Lui

I finally got my hands on this and here we go: To begin with, I will state that this is my first full wearing, and I may feel the need to come back and update. The first time I sprayed the fragrance was in the store while making the purchase, and the sales associate had just got in the shipment with only one box of LUI. Along with the SA, and a customer at the Guerlain counter(Neiman Marcus, Denver) we were all eager to smell it. Now don't get me wrong it smells great, however, I will second the notion that a spray on paper, or a judgement of the top notes does not due this gem any favors. I will spoil a bit early that I love the fragrance, but did not get the wow first impression I was hoping for from the listed notes, I needed a bit of time with it to understand her(though it is "unisex" and I am a man.) Please, please everyone, wait for the dry-down. This is where, IMO, the fragrance really expresses itself. All of the remaining comments are to be read understanding that the entire scent lives relatively within an elbows length to the skin, but ebbs and flows constantly. I am writing this after almost 8 hours of spraying Breakdown: In the opening I am enveloped in an almost powder like feeling, which I come to realize is actually more of a fine ashen dust than it is powder like you would get from iris. It most certainly is not that. It is an ashen dusty spice that is giving you textures through your nose. I see here that pear is listed in the top notes, and we'll get to that, but to start with I feel I am experiencing the mealiness of it as a texture in the ash. What is beautiful, is that the fragrance keeps hinting that it's not done yet revealing itself, and this seems to come on quickly so you don't lose patience. Next you will get the most beautiful carnation, and for those of you that really like benzoin, I will tell you that the way these two elements play off of each other, is a hint of the magic you will get through the life of the fragrance. It is absolutely gorgeous! That same base, for me, is what revealed the leather, just when I was falling into the softness of the carnation-resin treat... All of the rest of the notes start pouring in, but in traditional Guerlain fashion, they are all blended so smoothly. A soft leather and deep woods, incense, more ash, now the freshness from the pear, clean musk, back to the spice, and then some vanilla. This scent is awesome! As I said this was now 8 hours ago, and while it is now a skin scent, when I started writing this, I was reminded to leave the review by the wafts I was still getting of the leathery-carnation-benzoin-incense that was still floating around when walked back in from the cold. I hope you all like it as much as I do.

Habanita! That's the first thing that came to mind when smelling this fragrance. Has the same leather notes that tickle my nose like Habanita does too. The vanilla accord is also strikingly similar. Whereas Habanita is heavier, this is airier, lighter, yet also deeper and more mysterious. There's also a freshness from the pear that is unexpectedly delightful. It's beautiful! It also has great silage and longevity – indoors. Outside in the cold it all but disappeared, which I found odd considering the composition lends itself more for winter and fall than any other time of the year. I won't go further into the notes as everyone has already done that – beautifully, I might add – but I do want to mention something I absolutely adore about this fragrance - That Bottle! OMG! What a classy little piece of art this is. So simple, understated, and elegant. That black lacquer bottle is, to quote some of the teens in my family “the bomb!” I love it! What I don't love is the exterior packaging. It does not match the Oriental aesthetic of the bottle or perfume, and is ridiculously large and unnecessary. A Chinese box design would have been more in character, where the bottle is placed on a dais in a box, and placed inside another box, in keeping with its size. A design like that would have showcased this bottle beautifully. I would have loved if the exterior box was a vivid Chinese red with gold lettering, and the interior box black. That would have really fit the bottle and been the icing on the cake. Oh, but I'm just day dreaming here. That aside, fundamentally I'm really more interested in the juice than the packaging, but still, seeing that bottle made my heart beat faster and set my imagination on fire. Overall, I'm very happy with the perfume and think it's a beautiful, though not necessarily a unique composition. It does remind me not only of Habanita, but to a lesser extent some other heavy benzoin vanilla fragrances I already own. I also agree with some of the other reviewers' comparisons too. Despite all that, I still consider it a worthy addition to my perfume wardrobe and am enjoying it so much that if I didn't have so many perfumes already, (that I'd need at least 2 bodies to wear all of them just once in a year), I would seriously consider a back-up. Oh, and that bottle!!! That alone was almost worth the purchase price. I love it! It just hit me – If Guerlain can make such a simple yet elegant bottle for this perfume, why can't they do the same for their other fragrances? Those bee bottles are getting tiresome.

