Guerlain has launched two new fragrances for men, Arsène Lupin Dandy and Arsène Lupin Voyou, inspired by the fictional "gentleman thief" Arsène Lupin, from the series of books by Maurice Leblanc. Lupin is sometimes called the French Sherlock Holmes.
The fragrances, which can be worn alone or layered, were created by perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain, who said he created Arsène Lupin for himself, and that it was “perhaps the last fragrance I will create".
Arsène Lupin Dandy (above left) ~ a leathery oriental with bergamot, pink pepper, cardamom, violet, incense, cistus, leather and patchouli.
Arsène Lupin Voyou (above right) ~ a woody aromatic with bigarade, coriander, peppercorn, sandalwood, patchouli, rose, musk and benzoin.
Guerlain Arsène Lupin Dandy and Arsène Lupin Voyou join the Parfums Exclusifs collection, and will be in limited distribution. They will be available in 100 ml Eau de Parfum, 165€ each. (quote via wwd, additional information via thestandard.com.hk, mode.glamourparis, osmoz.fr)
Update: see a review of Arsène Lupin Dandy.
Exciting. Expensive, but exciting.
They do sound nice. I admit I’m not overly excited. Sad to think of Jean-Paul Guerlain never making another perfume though.
The bottles remind me of those from Odori.
Yes, they do.
…those Odori bottles are hideous in person! And spraying them is even worse –that silly wood frame is awkward and makes for messy business! Luckily the Odori bottles are only secured by two large blobs of glue at the top—a sharp knife fixed the problem rather handily! These Guerlains look nice in the picture—maybe they did a better job at the “frames”….still: too spendy!
I like the Odori bottles.
ahhhggggg!
… or an elongated version of He Wood.
“…the last fragrance I will create.” made me sad, especially after yesterday. I certainly hope not. But these both sound wonderful, and I can’t wait for someone **coughdaisycough** to split them.
LOL…then you guys let me know how they are.
HAHAHAH! Good one!
I’m more interested in the books, due to my history w/Guerlain (although I should say, I have had better luck w/the masculines). Rapple… someone already listed that split, but I’m sure there will be a repeat after people sample them?
Yes, Joe kindly enough emailed me and pointed out my recent attack of dementia in forgetting that these are being split. After he mentioned it, I vaguely remembered seeing these listed on the recap email.
hmmmm….Rapple dear, you might want to take something for that terrible cough…..
Yes, I thought “taking” 10 mls. of these scents might help…
excellent, excellent….
I will definitely sample these when available, though “Dandy” is screaming my name. Yummy “leathery oriental” with cardamom, incense, cistus, patcouli – be still my heart!
pretty pretty please with sugar on top, explain to me what ‘be still my heart’ and ‘be still my beating heart’ means. i do not understand them really, and always wanted to know, but dictionary was not a big help. thank you
“Be still my heart” means breathless excitement, when your heart is beating so rapidly at the thought of something or someone you desire.
Here is a link that describes the history of the expression:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/57000.html
thank you so much Ruth, wery kind of you. what I could find was ‘calm down’, but i thought it should be closer to OhmyGod. : D
I’m wondering, is anyone planning on boycotting J.P. Guerlain perfumes because of his recent racist comments?
Not me.
no way. Joe, the Great, just introduced some of them to me. no way to boycott L’Heure Bleue
His remark was unfortunate, uncalled for & disrespectful. However, that’s not going to make me suddenly stop enjoying Guerlain fragrances or boycott their sales. If any brand should have ever been boycotted it would have to be Chanel. Coco was quiet notoriously an anti-Semite & had a Nazi lover while enjoying a life of luxury in Nazi occupied Paris.
Yeah, I think we could probably all find something we hate about everyone out there if we tried hard enough.
If you know enough about anyone’s history there’s usually something in there you would be appalled by. Who knows what lurks in the hearts and minds of Serge Lutens… Andy Tauer… Tom Ford… Paris Hilton… Ok, the last one we can pretty much figure out.
