Mon Exclusif

Myth? “The Mon Guerlains are all the same.” Myth? “This is a powerhouse.” Last fall, I sampled Mon Guerlain EDP at the department store and left the tester strip in the car. The next morning I sniffed the air, searching for Obsession for Men. But the spicy culprit was Mon Guerlain. I understand MG EDP is supposed to be a gourmand Jicky. I’ve never tried the legendary Jicky, but she’s a bit of a bad girl. Seduced by the tester strip in the car, I tried one MG blast to the forearm at the department store. I recoiled at what smelled like lavender hairspray. I didn’t touch an MG again until I came across MG EDT in a discount store this summer. I carried it home. Pulling the cello-wrapped box from the bag, the most gorgeous aroma wafted toward me. (Leaky bottle maybe, but divine.) To my nose, MG EDT is a chypre, a la Miss Dior Cherie and Miss Dior EDP (2012). MG EDT has a sweet and juicy opening, then settles into a soft, toned down tobacco/balsamic lavender. Whereas MG EDT is homecoming queen, MG EDP is the darkly pretty girl in boots smoking behind the gym during spirit week. She listens to the Smiths and sublimates her love for the color pink. She wonders who will keep her heart safe. MG EDP will never be homecoming queen. MG EDP’s opening is tobacco and lavender, in an indolic patchouli way. I get the menthol comparisons. MG EDP likes to get a little dirty. This is the Billy Bob-era Angelina, minus the vial of blood. But beneath the dirty patch, MG EDP’s vanilla heart is the mother-and-philanthropist Angelina. Her softness belies her steely, aloof exterior and reveals her vulnerable side. I thought, if they are the same, Mon Guerlain and Mon Exclusif, why not go with Exclusif, the one in the gorgeous bottle? I succumbed to the bow-bedecked Coque d’Or. Now, Mon Exclusif. . . . Mon Exclusif is not the same as the fragrance fronted by Ms. Jolie. It is sweet tobacco initially (brought TF’s Noir Extreme to mind). A couple of sprays suffice. Then she’s like a lavender salted caramel blondie, after which her powdery, woody fougere warms with your skin. This is an alluring lavender, polite and refined. MG EDP lingers lovely as a linear spicy vanilla. Mon Exclusif has a more complex heart. But I don’t think of it as gourmand. I think of it as well blended, in that I can’t pinpoint the notes. Longevity? Neither fragrance is Methuselah. Several hours on the skin and then they seem to be skin scents. I don’t find either ME or MG EDP to be a “bomb” or a “one spray wonder.” EDIT: I used two sprays 12 hours ago. A sweet lavender cloud lingers on my clothing. The scent is lovely, but less discernible, on my skin. Glad I got Mon Ex. It is perfectly composed. Lingers beautifully in a room and on fabric long after sprayed. These Guerlains share DNA, sure, but they are not the same. They are sisters and they comfort like a warm hug. Perfect for cold nights.

Holy wow! Not a huge gourmand wearer on its own except for bed and gym, but do love them for layering. I did get Mon Guerlain when it came out for myself and stepdaughters in their early 20s....it was was like a watered down version of this. The reviews were spot on. I was tempted to buy for $180 on the Bay, but thought MG would fill that desire for me after reading reviews here and thought, at least get a glimpse (curse you guys and gals for that, says my wallet). Then the heaven’s gates opened and all the remaining stock is released. I got this along with Clinique Aromatics Elixir. My husband said, every two years you splurge and I do too (he golfs and got customized clubs this year.). So I’m on a splurge right now. I picked AE because it was recommended as a similar scent as Aveda’s Shampure, which, BTW, completely sucks as for strength, longevity, and depth. (This is relavent BTW). So I spray ME directly in the crook of my left arm, and the first few minutes thought, very similar to MG. Then, it was like diving into warmth and depth. Should have stopped but noooo, I sprayed, directly on my skin on my right arm, AE. I couldn’t believe it...it smelled just like Mitsouko reacts on me...I was sad. I wanted that love affair most others had. Instead, if it was the same, I got the joy of smelling like spiced dirt for what I predicted to be around 4 hrs. I checked 30 minutes later and wait, AE was warming. MG had this amazing lavender deep vanilla and I thought, let me walk my left arm through and wow. MG was already a star on itself, but AE misted....screw Aveda’s weak and overpriced Shampure oil...these two together are amazing! I misted my right hand with AE and yep, I got the sweet spice. I’ll go in depth on that later...on her page. AE deserves its praise when used correctly. I just bought two more bottles of ME after first 3 hrs for backup and may get more of this. The dry down is spectacular. I can’t wait to wear this alone and layered. I’m sad that Guerlain has blamed this juice for poor marketing. Why couldn’t they just dupe this and rename it? IFRA is no excuse as this is recent. I recommend taking advantage of picking this up while it is around $80 right now.

