Unobtanium Ultima: Guerlain Djedi

Well, it seems like it’s All Guerlain, All the Time here at Perfume Posse, after all these reviews. But I swear, we don’t chat in advance and plan it- it just sort of happens.

This one happened because I was looking on the Surrender to Chance website for something else and saw that they had samples. Spendy, yes, but bottles of this are going for practically the price of a decent used car and I’ve been good and when am I going to smell it again andIdeservethisonething….

So I put the sample in my cart and it arrived in record time.

Djedi was crated by Jacques Guerlain in 1927. It was apparently inspired by Egyptian mythology. All of us weren’t there of course, but with the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 there was sort of worldwide vogue of things Egyptian: fashion, jewelry, art and architecture showed Egyptian influences. LA boasts a number of these Egyptian Deco buildings, arguably the most famous of which surviving today in Graumann’s Egyptian on Hollywood Boulevard, recently redone and re-opened by Netflix (the last time I’d been there was in the American Cinematheque days, seeing “Earthquake” with a Q&A with Genevieve Bujold, and shown in Sensurround for the first time since it premiered up the street at Graumann’s Chinese, the Egyptian’s younger and more famous sister theater.) There was a brief revival of Egypto-mania in the late 70’s when the Treasures of King Tut toured the country and there is still the Temple of Dendur at the Met, which has stood in it’s own Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo- designed glassed in, climate controlled wing when it was moved to make way for the Aswan Dam.

March reviewed this one here on the Posse back in ’07 and referenced Marina’s review on PST (go ahead and read the links, I’ll be here) It’s been described as a bone-dry leathery chypre in the vein of Bandit, and on me it does eventually get there- but the first dab is an earthy, moist root, smelling of vetiver and roses and moss that’s fairly dripping with juice- an oasis. Or a mirage, because that moistness dissipates like cool water in the desert heat and the vetiver becomes dry witch grass and the leather becomes sun baked and desiccated. There’s patchouli and musk, but neither of those are oily- the patchouli is even drier than in Borneo 1834 and the musk seems to stand apart like a mirage: you smell it, but the instant you look for it, it’s gone hiding. Like March, I get a ghost of Guerlinade towards the end- but that powdery vanilla is devoid of the yeasty voluptuousness that cushions the base of other Guerlains. It’s a hard warmth- like the surface of a sandstone temple in the desert. It’s up to you to find your way into the cool interior and whatever treasures are hidden, and whatever fate befalls those who dare defile the temple..

I am assuming that this sample is from the 1996 reissue, which was released in 1000 numbered Baccarat bottles and which, I assume with the new restrictions, could not be released again. Which is really annoying. We sell drugs OTC that have warnings that they will cause explosive nipple syndrome and sell cigarettes which will outright kill you, but something that may, possible, cause a few people to get a rash must be stopped (please don’t come for me if you gat rashes.) Honestly, stick a label on it “Purchase of this product indemnifies manufacture, distributor, and resellers against all claims of liability for dermal reactions. For external use only. Do not use on broken skin. Do not pull a Patsy and drink.” As I wrote on FacePlace “I don’t care if it causes brush fires, gas prices to spike, or an even more tedious season of ‘Feud’. This one needs to come back.” Oh to be able to use with abandon and not ration it like precious final drops of water in the sun-parched desert..

Any thoughts on this one? Let us know in the comments..

My samples are from Surrender to Chance. Photos are mine, Wikimedia Commons and Pexels