L’Heure Bleue Deux

Mini rant first.. six years in the making and they couldn’t give this its own name??.. that really has pee’d me off some what. They did Shalimar L’essence for Shalmars 100th anniversary, and they really should’ve gave this a flanker name .. but I’ll get over myself eventually. However, I’m hence forth calling this L’Heure Bleue Deux.

Despite Guerlain’s daft marketing idea here, I wanted to review this on its own merit.... I’m not going to do a comparison to the beautiful and melancholic OG, this is a totally different scent. And I really love it.

At its heart L’Heure Bleue Deux is a buttery Iris with beautiful complexities with a solar ozonic glow. It opens with an iced cold pear sorbet garnished with course sea salt, fresh & breezy ambroxan and a gorgeous buttery Iris that’s velvety soft, which smooths the floral fruits.

The neroli is more noticeable in the heart to me, it’s bright but tempered, not screechy or trying to steal the show. Everything is so wonderfully blended.

In the dry down, the Guerlain vanilla warms up and radiates a sweet, feminine, ambery, musky, salted base of sensual orange blossom and marshmallow whilst the buttery iris continues to shine, little traces of the solar ozonic glow still radiating. On second wear, I noticed that the ozonic notes appear more prominent sprayed on clothes, but that soft floral vanilla iris on my skin is so beautiful.

I think it’s a wonderful modern interpretation of the blue hour. It reminds me of a holiday evening meal, at a beech side restaurant, as the sun is setting. At times, there’s the slightest hint of sunscreen amongst the ozonic, a remnant of a wonderful day in the sun. But as the warm, sweet & sensual musky base pulls through, and you’re sipping on a vino and the sky turns navy just as the sun has set, the perfume is ready to take you onto the promise of a good night with your favourite, making memories from dusk til dawn, it’s soft sweetness lingering on.

I see that Delphine Jelk is named as the sole perfumer, but this scent reminds me of the Guerlain’s when Delphine and Thierry Wasser work together and create perfumes wonderfully balanced with dark and light.

I wore L’Heure Bleue for years but I just stopped reaching for it, feeling no pang of desire to replace the last bottle. But I had set myself up for disappointment with this release with the surrounding discontent. I’m delighted that I’ll be enjoying wearing this.