Heritage Eau de Parfum

This is a stunning, elegant, gentlemanly scent. Subtlety is the name of the game here. My bottle is the tall, crystal clear, silver cap. I think I can consider my version as a vintage bottle. I am going to put it in comparison to other fragrances. First off, it has the Guerlain thing. Elegant, refined, not as designer fragrance (hello!!!!! Guerlain is niche). Then, the fresh pop in the opening, that only last a few seconds. Then turns aromatic, and powdery. Classic fuguiere structure. Lavender is clean, and has some freshness probably given by other notes. The middle, you can smell the patchouli, and the dustiness of the orris. The floral touch of the carnation and jasmine are noticiable, but not in your face. The patchouli gets extended, by the oakmoss which gives a little touch of greenness to the base. The sandalwood is creamy. By looking at the notes, I perceive the cedar but is there to support the sandalwood. Projection is noticeable for the first 1.5-2 hours. Then, settles to a calming, soft, and yes, I will use the word elegant. There is no other way to put it. I am stunned on how great Heritage EDP is. Similar scents. Beau de Jour by Tom Ford. Similar to it, but less aromatic at the opening than Hetitage. BdJ has a flamboyant, more playful vibe, even for a classic style. It also has some touches of L’Instant Pour Homme EDP, mostly the mid (patchouli). Gender. Masculine. There is no leaning to unisex at all. The structure is a classic fragrance from decades ago. Occasions. Work, formal events, any time actually. For me, it leans great for work. Formal occasions should be fantastic, and carries a sense of a put together person. It can be worn casual or formal. Sport and summer-ish, I think it can be pull it off if wearing an old-money style. Shirts, t-shirts...... you can wear whenever you want it, but I personally use other scents proper for a relaxed outfit. Seasons: I think all year around except in the blasting heat of summer. Pros: Elegant, period. It’s more of a mature scent. Mature in the sense of confident, put together. It’s classic and doesn’t follow trends. Excellent for formal settings: weddings, night outs. Cons: Younger folks may find it “old school”, old person, or vintage. Whatever! Not a mass appealing at all, it’s more classic in a formal way. Not sugary/diabetic sweet as trending fragrances nowadays. Not panty dropper or wet mental dreams. Summary. Heritage is classic, a fragrance built in other times when perfumery was done in an artistic way, with layers of notes and accords that made this composition, in my opinion, a masterpiece. It’s subtle and inviting. It doesn’t grab attention but lingers in a way that is more intriguing than invasive. A younger person used to wear current fragrances may find it old, but those who have experienced with different scents and more classic structured fragrances, will find it phenomenal.

Dear Fragrantica Friends, This will be my last post of the year and it saddens me to write it. Heritage EDP was my favorite scent (note the past tense). It evoked so much of what I love. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime perfumes that really did do it for me. I actually got to know Heritage quite late in the game (in early 2018) but so much has changed since then... The European regulations (that determined a 4 year transition period ending 23 August 2021) were responsible for the complete butchering of 99% of existing perfumes. Even when - due to some unusual magic by the perfumer - the perfume still managed to retain the original scent, performance and sillage are extremely poor. These last four years have seen the death of old perfumery. Heritage (both EDP and EDT) was one of those that suffered the most. I have with me a bottle from 2018 and a bottle from 2021. I can tell you they are completely different. The older batch could be smelt from the cap. The current one feels like water. I sprayed 20 (TWENTY!) times around 10 minutes ago. It's almost gone. Please do not comment saying I became anosmic to the smell (anosmia is not a common medical condition and does not equal "my brain is not processing the smell because it's saturated"). Anosmia seemed to enter the fragrance world lexicon in 2019 :). In fact, I can still smell my 2018 batch. And everything else for that matter. I agree with most of the reviews below saying this is simply a wonderful perfume. One of the best if not the best ever. Jean-Paul Guerlain was a genius without equal. However, please consider that most of these reviews do not refer to the new version. This is one of the problems with online reviewing. Even if the review is true, it should at least mention the year of production. Because it really matters. Sometimes, we watch online reviewers talking about their favorite perfumes with half-empty bottles from 5 years ago. That is perfectly fine IF they're talking about a vintage scent. BUT they should really do their research before suggesting a perfume if the new batches in production do not match the product they have. Coming back to Heritage. The 2018 Heritage was a miracle. The new one (sold under the same name and bottle) is a very very sad disappointment. As I dramatically said, "these last four years have seen the death of old perfumery". In any case, perfumery is not dead. Many great things are still to be done! We just need to let the old memories go. We need to let the old perfumes go. Even if they are the Love of loves. Even if they are Heritage. I wish you all a Happy and Fragrant 2022.

