Eau de Shalimar

I just received this, literally two minutes ago, how I looove that Courier van arriving!! First spray - one to each wrist, two to neck. I am going to just write as I smelt it before I looked up the notes to amend what I was indeed smelling! Torrential blast of fresh lemon, gives way to bergamot and vanilla mingled with warm, noticeable but not overpowering orange. The nicest strength of orange added to a fragrance I smelt in a while, usually I find it a little too sickly in high concentrations (apart from maybe D &G's Sicily, I think it's in there and seriously yummy). Gentle, and I do mean a gentle aroma of rose and jasmine enter the scene, to the point where I doubted my nose and confused these two flowers with something akin to carnation but a flower which I did not yet know. Powdery but not too much so (not a fan of the power powder). Next comes a headier wave of vanilla, warmed with resin, which I mistook for amber - and iris which I do not yet know enough about to single out and recognise. (But hey, any purple flower will get my vote - immature I know but hell, I love purple). Reading the notes I realise that was LIME! Not lemon. Booyah! I loves me a lime but wow, how did I not pick that? I'll wait for the two plus hour drydown to see if it really does remind me strongly of Shalimar but for now, it is the daytime, light, lemony (yes, still not getting lime) vanilla, warmly, lightly floral blend that I am going to wear over and over again. This is work friendly, save Shalimar, the holy grail for evenings, I say. Or COLD wintery days in small doles. This actually reminds me a little of Bvlgari's Petits et Mamans (plus alcohol), mainly due to its soothing nature. Interestingly, this has some similarilties to Code Luna (lemon and vanilla) but without the slightly sharper white flowers. This is calming on me, I love it. Ah, Guerlain... Add; Nearly an hour on, I can smell the lime - now! And yes, the base smells like Shalimar without the luscious leather. This will still be an empty bottle sooner than a lot of my others.

THIS is the perfume that made me love Shalimar and also made me love citrus, which I very much dislike in perfume, in general. Somehow this manages to be an absolutely classy, elegant, and professional perfume, while at the same time being so fun and satisfying my sweet tooth and my constant craving for gourmands. It opens with this light, almost ethereal citrus which is neither sour nor fresh, really. It's almost like a light, perfectly balanced limeade that has neither too much sugar nor the puckery sourness of the fresh fruit. That citrus is absolutely mouthwatering, and then it's accompanied by the gorgeous, albeit subtle, florals, mainly iris, and then of course that massive dose of Guerlain vanilla which I find so enticing. IMHO Guerlain vanilla is unmatched in the perfume world. As a whole, the composition is reminiscent of a key lime pie or a lemon pie, if it were whipped up and turned into a cloud. It's absolutely breathtaking and I'm so glad this was an absolutely random, out-of-nowhere blind buy. I have no idea what even possessed me to purchase this, as it is so different from the original Shalimar, but I will treasure it now that it is discontinued! For those who are curious, yes you can tell this is a flanker of Shalimar, as the DNA is there, but this is a 2nd cousin maybe, or great Aunt. There is no leather or animals or heaviness in this, as there is in the original. (By the way I also like the original Shalimar but I prefer the vanilla-centric flankers, the Souffle Intense, and of course the Eau de Shalimar, all of which I find to be more modern and suited to my taste.)

I bought Eau de Shalimar first 1.5 years ago based on the praising reviews here. Original Shalimar does not work on my skin (burned rubber), so thought I would give EdS a shot. After the first spray I immediately packed it back and next day returned it. It was so strong, mumsy..etc, I could not keep it (original 2008 flacon). A year later I discovered Shalimar Cologne and fall in love with that sweet vanilla-lemon cake beauty. That one had the same DNA than EdS, but way much smoother, creamier, sweeter. It was easy to fell in love with. Then I thought this many people can’t be wrong, let’s give it a try again, maybe I was just not ready yet for this. It has arrived today, and was a complete surprise (new Jade Jagger flacon). Maybe because of Shalimar Cologne, maybe I got more experienced with fragrances, but now I could understand and enjoy EdS. It opens still with a strong, crisp lime-bergamot combo, not as sweet and creamy as the Cologne, but much more fresh, resin is moderately there.. 30 min later starts the transformation to a nice citrusy-iris scent with vanilla undertone and ends with a cool vanilla, not sweet creamy, but cool, classy, and stays for hours. I couldn’t resist and was keep sniffing my wrist. Really unique and interesting and definitely stays with me! Update after few weeks of testing and wearing: It is LOVE! Can’t get enough of the unique cold-breeze vanilla! Cheers me up when I’m moody, comforts when work is stressful.

I had to take the time and I had to get used to this perfume, because for me it's a bit different from other Shalimar variations I've tried so far. The opening is strong, a bit bitter, almost masculine, green lemon aroma -fresh, surprisingly realistic and dazzling. Then suddenly I smelled a beautiful vanilla, which mixed with that lemon bliss and created the smell of a dessert I loved as a child (a fine curd vanilla-lemon dessert). A thick, creamy, light yellow, a bit milky, sweet vanilla-lemon surprise for me! When this stage was over (after about 20 minutes), I started to recognize The Shalimar -thick, balsamic, oriental powder wonder with a touch of leather and spices. Only here the powder is lighter (it allows you to breathe), more flowery, fresher due to the presence of citruses at the beginning. The leather is lingering, very fine, white. And that "dessert" scent stays ( I just love that!), just gets weaker. Like a light, sparkling veil reminding the regular beauty. I guess this could work well for the people who can't wear the regular Shalimar. The bottle is stunning as always! It's perfect for colder weather, like a light, but warm, soft scarf over the shoulders. I can imagine some kind of a magic, positive, feminine fairy-tale creature wearing this to reinforce her magic power. Makes me feel calm, secure and elegant. A calm, whispering sophistication.

I would like to leave this review as a warning probably. To start with, I love the Guerlain house and especially love the Shalimar flankers (I have 2 adorable Initials). So after reading your reviews here I was almost sure it would be a safe blind buy for me. Got a brand new full 90 ml bottle from the fragrance seller off the UK Ebay to stock up as they had been discontinued. Well, the bottle (like the main picture here, on the 'foot' with white ribbon) did give the initial splash on the second push, not the 3rd of 4th as usual. I thought it was strange. But the worst was the fragrance. The strong initial lime blast was very chemical, after about 20 minutes the fragrance (even put on generously) would disappear and then in a while come back so quiet that I had to press my nose to skin to smell some faint sweetish lime food flavouring. Like this it stayed for a couple of hours. The bottle went back to the seller. They accepted the return with no fuss, I should give it to them. I have a feeling that this might be a fake or some kind of a 'grey' production of the factory. Not sure but it definitely is not right. Just thought I'd let the others know. I'll try to hunt down the original now in the bottle like the one in the top right picture (no 'foot'), it's supposed to be the older formula and heavier on resins. Really curious to try this properly