REVIEW OF LHOMME IDÉAL Shortly into Thierry Wassers new fragrance we get the aromatic-citrus accord that we associate with Guerlain, a distinct camphoric-green rosemary, crisp and fresh, together with lemon and the essential oil of orange blossom a.k.a. neroli, which smells spicy-honeyed and a bit metallic. Then, in full contrast, comes what Guerlain touts as completely new in a masculine perfume: the almond. The heliotropine-vanillin almond note holds a special place in Guerlain’s heart, from L’Heure Bleue to La Petite Robe Noire. Here, we sense both a bitter almond and a sweet, caramelized one. Combined with tonka bean, Guerlain calls it an amaretto accord, but it doesnt come across as overly liqueur-like or sugary, more like a gourmand praline streak that moves in and out of focus as the fragrance develops. There are moments when the tension between this amaretto and the nip of rosemary and neroli is just right; that’s when L’Homme Idéal is really delicious. At others, the top notes seem still a tad too metallic and dry, too resistant to the amaretto suaveness. Or, is it the vetiver’s hoarse grassiness that sets in one moment too soon from below? A future EdP version with more almond depth could probably solve that; we assume that Thierry Wasser wanted to be on the safe side of the gourmand margin for this massive introduction. The base accord is a dark and dense combination of vetiver, cedarwood and dry leather notes. Because the almond is still there, the drydown maintains the Guerlain elegance (more precisely, the cigar-box cedar touch of Héritage) and doesnt fall for the overdone, cold manliness we often find in a boisé sec — albeit it’s not nearly as sensual as in Guerlains former men’s style. Compared with his mentor Jean-Paul Guerlain, Thierry Wasser is more concerned with details than with seduction. It probably wouldnt be wrong to call LHomme Idéal the masculine counterpart of La Petite Robe Noire: an irresistibly tart and slightly anisic start, and a gourmand almond heart on a dark background. The spirit is young and contemporary, at once sparkling and delicious, commissioned by the marketing department to perform well on a large, varied and competitive international market. People don’t like the same things in Paris, New York, Moscow and Shanghai, but a modern, ideal men’s fragrance is supposed to be adaptable: not too sweet, not too fresh, not too rounded, not too hard, not too brash, and certainly not too elitist. Old-school Guerlain aficionados will likely bristle at that. See the full review below.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 14:00:00 +0000