Guerlain has been making perfume since 1828. That makes it older than the light bulb, and it has outlasted almost every rival from that century.
The house was founded in Paris by Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain, who opened a shop selling scents and soaps. His breakthrough came in 1853, when he made a cologne for Empress Eugénie and won a royal warrant.
The house stayed in the family for four generations, and the family kept producing landmarks. Jicky arrived in 1889 and is often called the first modern fragrance, because it used synthetic materials alongside naturals. Mitsouko followed in 1919. Shalimar landed in 1925, a vanilla-and-bergamot oriental that is still one of the most copied structures in perfumery.
Those formulas built a house style. Guerlain scents lean on a base the perfumers call the Guerlinade, a warm blend of vanilla, tonka, iris and resins that runs like a signature through the classics.
The family sold up in 1994, when the luxury group LVMH bought Guerlain. It is now a global beauty brand with makeup and skincare alongside the perfume, and it still puts out pricey exclusives like Santal Royal, a rose-and-sandalwood built for its top line.
Here is the part worth saying plainly. The heritage is real and the archive is deep. A modern Guerlain exclusive can cost well past £200, and you pay for the name and the counter as much as the oils inside. The Guerlinade accord is famous, not secret.
You can wear that Guerlain warmth without the Champs-Élysées price. Our Tobacco & Honey, our take on Tobacco Honey, and Obsidian Veil, our take on Santal Royal, are UK-made sprays at 35% concentration. See the full Guerlain collection.
