Shalimar by Guerlain (1925)

 It's been months since a wonderful reader, Heather, sent me samples of her favorite vintage perfumes. Among them was Shalimar, and although I've enjoyed its majestic and odd beauty over the past few months, it's been too daunting to write about. Who am I to write about the Mona Lisa of perfumes? 

Well, I finally have an excuse. On a whim, I bought the discontinued Roma by Laura Biagiotti, and immediately thought: Bulgari Black, but with more sparkle and citrus. As I thought about it, though, I realized that both perfumes are referencing the ur-vanilla perfume Shalimar, so I decided to pull out all three and do some comparison sniffing. 

It's a testament to what a lunatic perfume collector I've become that in my mini-Osmothèque here in San Francisco consisting of shoe boxes in my refrigerator, I somehow have Roma, Bulgari Black and vintage Shalimar on hand. For some people, this may seem perfectly normal, but considering that I've only been collecting perfumes for a little over a year, it's a bit excessive, even for me. 

But on to Shalimar. It's like Picasso's portrait of Dora Maar with three colors masterfully representing not only different planes on the subject's face, but also her exquisite emotions. In Shalimar's case, the three "colors" are the bracingly zesty bergamot, the warm and sensual vanilla and the naughty raunch of civet. These should clash, just as those three colors on Maar's face shouldn't be able to create an expressive face, and yet...They combine to form something both striking and comforting. 

Shalimar telegraphs opulence, comfort and decadence, and the civet note leaves the other perfumes in the dust, as beautiful as they are. What is it about civet? It lurks, it jumps out unexpectedly, it emits a low growl... I don't want to love it, but it adds a mystery to every perfume it's in. Other notes add brightness, softness and creaminess to Shalimar, but if Shalimar were a gemstone, bergamot, vanilla and civet would be the facets that the light always hit.

Top notes: bergamot, lemon, mandarin, rosewood

Heart notes: rose, jasmine, orris, vetiver, patchouli

Basenotes: opoponax, vanilla, civet, Peru balsam, benzoin, coumarin (tonka bean), leather

 Bulgari Black has been called Shalimar's alien "replicant." It's beautiful, but without Shalimar's beating heart. And of course we can't discuss Shalimar without talking about its precursor scent, Jicky, the perfume that many say is the first abstract scent ever created, abstract in that it wasn't a representational soliflore but rather a combination of notes combined to create a seamless effect.

Lore has it that Jacques Guerlain was so taken with the new synthetic vanillin that he poured some into Jicky and their beautiful child was Shalimar.  Perfume Shrine has an amazing and comprehensive post about the history of Shalimar, but it's her poetic descriptions that kill me. Guerlain, she recounts, wanted to use the impure vanillin that was already in the "medicinal, smoky, yellow Jicky" because its phenols and guaiacols lent "autumnal darkness" to the perfume.  

And Ayala is right to say that the "Guerlinade" found in Shalimar dries down to smell like skin — well, skin that is graced with orris and a hint of heavenly vanilla! And not just any "creme anglaise" vanilla, as Chanel No. 5 perfumer Ernest Beaux joked, but Guerlain vanilla. (Guerlainade is the name of the secret formula accord of iris, tonka bean and vanilla — give or take a few notes — that formed the base that constitutes Guerlain's early, confectionary signature.)

If Jicky is the jolie laide of Guerlain scents, Shalimar is her easier-on-the-nose sister. Jicky introduces you to a complicated scent pleasure, and Shalimar asks what took you so long... 

Comments

[angie Cox]

Having become perfume crazy I still have a huge stash of yarns. I used to keep some vintage ones in the freezer so your shoe-box reference really made me laugh. I am "banned" from buying yarn until I knit it all( won't live long enough) but my husband is only threatening a perfume ban so far !

[Perfumaniac]

The refrigerator/freezer is an underutilized space in my opinion. :) I've heard some fashionistas in tiny Manhattan apartments keep their shoes in their ovens. (I'm not kidding you; I recently read that.) So keeping yarn in the freezer or perfume in the crisper seems normal in comparison. 

[Vintage Jewelry]

I was amazed to read of the firs "abstract" scented perfume! We take such things for granted but it is amazing to read of the first one of its kind! You gave me the each to go and find it- just to get a sniff hehe :)

[Perfumaniac]

Vintage Jewelry, I like to think of Jicky as Shalimar's wilder, less conventionally pretty sister. You should check these in vintage form if you haven't already!

[Aquaria]

Shalimar... Ah, memories. I had a few perfumes going at one time for a while there: Opium, Ruffles by Oscar de la Renta, Magie Noire by Lancome (I know--what a bad girl am I!), and Shalimar.

I had to quit wearing most perfumes when I was pregnant, because the smell didn't help me. Shalimar was the only one I could handle anymore, and then disaster happened: The vanilla notes would so overwhelm me that I craved sweets all the time and gained 10 pounds in a month!

I was in the military at the time, so I was essentially ordered to stop wearing Shalimar, so that my weight would settle down. I used to have the doctor's statement advising me not to wear the perfume anymore, but I lost it.

I'm probably the only person in military history to be legally ordered not to wear perfume! O_o

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Aquaria: The word ruffles makes me laugh for some immature reason, how was the perfume? Also, your story is amazing. Military. Pregnant. Shalimar. Vanilla. Dr.'s note against Shalimar due to weight gain. Legally ordered by the military to stop wearing Shalimar. I wish you still had that note!

[Cathlyn]

Is it just me- or does Shalimar seem not to last very long (2 1/2 hours and it's gone) Maybe my skin loves it so much that it is devoured...

[Carolyn]

My X still tells me he responds to Shalimar. He chose this for me as a young bride. He says he still gets fantasies when he gets a whiff and then looks for the source and finds a old lady to his great distress. Ah but the memories.

[Perfumaniac]

Carolyn, I actually had a distraught man approach me once (I can't remember what perfume it was) and tell me it was upsetting him because it reminded him of his ex! Awkward!