I own both Mon exclusif and Mon Guerlain, and wearing them for a while now I can list quite a few differences. First of all, I am huge Guerlain fan, I would like to own almost all of their exclusive line fragrances, but so far Mon exclusif is the only one I invested in, and also started to collect back up bottles . I adore this fragrance and it is closest to what I can call Signature at the moment. It is warm, cozy, perfectly blended gourmand. Sweet but with the right measure, the lavender is balanced with warm caramel, vanilla and gorgeous milky musk. The almond, butter, musk and sunny notes, whatever they might be, are really the ingredients that make this perfume so silky and stunning. Yes, that is what I love the most: it is musky and smells like bear skin of a young woman enchanted by the sweet subtle lavender. Gorgeous. When Mon Guerlain came out I rushed like crazy to buy more affordable version of the frag I adore. However, the first smell was a huge disappointment. There are two versions at the moment in Europe of MonG : one is cold lilac colour with super strong lavender, completely unbalanced with heavy dose of sour citrus. Sugar is screaming together with the lemons and herbs, and it was all in all a turn off. Later I found different, better version of MG: colour of the juice is more pink, and tonka bean and vanilla are much more prominent. The citrus and sweetness are better here, definitely softer. Still, compared to Mon exclusif it is not that well balanced at all, it screams sweet or sour at moments, it doesn't blend so well with the skin, and it doesn't give the cozy, warm, signature feel where nothing jumps just adds to the beauty of the natural feminine skin scent. I bought the pink version of MG, used it during spring and cold dutch summer, am about to finish the small bottle, and I don't believe I will ever repurchase it again. I would rather invest in another bottle of Mon exclusif since it is perhaps 1,5 to 2 times the price, but it is worth every penny.

I actually smelled Mon Guerlain EDP first and while I liked it, I didn't quite get the hype around it as to my nose, it smelled like the perfume version of Yardley's Lavender powder from my childhood. I liked the intense version better because the vanilla has been amped up and no other house does vanilla as beautifully as Guerlain. This took the edge of the lavender which to my nose smelled very aromatic, like an essential oil almost. Due to this and the constant comparison to MGs', I passed on Mon Exclusif when I had the chance to get it but was struck with the most intense FOMO after hearing fellow fragheads extol how much better ME was. Thankfully, I was able to find a bottle and boy am I glad I did! The hype and glowing reviews that this discontinued beauty from the house of Guerlain gets is well deserved! The lavender in ME is smoother than in MGs', the vanilla is exquisite and I sometimes get the candied almonds, but not always. What really elevates ME is that beautiful salted butter accord the runs through it, which makes for a very realistic toffee (not caramel - there is a difference to my nose!) note and reminds me of soft chewy salted toffee fudge cubes from the UK. In the dry down, the iris and tonka bring a soft powderiness to this composition. This is a very elegant yet comforting fragrance and while MG is similar (especially the sensuelle flanker) and can evoke the same effect, ME is most definitely superior and in my opinion, one they should have included in the exclusive line from Guerlain. Performance is similar to other offerings from the exclusive line, most of which are average performers on me (but the gorgeous scents more than make up for this). Longevity is about 6 hrs, with soft to moderate projection and sillage. Does this warrant the big bucks and agonizing hours spend scouring for a bottle? To me, absafuckinglutely!

