Guerlain
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The frankincense hits first, but it's the iris that shapes it—a dusty, almost chalky quality that tempers the resin's natural sweetness. Pink pepper crackles at the edges like static, whilst everything feels slightly out of focus, powdery and indistinct in the most intentional way.
Gaiac wood emerges as the smoky anchor, its almost tarry facets softened by benzoin's vanilla-adjacent sweetness. The coriander adds this peculiar, soapy-green undertone that shouldn't work but does, whilst the balsamic richness begins to dominate without overwhelming—it's thick but breathable, like silk rather than velvet.
What remains is a skin-close whisper of patchouli and white musk, the latter giving everything an almost laundry-fresh cleanliness that's miles away from the incense-heavy opening. The copaiba balsam lingers as a subtle, resinous sweetness—less 'perfume on skin' and more 'this is just how you smell now', warm and privately addictive.
Bois d'Arménie is Annick Ménardo's meditation on sacred smoke and precious resins, a fragrance that smells like incense burned in a sandalwood box lined with iris root. The frankincense here isn't the piercing, citric type you'd find in a cathedral—it's dense and honeyed, immediately softened by the dusty, grey-violet quality of iris that acts as a veil rather than a floral flourish. Pink pepper adds a gentle fizz to the opening, preventing the composition from becoming too solemn, whilst coriander brings an oddly soapy-spicy facetedness that keeps you guessing.
The heart reveals Ménardo's true skill: gaiac wood and benzoin create this smoky-sweet synergy that feels simultaneously ancient and intimate, like amber beads warmed against skin. The copaiba balsam—an underused ingredient that deserves more attention—contributes a soft, almost Cola-like balsamic sweetness without any of the usual vanilla crutches. Patchouli provides earthy ballast, but it's the white musk in the base that makes this genuinely compelling: it lifts the entire resinous structure, giving it a clean, skin-like quality that prevents it from becoming oppressively heavy.
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3.9/5 (176)