Guerlain - French Week Day 4

On Day 4 of French Week, we are going to go back in time about 100 years to look at the classic Guerlain fragrance, L'Heure Bleue.

L'heure bleue...the blue hour. This time of the night is also known as the twilight hour, which is the time of the morning and night when there is neither full light or full darkness. This is times of the day when the flower smell the strongest and it is believed by many that the light is the most flattering at these hours. The blue hour was the inspiration for the legendary fragrance created in 1912 by Jacques Guerlain, a favorite time of the day for him. This fragrance is a classis yet still manages to remain on the cutting edge of fashion. This fragrance is classic French and extremely sophisticated.

The Bergdorf Goodman website describes the fragrance as follows, "The semi-oriental classic blends floral, powdery notes of aniseed, carnation, and vanilla. The curves on the upper part of the bottle were inspired by Art Nouveau. The heart-shaped stoppers are a playfull allusion to the pre-war years".

At Basenotes.com, I found a fantastic review of the fragrance that gets this fragrance perfectly. "At the top you are met with orange blossom and bergamot. This is a lovely light beginning reminsicent of the dying of the light as these are bright fleeting notes. The heart is that part of twilight that the night flowers begin to peek out. Anise is the note that shuttles my nose into the deepening dark as carnation and its clove-like character begin to take hold, this is soon followed by rose and violet. The base is vanilla and musk but it is superbly balanced and it is never too sweet or too animalic it is just right". I wasn't aware that this fragrance contained anise, normally I hate this note because it always seems to overpower the other fragrance notes. This is not evident in this fragrance.

I first was attracted to this fragrance because of the name, which reminded me of the beauty of the twilight. I have only smelled this fragrance once at Neiman Marcus and I was instantly smitten. I would love to own a bottle of this classic fragrance for two major reasons; first, it has rose in it and second, it is contained in the most beautiful bottle that I have ever seen housing a fragrance. This fragrance falls into the category of fragrances that are a treasure to have.

photo courtesy of Neiman Marcus