Monique Lhuillier Perfume Review

monique lhuillier perfume review

Monique Lhuillier Perfume is the newest launch by the wedding dress designer.  I’ve been sniffing it off and on for a month, I think, trying to sort out what I think of it more precisely than “It’s Pretty!” which it is.

It’s a floral woody musk with notes of bergamot, cassis, dew drop, hyacinth, freesia, ylang, lily of the valley, rose, woods, violet musk and patchouli.

Maurice Roucel was the perfumer, so that made Monique Lhuillier perfume more interesting to me because I love his work.  I am presuming that this is really geared towards the wedding perfume demographic for sure, but not exclusively. I think they pulled that off.  This is really pretty great as a bridal perfume. It opens a little green, only a little sweet with some muted lily of the valley.  Springy, muted. It does not blow your hair back with power notes – that’s a good thing if weddings are a target demographic.  As it stays on, you get some of the violet and woods.  I get a little rose, but not much.

I kept searching for a word or what it reminded me of.  It’s a little like Puredistance I, which I think is the ultimate posh wedding perfume and any time I feel like it perfume.  Not in notes, just in the something I was having trouble getting.  Little bit like MDCI Un Coeur en Mai – notes are a little closer, but it still had that same something.

Then it came to me!  Monique Lhuillier perfume smells like hope.  It is that smell that makes you smile because it is pretty, but it’s not just pretty.  There is more substance to it, but not so much that it obscures what you want it to be – you can project your hopes and dreams on it. It doesn’t have a THERE there quality, rooted in time and place.  It is flexible enough to project on it what you want it to be – a new marriage, a new life – but not so odd that it distracts you.

So, yeah, ultimately, I think they got it exactly right for the [pullquote]”Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery, On Love[/pullquote]market(s) they wanted.  A beautiful wedding perfume, but it doesn’t shout wedding perfume, so you can wear it long after your wedding or you can wear it for any occasion.  Listen, I’ve been married and divorced three times – that wedding hope is not what I’m looking for, but I really do like the generally hopeful, muted bright feel to this. It’s like it takes that hope right up to the edge of exuberant joy and pulls it back to something more real.

Well, Monique Lhuillier perfume is also really pretty.  It’s not groundbreaking in the way I was hoping, but it’s really lovely to wear.

I do have enough in my little spray to send on to a commenter drawn at random.  What in the world do you think a wedding perfume should smell like?  Do you remember your wedding perfume?

  • HeidiC says:

    Smells like hope! I like the idea of that. And I love MDCI’s Un Couer en Mai on my friend, though it’s not for me. Hope is a good effect to go for in a wedding perfume. For my first wedding, very traditional, I think I wore Chanel No 5? Again, very traditional. For my second wedding, I wore a peacock-blue fit-&-flare dress, a multicolored lace shawl I knitted, and Seville à L’Aube. It’s pretty and kind of wistful and happy at the same time. Honestly, I think a wedding perfume should be whatever the to-be-wed wants to smell like!

  • Cheryl G says:

    Who doesn’t need a little hope right now?

  • Dina C. says:

    I’m intrigued now that you mentioned MDCI Un Coeur en Mai, because I really like that one a lot. Our wedding was an evening wedding in January — think elegant white silk shantung and bridesmaids in violet velvet and moire’ taffeta gowns — very formal, men in white tie — big, contemporary church, reception in a historic building here in Virginia. I wore vintage Lanvin Arpege which was my signature scent for several years. This was long before my perfume hobby started. Back in those days I wore one scent at a time.

    • Patty says:

      I’m going by memory, but that’s what comes to mind, though it’s been a few years since I smelled it, and i HOPE I am not remembering wrong. Your wedding sounds amazing, a lovely dreamy thing!

  • Cinnamon says:

    I have no memory at all of my wedding perfume. Not sure what that says. But, I wore a red cotton/spandex Betsy Johnson dress with a tiered skirt and a u-shaped neckline. I can’t fit into it any longer but man that was a great dress. Bee, I love the idea of a top hat.

  • AnnJune says:

    My wedding perfume was Poison, the original, lol. I have no stomach for it now, but that may or may not be because of the failed marriage – just does not appeal. The Monique Lhuillier sounds lovely – I’m sure I’m not alone in appreciating a bit of hopefulness at this point. : )

    • Patty says:

      Poison is kinda of awesome for what it is, and in a period of time it was in, it totally was the thing, but it is a tough one to wear now!

  • Musette says:

    well! That sounds exactly as a wedding perfume should! I’m just on here hollerin’ so DNEM – but I … think?…. heck, I dunno… maybe I wore Anais Anais? I do remember thinking ‘oh, shit. this was probably not the best decision I’ve ever made’….. seriously. Sigh.