I was on the fence about blind buying this gem as I was concerned about the salty notes and how everything would blend together but the curiosity got the better of me and I bought a bottle, unsniffed. Herbs, salts, solar, flowers, butter, vanilla and nuts, how could that possibly work? Well, it does! It really does! Mon Exclusif opens up bright and sweet. It has layers of each individual note so you can easily pick up which note you are smelling. It is like a book, each chapter tells a story. The opening was a little herbal floral. One particular note that was present from start to end was that lovely buttery Vanilla. This fragrance is delicately sweet, feminine and delectable at the same time. It lingers on and on and is quite breezy. To me, this is what a grown up good quality Vanilla based fragrance would smell like, a buttery vanilla that is lightly surrounded by a delicate arrangement of flowers, with sweet tasting orange and mandarin and salty fresh air to give it balance. It is quite long lasting and silage is heavy, I could smell the scent on me the whole time I was wearing it and so could others. I would wear this fragrance all year round as I think on hot days I feel that the solar and citrus notes would be more pronounced and on colder days, the Vanilla takes centre stage. I wouldn't look too much into the notes with this fragrance as you may find them a little odd, I was surprised at what I smelt after looking at the pyramid and thinking I may not like this but my advice, just try it, I think you may fall in love!!

I recently tried Mon Guerlain and really liked it (I know it may not look like it from my review there, but I find myself reaching for it non-stop ever since I got it), but I felt like it was missing some KABOOM factor, something to make it really, REALLY stand out. I figured that it was a gourmand touch that I was craving in this scent, and went out of my way to hunt down Mon Exclusif, and I found it! I was quite unhappy with the high price-tag, but I convinced myself that this is exactly what I was looking for. Now on to Mon Exclusif. It somehow really reminds me of Alien Essence Absolue by Mugler (which I already own), the dry-down is literally identical! This is, unfortunately, not the amped-up MG that I was looking for. I will maybe try the other, cheaper (thankfully) flankers, maybe Florale or Bloom of Rose. I much prefer MG, which surprises me, concidering the effort I put into getting ME. MG is somehow more seductive and alluring in my opinion, very much a "sexy time" perfume, I can really imagine spraying myself with MG before getting intimate with someone. ME is much less mysterious, unfortunately. The biggest let-down is the very poor longevity and non-existent sillage. This is just not worth the extra mile to get it. Also, the cap is a tragic mistake. Squeaky plastic. I will try layering MG with Alien Essence Absolue and see if it turns out the same as ME, I bet it will!

Omg, I love this! I don‘t know why I ignored it when it was easily available, and I have no idea why they replaced this with Mon Guerlain. A new bottle would have been enough of a change. Yes, both are obviously similar, but while MG has that typical creamy „pink“ vanilla in the drydown that so many gourmands from the last years have, ME has a much deeper sweetness and warmth. That‘s the main difference to my nose. Mon Exclusif opens up with a lovely lavender that is very refined but still calming, natural and a bit herbal like lavender should be. Polished, but not to cleaned up. Underneath that lies a layer of thick buttery caramel and vanilla, and the lavender really clings on to the gourmand notes all through the drydown. And to round it all off and to make it smell like a real perfume and not just a lavender flavored dessert, there is some warm, sparkly, floral and vanillic Guerlinade mixed into it. I‘ve been searching for a sweet lavender for quite a while, but none of them were 100% right for me. I love the Lush Twilight/Sleepy products and asked for something similar on the forum and was suggested to try Mon Exclusif. So glad I did - it doesn‘t really smell like Twilight products, they smell homemade and unrefined next to this (still love them though), but it has the same buttery, heavenly lavender vibe. Yes, this is it. The perfect gourmand lavender.

