Bouquet de Faunes

WOW! No wonder this has the reputation it does! I was expecting a spicy civet bomb, but this is a delicate, almost watery floral over a very smooth castoreum/civet/leather base. It's so delicate it almost smells fragile. Very much a surprise. Highly recommend just for the experience of a unique natural-based animalic. I think I detect a faint amount of genuine Tonkin musk, which in my experience is very sweet and balmy, but it doesn't seem to be listed in the notes anywhere. Oh how I wish Guerlain would go back to the quality they used to be known for! Also, this bears a strong resemblance to the original Jasmin de Corse by Coty. The difference is the bouvardia is more of the focus in this, but delicate Jasmin, sweet, and not heavily indolic or buttery or green is a close second note in the heart. The dry down loses some of the heavily animalic edge and develops into a very gentle, natural, sweet floral. This must be what angels and pure innocence smells like. It brings to mind a bucolic pastoral scene with a new young mother and her family in the garden picking flowers. Heat brings out the civet and powdery notes (still looking for my HG iris/orris perfume.) And the quality is out of this world! You can't find this sort of thing anymore. Even the greatest niche houses either stick with IFRA restrictions or avoid certain ingredients because of social taboo and rely heavily on synthetics. Yes, you can be very creative with synthetics, á la Comme de Garçons, but they wind up all smelling the same and you can always tell when Givaudin and Firmenich modern blends are being used. If there are any synthetics here, I can't detect them. Very MCAS-friendly.

An animalic masterpiece! I have smelled a couple of somewhat "rougher" samples of this that really highlight some of the more fecal/animal aspects of it, but I just acquired some in beautiful condition, and it strikes me most just how balanced and composed it is. I don't really detect bergamot, though I'm sure there's at least a little. The opening provides a slightly mentholated/camphor herbal smell (marjoram, I supposed?) combined with a sweetish and very light almond note on top of a subtle bouquet of florals. I smell a citronella-ish rose and then, most prominently, the fleshy-skanky smell of ylang and jasmine combined. Just lovely! In the particular vintage I'm smelling, the floral chord is very present and persistent but, balance-wise, the creamy sueded animalic base is the star here. The classic Guerlain elements of orris-ey materials (orris butter? Ionones?), heliotropin, coumarin, and vanillin are all snuggled up in a musky embrace. There is a distinct costus note that brings that tinge of hair/scalp that it brings to Vol de Nuit. There's also some of the barnyard/leather smell of castoreum, but it's just all harmonized so exquisitely. The whole things melts further into this beautiful, vanillic-animalic drydown as it progresses. The scent persists and is long-lasting, but it doesn't overwhelm or transform your skin the way, say, Shalimar does. Rather, it merges with your body chemistry the way the best perfumes do. There is definitely no doubt that you're wearing animal ingredients throughout, but everything is so measured and well-tuned.

i was so lucky to own this treasure for 4 years and still have it .. what can i say about it .. it's almost near to fifteens perfumes but more dark like it came from out of the universe.. fur alot of fur-like civet and alot of civet .. sometimes i don't want to read what my perfume contains cuz i realy want to live it without knowing what it has.. i want to love as you are and i don't want to know your advantages and disadvantages.. i love you your mysterious just don't tell me your reality.. . . by the way it's for sale if someone interested! . .

Absolutely stunning. Opens light and floral with brights Aldehydics and jasmine with a slight citronella twang. Can't say I am too familiar with Bouvardia or Marjoram but they are differently parts of the myriad of florals it dries into along with ylang-yalng, rose, carnation, and a slightly powdery iris. The leathery, furry, vanilla, suede, animalic base is out of this world. There is a touch of sweetness throughout that makes it extremely palatable despite it's harsh, vintage, animalic nature. Not as stinky as expected. Perfectly unisex.

Fortunately, I was able to try it as perfume extract and it is absolutely divine. The bouquet is beautiful, you almost forget to smell the flowers to try to guess musks but they arise very quickly and it is as naughty as one might expect. It's very funny to realize as Guerlain was a rather avant-garde house in fact, today there are only the great classics but we discover a heritage that would make fade to mediocrity 90% of contemporary niche perfumes.