Muguet 2014

What makes the perfume: the precious, fragrant liquid, or the vessel wrought with cunning hands that holds the dream of a mortal heart? This doubt rises in me like a chorus, an ageless quarrel of unnumbered hosts marching against one another in the dusk, their shields flashing with desire and discontent. Where is the wound that never closes, where burns the secret fire of longing and reckless surrender? Among such questions stands one immortal witness: “Muguet 2014” of Guerlain, a lily of May that has slipped her earthly stem and taken root among the deathless. In this phial, the fleeting bell of the valley is seized in the moment of its highest grace, its soul drawn out yet left unbroken. It is faithful to its icon as only a lover mad with devotion can be faithful to the face he adores. Here the lily speaks with a thousand tongues: soft yet opulent, restrained yet dazzling in clarity, simple in line yet deep as an oracle. No note stands apart from its companion, no voice rises to betray the chorus; all are woven with unseen fingers into a single, shining flower, lily-of-the-valley, one and indivisible. She stands perfect, beyond reproach: not too sweet, lest she cloy the senses; not too green, lest she harden the heart; not too bright, lest she blind the eyes that seek her. Her likeness is measured with unerring hand. She walks in the shaded ways of May, where young leaves whisper above dark earth, and delights in the first gifts of spring—the tender winds, the budding light, the trembling birdsong. Her scent flows outward, unannounced, to enchant the fortunate few who come, unbidden, to her secret court. This is the perfume that one dreams of when years have stolen colour from the world: ageless, without boundary, beyond reproach, not to be replaced, not to be reborn. Among the countless echoes and “inspirational copies,” this one stands apart; who would dare to forge a double for a thing so whole, so artful, so close to nature that the mind itself falters to conceive it, let alone to counterfeit? You who tremble at the word “copy,” be at peace. Look upon this as men once looked upon Athena Parthenos, towering in gold and ivory, terrible and lovely; so, before your eyes and at your very breath, this fragrance rises—living statue of the lily, commanding and serene. Her presence cannot be denied; she is immortal in the minds of those who have once inhaled her, and they bequeath that memory to children and to multitudes unborn, a lineage of awe and quiet worship. No artist of the present age, no worker of strange new marvels, dares lift a hand in vain rivalry, for who can cast the image of a god and not be shattered? The divine is not copied; it is approached in silence, contemplated, implored. So stands “Muguet 2014”: solitary, peerless in her beauty. Crystal surrounds her, a brightness fit for the halls of Olympus, yet still the heart doubts whether the crystal is worthy of what it guards. For she is more than her casing, more than the gleam that binds her; she is both spark and statue, inspiration and created work, the reminder of greatness and the seed of greater things to come. She is the shy flower that keeps to the shadows and the thin white flame that pierces the dark, a hidden spring from which many dreams draw water, an endless horn of plenty pouring forth the riches of olfactory art. Thus the quarrel of armies falls silent before her, for in this single lily, enclosed in mortal glass, liquid and vessel, dream and design, are joined as one.

Absolutely gorgeous, heavenly lily of the valley! LOTV is my favorite note and I have used just about every lotv focused perfume there is in the US and Europe all the way from vintage yardley to Serge Lutens to Caron and Penhaligon's to Kuumba to Monyette, and everything in between, and this is my favorite. I was fortunate to get large decants of 2014 and 2016 from a fellow Guerlain and fragrance collector in Canada, and I don't think I have ever been so blown away by a perfume in my life, and that's saying a lot. On my skin, this smells like pure lotv perfection, very realistic. Soft, delicate yet sharp, like a glass blown lotv sculpture, green yet white, sweet but in a clean, earthy way, not candied. I imagine lotv on a cool spring morning, the sun just barely rising, but just enough to make the dew drops on the lotv glisten as you feel the cool, wet grass under your feet. On me, this begins with a pure, green, burst of lotv but after about a half hour it becomes more gentle. It stays relatively close, about 3ft, then after about 4 hours it's about half that, but still the same notes, just gentler. Pretty and linear, simple, but in the very best way. I have so much appreciation for a good lotv fragrance, and this is everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. It smells more like true lotv than 2016, and is more appealing and attracrive to me personally. If you love lotv you have to try this if you ever have the opportunity! If I had to compare this to anything to try and give anyone curious an idea about how this smells, I would say it is almost like a cross between Penhaligon's, Jo Malone LOTV and Ivy, vintage Diorissimo, with just a hint of Kuumba. It is absolutely divine!

I think this is the best bottle design in the line; I hope they come back to it when I become rich and the ridiculous restrictions on lily of the valley would be lifted as well (so they can "actually" utilize the supposed acres of muguet they own)

I just smelled this at Saks in NYC. Beautiful bottle; musty, earthy, root-like perfume on the tester and on my skin. I did not care for it at all; I was surprised since I waited years to smell it. It is not the crisp, clean, sparklingly pretty perfume the bottle had led me to believe. One less perfume on my "wish I could afford" list! On the positive note, the gentleman at the counter is quite knowledgeable and will help you find the Guerlain that works for you!

I love Guerlain. I love lily of the valley. I love the bottle. This perfume? Not so much. In a nutshell, it smelled fecal on me. No thanks!

A nice & simple lily of the valley soliflore that would fit really well in the Aqua Allegoria line. Too over priced for what it really is

I'd buy this just for the bottle!

what a beautiful bottel!!!!!!!