I bought this perfume a few days ago in Guerlain's shop in Paris.I am delighted!!! I think I can't describe this perfume better then Thierry Wasser. It is really a gourmand Jicky.It has male and female notes at the same time and it is breathtakingly! Beginning with strong but not rude fountain of bitter mandarin and bergamot after that comes to sweet flowers and solar heat and ends with fougere accords of fresh fern, soft sandalwood, coumarin and sweet notes of light vanilla, caramel, salted butter. This fougere and sweet notes are not separated. They appear together and it is off the beaten track and remarkably. This perfume choose a person. It opens with the whole pyramid one by one note on me. But a friend of mine was upset because it smelled wery simple and strange on her(may be because of this "men" note). This perfume is not for winter (my opinion). When it is cold it hides. All the pyramid you can smell when the weathe is warm. Reach perfume but not flashy. For people who like history. It is very long lasting on me and especialy on hair and clothes. My boyfriend likes it too. He started to kiss and hug me twice more. ;) and of course I spend wonderful evening inventing the name for it. Thank you Mr Wasser and his new perfume for such a wonderful and pleasant feelings!!!

Guerlain mon was my introduction to “adult” fragrances and spawned a hobby that’s turned into a me now having a nice collection of various types and brands of fragrances. I loved it and immediately started looking for something that I might like even a little more. Enter Mon Exclusif. I purchased two bottles and it was the best decision I ever made in my life because I had no idea I would be unable to find it several years later. Unfortunately, perhaps my internal hoarding tendencies or because I simply can’t accept the idea that I may run out some day, I find myself rarely reaching for it these days and wearing it far less frequently than I’d like. My bottle of Mon has collected dust since I found the Mon Exclusif because something about ME is just worlds above Mon. It now almost seems like a generic version of the original. However, I do sometimes still fall back on Mon Florale when I want to wear it without feeling guilty! Hands down, my all-time favorite fragrance and I doubt that I’ll find something that ever tops this one. It’s just so unique, a beautiful combination of lavender, almond, vanilla, and some floral tones. I am placing my untouched bottle in a safety deposit box so that on my dying day, I can lather myself in it as I depart this earth. 😂

Finally got my hands on a bottle - and was initially convinced I’d finally been duped. Because to me it was identical to MG Intense. I enjoy MG Intense, but not enough to pay what I paid for this. So I was sad, but I didn’t scrub it off. About an hour later, I walked back into my living room, and both of my daughters commented on how amazing I smelled. (Since we were in the middle of marathoning Love Island, the fact they even noticed I was in the house is surprising). I smelled my wrists and, yep, the fragrance had definitely dried down to something very different than what MG achieves. I just hadn’t been paying attention. After that, I couldn’t stop smelling my wrists. There was note of buttered toffee I’d read so much about. A bit of salt, more butter. But it was definitely more of a skin scent by that point - only stirred up when one is running into a room to make it back after a commercial break. However, it does linger beautifully on clothing and linen. So, in a large nutshell, I definitely prefer this to MG. I wouldn’t pay more than $200-225/bottle for it, so I’m going to buy 1 more bottle at that price. You’ve got to be patient with this one, and by then, the scent is for you and those you want around you.

Obtaining a sample of this wasn't an easy task, yet I'm very glad to add a few drops of this sweetness to my collection. I spent a rather long time imagining what this perfume will smell like, and was pretty spot on - Yes, it's lovely and very much Guerlain. Yes, it does smell like an Exclusif. Yes, it's both yummy and herbal. Yes, I'm very glad to own a sample but will not go FB in the near future. This has somewhat the same vibe as Serge Lutens' Gris Claire - medicinal lavender mixed with delicious sweetness. In Gris Claire you get tonka, here you get toffee that ends up smelling a bit like sweetened cereals. The scent itself has some complexity to it, yet on my skin it is rather linear once it settles down after the opening. Herbal sweetness is a note that can get you hooked, yet this is gentle, unoffending and even a bit simplistic at the end of the day, comes the dry down. It's all goodness and delicate gourmandise and I love it. I will be more than delighted to revisit this perfume occasionally, but for the time being will not buy a FB (both too expensive and truly problematic for me to actually get one delivered all the way down here). Enjoy, fellows Guerlainophiles!

