I am going to try not to talk about the weather to start my posts for a while. The weather is what one talks about here frequently when chatting to neighbours or talking to someone in a shop. The topic is just always … there. So, let’s try something different.
As I finish this post up it’s the late summer bank holiday weekend here. Schools return next week; life resettles. I did the farm shop early to avoid the tourists and walked up the hill to have a look at the beautiful view. A small grumple at grown men: you look silly in flip-flops when you’re in the world (rather than near the beach). And, please, don’t drive in them.
I’ve made noises about trying this a number of times but couldn’t find a bricks ‘n mortar shop with it in stock. So, as one does, I gave in and ordered a sample.
I came to Shalimar late, having stubbornly refused to try it for years. When I finally did (the eau de toilette) I metaphorically kicked myself for waiting so long. The best, most beautiful lemon floor wax ever. Then, for a self-birthday gift a few years ago I bought an ounce of parfum. Impossibly glorious.
I’m not big on flankers but when I read about L’Essence, released in 2025 to mark the 100th anniversary of the release of Shalimar perfume I thought well, that’s worth a look.
The nose is Delphine Jelk, Guerlain’s current head perfumer, the juice is EdP Intense, and the notes list includes the following: almond, incense, bergamot, iris, ethylvanillin, amber, opoponax, rose, Madagascar vanilla, musk, Tonka bean, benzoin and leather. (Contrast this with lists for EdT and parfum: bergamot, floral notes, iris, jasmine, rose, vanilla and Tonka bean / bergamot, lemon, mandarin orange, cedar, and citruses, iris, jasmine, rose, patchouli, vetiver, vanilla, incense (frankincense), opoponax, Tonka bean, leather, sandalwood, musk, civet, and ambergris.)
The back-story of Shalimar is apocryphal: Jacques Guerlain dumped a load of ethylvanillin in a bottle of Jicky and Shalimar was born. Then there’s the Ernst Beaux comment: “When I do vanilla I get crème anglaise, when Guerlain does it he gets Shalimar”.
So, yes. I own an older (probably 30 years) bottle of EdT and a newer one of parfum. I adore both but reach for the bottles in different circumstances: the EdT when I want more floor wax, the parfum when I’m after weird pongy vanilla floor wax – way more boudoir.
So, what about L’Essence?
Yes, it’s Shalimar – but a very different iteration.
The opening of this on me is lemon drop candies modified by musk and vanilla. The almond drops in after about a half hour on skin. Musky almond lemon. There is not one iota of floor wax in this.
As it warms, the almond is very present. So, it’s trajectory is different than either of the Shalimars I own. Soft in the middle, approachable. A bit pillowy.
(Jordan Almonds. If you haven’t tried them a great combo of hard shell candy and crunchy
almond. I can’t eat them any longer — too hard — but have great memories from childhood.)
This doesn’t last terribly long on me and the drydown is strongly almond with a whisper of leather. I had hoped for more leather, and I think someone with a different skin chemistry might get that. For something labelled an EdP Intense this is remarkably quiet. My EdT is much stronger and longer-lived.
I did this next to the parfum one day and the EdT another. Regarding the former, I get a lot more rose and jasmine, a less candied lemon note, definitely more indolic, that brilliant wax aspect. Far darker. L’Essence isn’t remotely as challenging. Unsurprisingly, I guess. As to the EdT, it’s a dialled down version of the parfum, but much more floor wax. Not remotely sweet.
The L’Essence bottle is nice: The curved shouldered one but with Shalimar written out on the front in gold letters (I couldn’t find an image I was happy using without permission).
In the end I decided L’Essence was more a tribute band than a proper flanker. Like it sang the same songs but the pacing was just a bit off, the emphasis in the wrong places. Victoria in the blog Bois de Jasmin puts it well: “Not a revolution, but a gentle, sweetly polished homage”. I would use ‘polite’ rather than polished. And I’m afraid I don’t think Shalimar was ever meant to be polite.
Jelk has been with Guerlain for a fair while. I looked up her oeuvre and to be honest, bar the time with Guerlain, it isn’t much of a much.
So, glad I did that, but I will be fine with my 3ml sample vial.
Anyone else tried this – and are there Shalimar flankers you like?
Pics: mine, pexels