I wish I discovered Lui earlier. The bottle design never spoke to me, but the scent grew to a love after sampling it a few times. What a shame it got moved to the L'Art & la Matière collection under the new name Oeillet Pourpre and became considerably more expensive now. I won't buy a bottle from an exclusive line when the fragrance was widely available on the grey market before. To be honest I find the new name and color scheme more appealing and fitting to the scent, both set the mood for this beautiful, mysterious carnation scent. But of course that is not worth paying so much more. Carnation and clove are pretty close to each other scent-wise, at least for a flower and a spice. They even share a name in many languages, for example my native German. I often find fragrances that are supposed to be carnation too clovey and spicy. Here I can smell both notes equally. It's neither a typical spice oriental, nor a soliflore or floral bouquet. I haven't smelled anything quite like this before. The pear top note sticks to the base of leather and benzoin. Together they have a texture I'd describe as chewy and thick, which makes for an interesting contrast with the powdery notes of carnation and Guerlain's characteristic vanilla. Smoky, woody and spicy accents keep it from becoming really sweet and add an air of mystique. On my skin I find this quite feminine, but I could imagine that I'd find it interesting on a man, too. I don't get a lot of similarity to Bois d'Armenie. Maybe a little bit, as they both have Guerlain DNA and share a few notes, mainly benzoin. But I find Lui more complex with all the contrasting notes. Bois d'Armenie is more of a cozy cashmere scarf of a scent to me, while Lui would work with a fitted black leather jacket, if that makes sense to you.

Lui Guerlain (Batch from 2017) Perhaps "The Last Perfumery Carnation" I know. Carnation is concoction of Vanilla Coumarin base with Clove and a drop of rose or something to create red flower feel, It an ancient formular for classic context carnation. It is also another drying scent, bygone era. As I am drowning in Carnation in last few months. Perhaps, it is a last attempt to reconstruct a modern Carnation. It is pretty much Guerlain by how Vanilla move and how perfume dial perfectly sweetness to assist this mute red carnation feeling. but the base of this particular Lui is very balance by how flowery it is with that coumarin vanilla powder base. Lui was later renamed to Oeillet Pourpre and transfer to L'art & La Matière. Where smoke and rose are more dominant with that sweet benzonin base, feel more luxurious. Still same old Lui. You feel clam, feel warm and tender. It is not really "I am well put together" and perhaps raise a question by current standard what this scent is aim for, I do ask too. How does all these Carnation perfume supposed to make me feel. Perphas, a classic cleanliness scent of bygone era or people of older generation just so profound with carnation. That's endless way to think. But for me, well Carnation is my flower. I really like Lui, well it is Carnation.

OOOOOO MMMMMMMM GGGGGGG! Thierry Wasser & Delphine Jelk are REALLY on a roll right now and easily for me THE power-duo of the fragrance world!! CHANEL has just launched THE BIGGEST disaster in the history of perfume, so it is with greatest pleasure for me to announce that GUERLAIN is standing proud and loud and going from strength to strength and I AM LOVING IT! (Disclaimer: I am not working for either, nor in this industry) Beautiful art deco black weirdly shaped bottle that is neither feminine nor masculine (that was obviously the idea). But gorgeously unusual and daring. Same goes for the scent that reminds me a bit of warm vanilla rubber a la BVLGARI 'Black' which is sadly discontinued. This one here is the former plus a licorice, musky, peppery twist (the former did not have) and it just feels and smells modern, directional, forward, yet not too alienating and welcomingly warm. I am totally sold and WANT IT SO SO BAD! That Coca-Cola note from Roja Dove's "Enigma" is also a somewhat there, but not too literal, yet more in an abstract French 'je ne sais quoi' kind of way. Verdict: (almost) MODERN MASTERPIECE! 9/10 Wished it had more development and was a bit louder (stronger) but then again, I am a stifler! LOVE LOVE LOVE GUERLAIN! (hate, hate, hate CHANEL)