I've waited a while to review Mon Exclusif because I wasn't sure I was "getting" it at first. After some time, I've concluded that it's charming, calming, and winsome, but doesn't have the same oomph that the Guerlain standbys usually have. The extent of the fragrance on my skin is lavender and vanilla caramel. Absolute YUM, but minimal sillage. It's a soft skin scent that you need to nuzzle up to in order to really take it in. Longevity is fairly good. I obtained a generous sample and won't part with it at all because of its "exclusivity," but I'd hardly buy a full bottle based on the extravagant price for such a tame scent. I may actually let my young daughter use some of this from time to time, as it's delicate and innocent. I think the scent would do better in the same cute bow bottle, dropped in price, and marketed as a fragrance for young girls. I wear it occasionally in the evenings as a wind-down scent. Lovely, but not a must-have for my collection at the price. Update: Now that it's discontinued I did buy it because it was on sale. Fortunately the spray has much more sillage than my dab sample. I will treasure the bottle always!

Mmmm this is so good. I've been waiting for a creamy, feminine rendition of lavender and this hits the spot. My favorite body moisturizer is J&J's baby 'bedtime' lotion, that soft lavender-vanilla aroma is so soothing and addictive. Well, this does not smell like that, but it has the same effect on me. I'm so happy I can detect the lavender in this. The 'butter' adds an interesting dimension. Mon Exclusif has sweet gourmand notes, feminine florals, and a slightly 'lipstick-y' vibe. It's soft, buttery, sweet but mild. Smooth and rounded. A high quality composition that has its own unique charms. I wouldn't expect any less from this house. Sillage/longevity are both great, no need for touch-ups. The price is insane though! I mean it smells amazing, but it's not worth the market price. I'll still get it though, especially if rumors of its discontinuation is true. I hope this fragrance will start a new trend (sweet, feminized lavenders and fougeres), that way other houses can follow suit and make more affordable versions. Btw, I have tried the new Mon Guerlain as well, and this one is so much more beautiful and layered.

I first purchased this in 2015, right when it came out. I liked it, but I could not justify the price ($180 USD for a 50 mL!). Buyer's remorse. So I returned it. Fast forward a few years and Mon Guerlain comes out. I wanted to like it but it smelled artificial and there is something missing. So I tried Mon Guerlain Sensuelle. Still, I liked it but I didn't love it. Something unsettling about it. Out of nowhere, I was surprisingly able to get a new bottle of this discontinued beauty for a good price and so I jumped on it. I'm in love. After reading more, I see now that Mon Guerlain was meant to be a cheaper, more mass produced version of Mon Exclusif. Unfortunately it showed. M.E. is so much smoother and more well rounded than M.G., and with no harsh edges or jarring artificial notes. I don't really get the butter note everyone is voting on, but I do get a soft lavender and vanilla, and loads of tonka, which I love. It is on par with the Art et Matiere line of high quality, vanilla-centric perfumes such as Angelique Noire. M.E. is just like M.G. but better in every way. If you can get your hands on a bottle, DO IT!!

This was on my want list for ages and I was hesitating as most of you know, Mon Guerlain is really Mon Exclusif repackaged, with maybe very subtle differences. At first spray, I feel it is very different from MG. I can't pinpoint quite what the difference is though. Maybe the citrus notes are a bit more present in those first few minutes. And then, after those first few minutes, a subtle warm buttery toffee, or salted caramel, sweetness arises that I don't get in MG, but underneath that, MG is recognizable. As time goes by, it becomes much more similar to MG. After a few hours, I get the same to die for sweet vanilla frosting dry down as MG. The differences are indeed subtle but overall, I find ME to be a bit less intense than MG, and as a bonus, it has that gorgeous hint of warm toffee throughout. And I agree with what others have said, that MG is slightly fresher, cooler, and a bit more powdery. I feel a bit self-conscious wearing MG but that's not the case at all with ME. To be honest, all this could potentially just be power of suggestion, but either way, I'll take it! Love Mon Exclusif!