Oooh, applies very nice, warm, thick vetiver. Pure and high quality with lots of nuance. Peppery with smooth creamy balance. Sun scorched wood and faint shampoo. Dry grass builds. Ivy peaks out of the top from earthy, dank headshop that doesn't scream marijuana, but patchouli is a companion. The high quality nuance keeps pulling me back. Even though it's in the genre of barbershop, it's unique enough to not be familiar or dated. Love how the vetiver shines. Wood develops naturally and builds out the base while green herbs and amber spice blend well. The EDT pales in comparison! Not even close to how deep and sophisticated this is. Loved the sample I got years ago, I reordered to confirm, but it's not the mind-boggling beast I got before. Spraying on fabric helps, but doesn't send me into a tizzy like the powerhouse I remember. This is "normal/fine" - not bad, just not as massive. Dry down becomes INSANELY good. Delectable, but not gourmand. The euphoria of smelling the best vanilla, without being vanilla. One of the easiest bottle-worthy decisions ever. 2ND TRY: Potent and dense. 1 spray is almost too much! Vintage barbershop aftershave balanced by warm, cozy depth. Amber and salty oud finishes with spicey pine loam & dry moss. Strong and lasts forever. Sexy, likable, yet unfamiliar. Dated in a cool way. Can't get enough even though it's a beast. 1ST TRY: Applies better than EDT with sharp barbershop freshness. Spicy oak moss. Cashmere and dry cozy sweater. Questionable soapy thickness builds. Dry vetiver dominates while briskness keeps it old school. Dry sandalwood takes over until warm amber builds in the dry down. More intense and deep than EDT. Dry down is warm, spicy, appealing - nuanced and hard not to like. Lingering dank, sweet, smoky tobacco. Less dated than the EDT. Dense and sexy without being sweet. Finish is rich and horny.

This is one of my favorites among the style of traditional, masculine woody orientals. Heritage features a fairly complex blend of spices, woods, and aromatics, and as a result comes across as an interesting and engaging scent. There's an excellent sandalwood accord present here, paired with a dry, earthy-mineralic patchouli and it seems to serve as Heritage's backbone, around which you'll find various embellishments. There's the resinous comfort of amber in its base, which adds depth and fullness; a prickly, aromatic accent along its edges, lead by pepper and oakmoss; and some pleasantly musky funk, slightly warm and animalic, and possibly rooted in coriander, as its dominant smell that accompanies this particular musk. What results is a mature, woody masculine that is both comforting and elegant, alluring and composed. While Heritage would certainly be appropriate to wear with a Tux, dressed up, it's perhaps even better when worn with a flannel, a relaxing warm blend that's perfect company on a lazy weekend. It's this reposed aspect of comforting warmth that I enjoy most about it, and which I find is just a bit more abundant in the EDP as opposed to the EDT. While Heritage may have lost a little bit of its charm over the course of various reformulations (which fragrance hasn't?), the current EDP is still very nice, and as long as I'm not wearing it side by side with an older iteration, I barely notice a difference and enjoy it just the same. While I was originally concerned about how the juice in the new style of Guerlain bottles would smell, I have to say that I think they've done an excellent job with them. If any reformulations have occurred (and they most likely have), they're very well done. I was impressed by both new bottles of Vetiver and L'Instant. Heritage EDP has certainly not disappointed either. Thumbs up. 8.5/10

This may be the "best of genre" of a group of similar late '80's/early '90's fragrances, which include this and the likes of Ralph Lauren Safari and YSL Jazz. I think the main thing that sets Heritage apart from its genre peers is the olfactory association with old, vintage, musty/dusty, historic, relics dripping with dignity, class and gravitas. And memories. Fragrances of this genre sit quietly close to the skin. My current formulation bottles of YSL Jazz and Ralph Lauren Safari do. Heritage sits rather quietly close to the skin, but has sneaky longevity (update April 2023: I've upgraded my assessment of longevity to 'eternal'. I've worn it twice recently and both times wore it for two days straight because kept getting wafts for 24+ hours). I applied rather heavily last night and got pleasant wafts all night, and I woke up this morning with it still quite detectable on skin and shirt. The similarities in note structure among this particular late '80's/early '90's can be quite striking. Look at the Fragrantica note lists for Heritage and Safari. Both have aldehydes, green notes and lavender in the top! With lots of the same notes everywhere. I have and like both tremendously, but despite the note similarity they do manifest differently in smell. Similar but different. This is listed here as in the Woody Spicy genre, and it is, but it's also very much an Aromatic Fougere-esq fragrance. It's not that dissimilar to fragrances like Creed Bois du Portugal, a wood-forward Fougere. The lavender is listed below the patchouli in the accord stack but it manifests stronger to my nose. Well done Jean-Paul Guerlain. Heritage is my favorite Guerlain, just ahead of the classic masterpiece Vetiver.