Guerlain has launched Boisé Torride, the latest addition to the Elixirs Charnels collection:
The sultry seductress is a "smouldering wood" scent constructed around cedar and patchouli, two warm and noble essences traditionally used in men's perfume-making.
But in this case, like a tuxedo that enhances a woman's body, they embrace the softness of a sensual bouquet of jasmine and orange blossom caressed by white musk. A mallow note underlines the transgressive character of the harmony. Appearances are deceiving and the paradox becomes clear with the first impact in which bergamot and tangerine intertwine with the impertinence of pink pepper.
The notes feature bergamot, tangerine, pink pepper, marshmallow harmony, orange blossom, jasmine, patchouli, white musk and cedar.
Guerlain Boisé Torride is $250 for 75 ml Eau de Parfum, and can be found now at Neiman Marcus. (via neimanmarcus)
smouldering wood…..ALRIGHT! …..then pink pepper and marshmallow? huh? maybe that is supposed to give us that “campfire” feeling (smoldering…burning?) add some graham crackers and chocolate and you’ve got a tasty smoldering snack!
Cedar can be a dicey note….can be good , can go very wrong smelling (at least on me)
BUT—$250 !!!! Holy moly!…..that VC&A Bois d’Iris is suddenly looking like a BARGAIN!!! (and without the marshmallow, thank you very much)
$250 seems incredibly aspirational for what these are, but what do I know. Denyse at Grain de Musc reviewed this one here:
http://graindemusc.blogspot.com/2009/08/guerlains-new-carnal-elixir-boise.html
well, plunk ME in a glass of rum….Denyse makes it sound positively scrumptious! Which sucks because this stuff is way too spendy to even consider!
I think it’s probably the marshmallow plant rather than the sweet gooey white things we call marshmallow, but I could be wrong. I had the same reaction until I remembered the plant.
oh say, you are right….I used to have purple striped mallow growing on the east side of my house, they didn’t have a scent, and the plant may not be related to marshmallow.
The gooey candy comes from the plant. Just sayin…it means about the same thing when it comes to perfume.
How does one delete comments? – I posted in the wrong spot.
I deleted your other comment — hope that’s what you wanted?
I’m a little nonplussed with the ad copy opening that suggests using either cedar or patchouli in a woman’s scent is unusual or outside-the-box. Cedar…ten years ago, maybe? I can name several just off the top of my head, okay more niche than department store, but a $250/75ml bottle isn’t exactly going to be sold in my local Boots either. And I get the feeling that the patchouli in this isn’t exactly going to be ragged. Still, smouldering wood sounds awesome – if I can get past the pink pepper/marshmallow and the fact that the colour of the juice is identical to Iris Ganache…*shudder*.
And I don’t think women look good in tuxedos, either. And why have they listed the top notes at the end, and how can that possibly clarify the ‘paradox’ when that’s the introduction to it? LOL, I only meant to comment on the colour – I’m in a grouchy mood today :P!
Yes, this recent emphasis on “masculine” base notes is kind of comical…they’ve been used in women’s fragrances for years upon years.
I stumbled on the Guerlain “Trunk Show” on the Neiman Marcus web site….
Holy cow!
Yep, they’re all there!
Haven’t smelled it, so can only snark about the copy… the “impertinence of pink pepper” would seem to be its omnipresence.
LOL…so very, very true.
I know! That got a smile out of me as well as the rest of the, presumably translated from the French, copy. As for pink pepper: can something so ubiquitous be truly impertinent, albeit nonsensically contextually humorous?
I got all worked up over nothing. I saw “smoldering wood” and thought,”Oh boy, oh boy!” Then I saw marshmallow and thought “Campfire.” Ugh!
The smoldering wood is the only part that interests me
Well I’m in a grouchy mood today as well – is it the weather, time of year? – and I balked at the “smouldering woods” note even though that seems to be the positive for many of you. Sycomore called it “burning woods” and it blew up to big ole dirty ashtray on me, ruining an otherwise beautiful scent. So at $275 a bottle, I wouldn’t dream of chancing it. Unless they mean “smouldering” as in sexy??
OT – anyone smelled Nobile 1942 Patchouli Nobile? Beauuuuutiful. Similar to Coromandel although better done IMHO.
It’s the weather! At least, that’s what it is here. Grey, rainy, damp.
And yes, that’s a positive to me. Loved Sycomore. Wouldn’t buy anything on earth unsniffed for that much $ though!
Nobile 1942??….heading for TPC, humming innocently the whole way….
Happy Halloween (or now it’s All Saints Day) O Empress of Enabling. I’ve been checking – NOT available in U.S. except from TPC in decants. 1st in Perfume/Scents (? – the one in Germany) has it for U.S. $173, which includes the high shipping to U.S. Oh, and it’s 100 mls. so would be a good split size.
when I said that you were evil, I mostly meant that you are REALLY EVIL…..
LOL! Just be glad Wazamba didn’t work for you. I’m reeeeeallllly loving that one!
Oh, you naughty, impertinent pink pepper! What will we do with you?
HA…we’ll think of something.
Replace, perhaps…with the next note du jour.
