Champs Elysees Extract

This is a review on my vintage bottle of Champs-Elysees pure parfum from 1996. To me, it is a cheerful and airy fragrance that smells expensively made with a more youthful audience in mind compared to most of the earlier fragrances by Guerlain. It is definitely more feminine among other Guerlains and might not be very suitable for men, even for the much richer parfum concentration, unless layered with something more woody or musky. On my colder than average skin, this particular bottle of parfum started off with soft fruity, mostly fresh sweet peaches, a tiny bit of blackcurrant and a hint of ripe melon notes. A faint almond like note joined in after a couple minutes with prominent airy soft but rich sweet floral note of Mimosa and something that smelled like green jasmine or lily-of-the-valley. There was a creamy powdery richness to this scent that the floral notes gained power, with added hint of powdery roses, after about 30 minutes and that created a really cheerful carefree girly vibe. After about an hour or so, the Guerlainade characters of slight tartness of rich Sandalwood, sweetness of Vanilla and softness of Benzoin were detected along with a clean musky note probably from the Hibiscus seeds and they remained as the base with still hints of florals for well over 8 hours. The dry down of this parfum was sensual and really worth waiting for. As a side note, I am not sure whether my nose was picking the right note as at the dry down, I detected a faint scent of white (grey) Ambergris and that made it more attractive to me.

This is the one that reminds me why I don't feel like messing with fruity, teenager-ish floral perfumes as much anymore. They smell "nice", but none of those have the depth and roundess of a well-made scent like this. It's light and bright, but soft, warm and sweet—reminiscent of a semi-sweet sparkling wine. Getting whiffs of it throughout the day is simply a treat. Sad that this extract is not really able to be found in stores—your only hope, in the US where I am at least, is to find it online. My bottle is a vintage extract from the 90s, and I can only hope when I get a bottle of the EDP that it smells as good as this. In a word, the extract is beautiful. It's a perfectly crafted, light, sweet floral for almost any occasion, or any season. In short, if you're looking for a floral, sweet perfume that slips on like a glove and smells like you but better, Champs Elysees extract is the answer. Reminds me of my beloved Amarige by Givenchy, but far more restrained and quiet. I can't speak for the eau de parfum, but I'm sure it's wonderful as well.

Juicy, effervescent, bright floral. This is sunshine in a bottle! Imagine powdery mimosa and lilac with a punch of melon and peach, spiked with spicy hibiscus and anise, then smoothed out with some almond. This is what's close to the skin, but farther away I get a beautiful wisp of woody almond-blackberry sillage. 10/10!

I wonder how it could be possible that Jacques Guerlain created this with Jean-Paul. He would probably be over one hundred years old in 1996.

I own a lovely vintage perfume extract splash miniature bottle of this scent which has been in my wardrobe (no,quite literally in my closet) for a number of years. I keep my miniature dab on splash bottles in my walk-in closet. My bottle dates from 1995 - 1996, the mid 90's, and from what I smelled that first time and can still smell today, it's definitely the 90's in a bottle for a Guerlain fragrance. Champs Elysees is a rather sweet, youthful, feminine fruity floral gourmand. Ahead of it's time really. I remember wearing this in the summer months as it comes off as quite refreshing like a fruit drink, like a cocktail made up of peach apricot, currant or cassis, watermelon, and vanilla almond. Delicious. Now it's losing it's power and smells mostly of the more subtle notes of that powder and cedar tree. It's not very complex, it's light and fruity and even for a parfum concentration it does not last long. This is something I dab on the sides of my neck and behind my ears in weather such as we have now in the UK. Opens with a fruity mimosa and orange flower, not too citrusy but fresh and citric with a quick transition into the fruited notes of ripe peach and apricot, a melon and black currant. So yes from the start it's fruity and sweet. The florals in the middle stage of the performance are subtle and match up with the fruits especially that mimosa which also matches with the vanilla. The vanilla flower in this fragrance is the star. Smells of sweet flowery aromas of lilac, violet, peony, rose and hibiscus. The flowers, if one can visualize them through smell, are pinkish and rose-colored. There is a lovely delicate peony that thrills me. It's as soft as a younger woman's skin. I have a guilty pleasure wearing this perfume because it really does seem like I stole it from a younger woman's wardrobe at my old age. This is a pretty girl younger than I and I am wearing her on my skin. She is to quote the South Pacific song "younger than spring time". I can't get enough of these florals. At one point the whole thing opens up like one pink rose. The rose note is typical of Guerlain fragrances that feature rose. In addition there are powder notes which is strange seeing as there is no iris or orris root in it's composition. The violet is quite lovely. As the fruits and flowers fade, the greener and more aromatic aspects of the fragrance develop. I detect the leaf of lily of the valley, herbal but not strong, like tiny lily bulbs. There's cedar wood and almond tree out of which the sandalwood, another signature Guerlain dry note in the base, is prominent. A glorious vanilla is there in the dry down. This fragrance comes in the Eau de Parfum and Eau de Toilette concentration as a spray bottle and if I'm not mistaken it's been discontinued by Guerlain such a pity. It's possible there are sellers on eBay that still have this fragrance so you can count on my searching for it there. I would love to try the Eau de Parfum and spray it on me. A most delectable drink.