Other brands' versions of the Guerlinade

So you know how Guerlain famously has a signature in the base notes of their perfumes that is a sort of stylistic signoff - a common thread to all their most celebrated perfumes that makes them into a cohesive whole?

Plainly, other brands do have something similar, even if they haven't been named specifically. There's a Chanelness, a Lutensism, a Jo Malone-ity and a Hermessenc - wait. That one is taken. 

So do you find you get along better or worse with certain houses as a whole due to their signatures? I do. 

While I recognize the mastery of Ormonde Jayne, something in the dry down of all of her perfumes grates on my nose. I can't wear Jo Malones, by and large. Most Chanels give me a headache. And on the other hand, *everything* Pierre Guillaume does, I vibe with. Profumum Roma, chef's kiss. Aesop? A new discovery, so many lovelies. Hermès? All of the yes.

Am curious if this is a shared experience and which are your loved or nemesis houses

Though I like the latest version of N°5 Eau de Parfum (other, later bottle) and N°19 Eau de Parfum I'm with you on 'Chanel', they don't give me headaches, but there is something about them that will never make them my signatures or beat my Guerlains. I miss a heartbeat in Chanel, don't know how to put it otherwise. I LOVE my Guerlains, I love the 'soul' in them.

In the past I also could detect the Bvlgari-ness in any Bvlgari, but it is long ago I had those, can't even remember which ones, no Bvlgari listed here, rings a bell except Petits et Mamans, one that I liked a lot and that didn't have that particular Bvlgari DNA imo.

I don't smell anything 'Givenchy-ish' in Givenchy by the way. Some I love and some I hate but I can't tell why.

I'm with you on N°19 Parfum - along with Coromandel Eau de Parfum the only Chanel I like.

Omnia or Bvlgari Black maybe? Those were both cult classics.

Hi @MorganleFay 

Could have been Bvlgari Black, but...In my memory is must have been something even before that (if that's possible )

I think it was the blue bottle for women...not sure though.

I don't know if they actually all share something or it's just the style, like an author's style, like I like books by the same author, yes? And they're made of 1s and 0s. Like all other books. But I do have houses I like and houses I don't like.

Like: Guerlain, YSL, Demeter, Fragonard, Pineward, Cartier, Goutal, Gritti, Francesca Bianchi, Santa Maria Novella

Dislike: Penhaligon, Xerjoff, Lutens, Nina Ricci

Mixed bag: Vilhelm, Tom Ford, Mancera, Lorenzo Pazzaglia, Killian

I made a common base for my Erin's Garden Collection, consisting of extraits from plants from my garden. Each of the fragrances in it are very different from each other but they all deliberately share the same garden plant base. It's not quite the same thing because it's part of the concept of the collection and all the notes are listed, so it's not some mysterious thing that only insiders will notice, but I think it's similar.