I haven’t loved any of this collection…so am not so excited to try this…except for the “smouldering wood”. The whole ad is so mainstream, it’s kind of audacious of them to charge the price..kind of like s de sophie…so well done…but nothing spectacular….but so much money…I feel it just cheapens the whole Guerlain image and feel that in the last few year releases… a higher percentage of serge L fumes, are of better better than the guerlains.
I agree…the prices are not (from what I’ve smelled) justified by anything.
PS Hope I will be surprised !!!!
You know, I used to feel secretly ashamed of not finding even one Guerlain scent to love. After Chanel produced Eau Premiere, which I like much, much better than the original No. 5, I thought “OK, now Guerlain”. But Guerlain what? I like Shalimar (I loved a turquoise limited edition Shalimar Eau Legere but it disappeared from the shelves before I could snatch a bottle) And then … silence. The others either I can’t smell at all, like Samsara, or there is someting that bothers me, like Insolence and all her not-so-insolent sisters. Instant Magic reminds me of Yves Rocher Christmas Vanilla Collection. I like some of the Aqua Allegorias, but that’s all.
After reading the notes for this one, I feel vindicated. the great house of Guerlain is going to pot.
Have you smelled Apres L’Ondee? I think that’s an “easily adopted” classic Guerlain.
Yes, it’s a fragrance people rave about. I don’t remember. Last time I tried Jicky and found it infinitely more wearable than the original Shalimar, but still no great shakes, just “old money and lots of it”. Is it suitable for winter?
Apres L’Ondee is not a heavy scent…but I wear it year round.
Hi Nile Goddess,
My long-time best friend has worn Shalimar for as long as I have known her (25 years). Though I love her, I have never loved that fragrance or any of the other Guerlains. I must confess that that shameful fact has long left me feeling, somehow, perfumishly unsophisticated! (The same goes for most of the Chanels, which similarly evoke in me a reaction of either “meh” or “bleh.” Perhaps my capacities for fragrance appreciation were overwhelmed and thus ruined when I was presented with my first bottle of Channel #5 when I was 9!). In the wake of recently testing a sample of Guerlain’s Idylle (which I found wearable but not enough to consider myself a convert) and with the help of Robin, Kevin, Angela et al.’s reviews, I decided to make a more concerted effort at a wider sampling of the non-mainstream Guerlain fragrances. While in the US last week, I sampled a number of them (thank you, Nordstrom!) that are not readily available where I live. While most struck me in the same way as always (“Her reaction was ‘yuck!’ but she would never utter that out loud…”), Jicky was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. What I am not sure about is whether I really liked it, or if I had an overly positive response to it because the others struck me as so awful! I intend to give it a more thorough test run. Since I am decant-dependent, at the moment, for my supply of the new-found treasure, Natori, I will also add a decant of Jicky to my next order. I can’t imagine myself ever becoming a Guerlain-girl, but the exploration is interesting and at least I can now read the reviews of others with some experiential context, even if it’s only to note the differences between the others and me. I continue to marvel at how differently individuals react to the same fragrance(s); it’s mystifying to me!
aaaahhhhhh, Natori. Isn’t it just lovely? mmmmmm
NOTHING Is TOO Expensive if it makes you happy… I agree we ALL have bills, mortgages, and other sundry expenses that bog us down with the minutae of the everyday and the mundane… but is something so ephemeral and fleeting as a moment, even a brief one, of pure overwhelming Joy can be found, then we owe it to ourselves to not fret about the price and save our pennies in a special quiet fund to capture that rarest butterfly of joy! I strongly encourage all of you who think twice about owning something so decadently priced that it would have no justification in the routine of your life to set that feeling aside and for once indulge yourself… you truly only live once and sometimes we DESERVE, no N-E-E-D to give ourselves permission to be Ridiculously Happy for a few minutes or so… and if that means cracking open the Piggy Bank and throwing reason to the four winds once or twice in our lives… so be it! You And WE are ALL Worthy of that kind of Rapture…
Yes, save your pennies, and throw caution to the wind once or twice in your life…but don’t buy if you can’t pay your bills, and don’t run up the credit cards just to buy perfume. I’m a downer, aren’t I?
I must be really really worthy because I throw caution /reason to the wind a little too frequently! But I do agree that one slightly spendy purchase that makes you really happy is better than 10 inexpensive purchases that are sort of ‘meh’ in the end.
Always meet your financial commitments first (wise words Robin) but I also get what thenose is saying.
I was at the Guerlain boutique at NM today and asked if l’Ondee was discontinued and the guy said no. So let’s hope.
Oh, I don’t think they’d do that, although I do think they don’t export much of it.
Is out there anyone who lives in Paris to check for us at their store. If no one, I’ll be in Paris mid November and I have the intention to go there and inquiry about some perfumes who names keep popping out in this blog. Plus a trip to Chanel boutique for a bottle of Cuir de Russie. That is if this is not obscenly expensive, like this Guerlaine Boise thing or if was not, God forbidd, discontinued.
So, is any Parisian perfumista out there?
I got lost…check for what?
Oh, I won’t be buying it, but it sounds so good.
I won’t be buying it either