    And I’m not talking about my perfume choice 😉

    xoxoxo

    • Patty says:

      Both of us, you know. I have a feeling my first wedding was Estee Lauder Private Collectiong or K by Karl Lagerfeld, but I’m not sure. It was a January wedding, so it could have been Cinnabar for sure. Second? who the hell knows, I loved perfume, but did like one bottle at at time. Third, same.

  • cara says:

    I don’t remember exactly, but it was almost certainly something with white flowers – perhaps one of the Carolina Herreras of the day – since I’ve always been drawn to those and I hadn’t branched out as much then.

    • Patty says:

      Carolina Herreras still remain wildly popular, and she makes a nice perfume that’s easy to wear and is pretty, so I think that’s a really great choice!

  • March says:

    Hey here’s an Allure article I stumbled on while googling how to get my hands on some…. she was inspired by Chanel, her favorite house, among the tidbits. https://www.allure.com/story/monique-lhuillier-eau-de-parfum-fragrance

    • March says:

      “she wanted to create something that captured the same kinds of notes but with a softer tone to it.” re Chanel, from the Allure article

    • Patty says:

      I have some, silly. Sheesh, you know how! It does feel slightly Chanel’ish, though not exactly. It’s not that sharp like some Chanels are. More like a cross between one of their greens and Beige or Boy or Misia? There’s a smoothing of the greens, so you just get a wee bit of sharp.

  • March says:

    I am REALLY enjoying everyone’s stories in comments!

  • Bee says:

    I don’t quite know why people have a ‘wedding fragrance’ unless it something they love and will wear again – same thing for wedding dresses. The idea of something massively expensive that can only be worn once appalls me. For our wedding 26 years ago and counting I wore Cinnabar which was my signature and it went well with my black lace cocktail dress, black top hat and calla lily bouquet. Why would I suddenly wear white when it I don’t like it? I was quite old for a first marriage (39) and my thinking was ‘we are what we are and we have no need to change to be married’. It has worked so far….

    • March says:

      Dang that outfit sounds gorgeous; I dunno, I think the wedding fragrance idea is kinda sweet. I’m thinking it’s probably geared toward brides who don’t already have something they love, and want a couple of suggestions. Back in the day I’d probably have looked for something similar.

    • Patty says:

      I kind of think they do it to pick something new, where they can have new memories with a start of a new life partnership. I don’t remember doing it, and I would think they pick something they would wear regularly after that that is associated with a happy beginning. Maybe. I don’t know. Cinnabar and a black lace cocktail dress is an amazing combination! I don’t think you can go wrong with that.

  • Sarah says:

    The smell of hope. I love that Patty. Just what we all need right now.

  • Eldarwen22 says:

    Never been married but the last wedding I went to was in Texas. It was hot and humid in October and the only perfume I had with me was no 19 edt. Spent the whole week wishing I brought another perfume along with no 19. I think Lyric might be a good choice or maybe the original Lolita Lempicka.

    • Patty says:

      Lyric another love. There are a few Amouages that fit in for me. Lyric, Interlude, Beloved, a couple of their Attars, which don’t seem to be around anymore. Not sure those are appropriate for a weddding, but it would make me happy!

  • Maggiecat says:

    My last wedding perfume ( ten years ago, still going strong, third time’s the charm!) was Diorissimo. I spent longer picking out the perfume than I did the dress!

    • Patty says:

      Yeah! I love happy marriages! Diorissimo is always perfect for anything, I think. It’s one you can’t go wrong with at all.

  • filomena813 says:

    I wore Givenchy L’Interdit for my first wedding and Calvin Klein Eternity for my second. I have been alone now for 20 years and wear about two or three different perfumes each day…one for work, a different one when I come home from work and then a bed-time perfume. I have an extensive collection so my choices are many and different each day, evening and night. I haven’t bought a new perfume in months, including samples.

    • Patty says:

      You are so us. I love to change midday. I do a lot of testing some day, and I swear the combination of lots of scents sometimes is better than any one I tried on. 🙂

  • Tara C says:

    I wore Atelier Cologne Silver Iris for my third (and current) marriage. It is pretty and relaxed. The Monique LHuillier sounds similar. If I was going to pick again, I probably would go for Amouage Beloved, another pretty scent that doesn’t evoke anything in particular.

    • Patty says:

      Seeing a few people that have been married as many times as I have helps. I love Amouage Beloved, it is one of my all-time faves. I’m not sure what I would pick now? I really have to think – pick something with no prior memory of anything or something that has a ton of happy memories even with some sad ones?

  • Ariel says:

    I wasn’t into perfume when I got married, but I remember the algae and motor boat smell of Lake Washington. My husband smelled nervous 🙂 The hot sun baked the small gathering of loved ones: it was them, the chocolate cupcakes, and the lake that I hold in my head. My wedding perfume, if I were to go back in time, might smell like a saltier version of Seafaring Man by Laromatica. I wouldn’t dream of telling anyone else what to wear for their wedding!