My perfume pen pal, Sarah, sent me a vial of the original Mon Exclusif from her well-preserved bottle, and as beautiful as I find it, I'm not sure I could pick it out of a lineup with Mon Guerlain and Mon Guerlain intense. It might be more gourmand: I do pick up the praline and caramel more strongly than I do in the other versions of MG that I have (I also have Bloom of Rose EDP, and the patchouli note is either absent altogether or seriously tamped down). As grateful as I am to be able to experience this rarety, my nose isn't sophisticated enough to motivate me replace my current formulations of MG with this discontinued precursor. It also reminds me of Lancôme Lavandes Trianon, another beautiful fragrance that Sarah hipped me to, and the very good Dua dupe of Lavandes Trianon called Lavender Fields. Something about the lavender-vanilla juggernaut gives tobacco to me sometimes, but I don't mind. The Guerlain lavenders are exquisite to me, even better than the lovely lavender in Libre.

Mon Exclusif - in passing this fragrance might be too quickly dismissed and in part probably due its campaign. Which makes me a little bit sad because this fragrance is just heavenly. Setting that naming the fragrance yourself idea aside this nameless nugget offers a curious mix of notes that are exceptionally blended to create a certainly unique fragrance experience. Yurpdod your review is spot on, the dry down is the most enchanting part of this fragrance. Though the more that I wear Mon Exclusif the more I fall in love with it from beginning to end. The buttery and solar notes deliver an atmospheric halo of warmth and I love the touch of masculinity. Though similar in notes with other fragrances it is defiantly unique, I own nothing like it in my perfume wardrobe. Sillage is arm’s length, this fragrance does really well on my skin it really last past 8hrs. I am really happy to have it in my collection.

My youngest child smelled this on me today and said, “You smell like an angel with cookies!”. That’s one heck of an endorsement. I do love this, and don’t wear it often enough. Perhaps because I’m subconsciously savoring my bottle. I smell all the notes listed clearly, each steps into the spotlight during the duration of wear. My favorite phases are the salted butter, lavender and tonka. Mon E is well-blended, but if you’re paying attention you can discern the changing notes. I get 10 hours of wear, enjoy is much more in cooler weather, and find it projects moderately. Could be either casual or elegant. I also own Mon G, Intense and Sensuelle. The best way I can compare Mon E to Mon G is that Mon G is the low fat version of Mon Exclusif. Do I love it so much more that I’d pay hundreds and hundreds for a discontinued bottle? Maybe not.... but I’ll gladly savor the bottle I do have.

Good Lord, this is strong! I am usually being best friends with vanilla and powder (I mean - just look at my top shelf!), but I most certainly need to learn dosing this one. Tonight I took 2 sprays only: one to the back of my neck, and the other one I smeared between my wrists and to my decollete. The latter was one too many. There are a lot of reviews here already, comparing it to the younger MG, so I'm not going to discuss that, especially because I've never really owned any from the MG line, but I will certainly point out that this little monster behaves like pure parfum concentration. Next time I'll go with only one walk-through spray. It's a pity for such a BEAUTIFUL fragrance to be ruined by too much of itself. This is definitely yet another one-spray-wonder in my collection, I should keep that in mind when I reach for it again.

I can't describe how gorgeous this is! This is not a typical sweet/gourmand perfume like all the others, it really stands out. It's quality, elegant and sophisticated. Guerlain's vanilla is always sophisticated and powdery. It smells so beautiful, the toffee and butter, the florals, the lavender which is softer than Mon Guerlain's (I also love Mon Guerlain) The drydown gives me that delicious salted caramel vibes. A divine perfume. I feel like a goddess wearing it. Unfortunately it's discontinued and very hard to find, so if you can buy Mon Guerlain Sensuelle get it as they're very close.