LOL at the Paris Hilton comment!
Agree! Good one, Miss Kitty!!
I agree completely (though you phrased it much better than I would have).
Goodness, no. I’m a Guerlie Girl through and through. Totally agree with Miss Kitty.
I have friends who boycott certain actors and whatnot because of their political views and such, but if I enjoy someone’s work, unless they are completely vile beyond belief, I can still appreciate that.
No way. Politians make much worse lingustic faux pas and still they are voted for. The poor guy just used the politically incorrect common phrase used for more then a century. Should we ban “hungry like the wolf” phrase to dispel the bad image of wolves seen as primarily predators? (though they are surely quite nice and loving animaly, given the right enviroment and a good trainer!?!)
Am I the only one who can’t get past the first 4 letters of the names of these fragrances?
Dandy sounds like it smells really nice….
Probably not.
Both my Grandfather and my Father were named Arsene. It’s very French, but maybe a bit old-fashioned. I always thought of the English word “arson”, although it doesn’t sound the same at all. And, actually, my Grandmother’s New England accent turned the name into “Arseen” instead of “Arsehn.”
Now I have to try these…
I like these bottles, and I’m looking forward to getting a small bit of Dandy in a split. Octavian at 1000fragrances did a nice review, but his impression of Voyou was not so good at all.
I got to sample these 2 weeks ago in Vegas. Dandy is the better one for me. I liked both for sure. I think these 2 will be hits. Price might make a few balk.
I remember sniffing the sprayers at Bergdorf’s last week and recall that one of them stood out, but can’t remember which – Darn!
My focus/mission that day was for the gorgeous fall eyeshadow pallettes, and Shalimar Ode de la Vanille…
In my early teens “The Crystal Stopper”, a Maurice Leblanc book starring Arsene Lupin, was one of my favourite books.
You can read the full book, now copyright free, here http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Stopper
Lupin IS a Dandy, so the frag’s name is very fitting.
He is also known as a “gentleman cambrioleur” or Gentleman Thief… so I guess that is where the Dandy/Voyou (which I googled and means crook) duality comes from.
I missed the chance to try these two in Miami last week. I guess my mind (and my wallet) could handle only so-much shopping and a protective mechanism kicked in hehehehe.
Oh, thanks for the link, Kaos!
And do tell us what new fragrances captured your fancy in Miami – inquiring noses want to know!
Dear Noz, I must say that I’ve tried too many and didn’t write down my thoughts.
But I can say that:
I wanted to like Blu Mediterraneo’s Bergamotto di calabria, but didn’t like it.
I wanted to like Pacifica’s perfumes, but found them too simple.
I was surprised by Bath and body works Butterfly Flower, and bought one for my mom.
I bought the “sampler” of 4 Hermessences (15 ml bottles) and picked Vanilla Galante, Osmanthe,Reglisse and Vetiver. My better half got to pick 2 for him when I returned (he picked vetiver and vanilla)
I also saw (at Sawgrass Mills) a small coffret with really small bottles of Lancome’s La Collection, and I got to smell them all! but found them to be very classic for my taste ( In fact I had smelled many of them in the early 80s as a child, and it brought back memories of that time)
In short, I was not “wowed” and didn’t get stuff for me besides the small Hermessences.
This has left a space in my perfume wardrobe for a fresh citrus cologne for next summer (austral summer that is) and a space for a new “power fragrance” as I didn’t get the Tom Ford Ouhd Wood ( the local neiman’s at Bal harbour shops didnt carry the exclusive line).
I am going hunting for a M7 or Léau d’Issey Bleue soon here in Buenos Aires
Disliking the name. Lupin reminds me of “lapin” rabbit in French, and Arsene sounds like arse and insane.
The scents sound okay though.
While your opinion of Arsene is up in the air, ‘lupin’ is actually French for ‘wolf’.
I want them both, but oh the price.
The bottles remind me of Les Elixirs Charnels wrapped in DSquared’s wood sleeves.