a fantastic durability with moderate projection. Here again the rather masculine basic tendency is revealed: according to classical understanding the gentleman does not have to outrun the lady olfactorically. She may blow up the room in a fragrant way. He prefers to convince through unobtrusive persistence.
Just like LUI

13 Comments
9
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
9
Scent
Sweetsmell75

21 Reviews
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Sweetsmell75
Sweetsmell75
Top Review 31  
Liaison with carnation and leather
We are
together
grown
grown together

-Hans-Christoph Neuert-

Carnation and leather ... can that go well? I asked myself that at the time and yes ... it can go well :)
But it took me another year until I knew that Lui and I belonged together.
Now the chic bottle is in my perfume shelf and I am happy that I entered the Liason with Lui!

To the fragrance:
Lui starts with me immediately balsamic and slowly carnation and leather creep into the fragrance.
Don't worry, carnation sceptics ... the carnation is absolutely modern here :)
I find the leather to be edgy but not rough.
But benzoin is the main chord in this fragrance. The liasion with carnation and leather make this balsamic dream unique!
A beautiful, balsamic-powdery-sweet fragrance. Lui is soft and supple, not loud and also not for the big appearance. More of a soul flatterer for the quieter days of life. To melt away;)
A delicate fragrance restaurant surrounds me for the first few hours before Lui becomes very close. The shelf life is a good 8 hours plus.
Autumn/winter and the first days of spring fit perfectly.
Absolutely unisex, even if I had claimed a year ago that he was partly too masculine for me.
The Flakönchen is already very chic and looks noble :)

Conclusion:
Beautiful benzoin enters a liaison with carnation & leather.
Balsamic-powdery-sweet!
*melting*
The Sweetsmell likes the liaison with Lui:)

Thierry Wasser and Delphine Jelk have created a wonderful fragrance with Lui and a test is really worthwhile ;)
21 Comments
8
Bottle
8
Sillage
7
Longevity
7.5
Scent
Pepdal

238 Reviews
Pepdal
Pepdal
1  
LUI Guerlain
Released in 2017 ( in my opinion a pretty good year for perfume releases), this co-authored fragrance from the legendary house has been a little bit of a sleeper. With prices coming down, i took the plunge and blind-bought based on as much research as possible. Here is my take.
0 Comments
Art

68 Reviews
Art
Art
1  
Review of LUI (2017)
For some time I could not remember, why this smell seemed familiar. I knew I had encountered something similar before. It was not until I sprayed a few drops of Terracota Voile d'Ete. Then I immediately caught the characteristic Guerlain ylangylang - carnation - clove - (vanilla) accord, which is present in several Guerlain fragrances. These are Metallica, and Ylang&Vanille, and Lys Soleia, and, for sure, there are also other similar creations from this house.

LUI for me, first of all, is spicy (mostly, cloves) vanilla, smoked ripe pears, dense pollen of lilies, warm musk plus the aforementioned spicy-floral guerlinade accord. Not overly complex yet beautiful and thoroughbred perfume.
0 Comments

Statements

7 short views on the fragrance
Ka3nKa3n 3 years ago
New nickname in L’art et la Matiere collection Œillet Pourpre gives it more justice. As beautiful as it always was. One love for me
0 Comments
ZoikgreeceZoikgreece 4 years ago
10
Bottle
6
Sillage
6
Longevity
10
Scent
I can see my beautiful lover coming, dressed in black, holding in his arms dozens of carnations for me, smelling cloves and noble leather.
0 Comments
ScentedSalonScentedSalon 7 years ago
8.5
Scent
Benzoin overdose with resin and smoke. Very much like Tonka Imperiale and slightly like Bois d'Armenie. Slightly leaning masculine. Love it.
0 Comments
TorkeTorke 4 years ago
6
Bottle
6
Sillage
7
Longevity
8.5
Scent
Amazing soft, benzoin-laced, leather.
Not that great of a performance overall, but not terrible either.
Amazing scent.
0 Comments
Dixieland88Dixieland88 8 months ago
9
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
9.5
Scent
This is a fragrance you have to spend time with to experience. It's pleasant and expensive smelling when you first sniff, amazing later. 10/
0 Comments
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