Santal Pao Rosa L’Art & La Matière Guerlain

The difference between real niche perfumery and the stylization of the “big” perfume houses is immediately felt. Yes, the focus is on raw materials, all those hackneyed “precious ingredients” in press releases. Yes, all the bottles are the same and may even have mother-of-pearl and rhinestones for clients from countries where oil gushes like a fountain right in the yard. But brands like Guerlain do not and have not tried to flirt with the advanced user. There is none of that familiarity, when a person takes a score and guesses “pyramids and notes” in the aroma. Guerlain perfumes are absolutely seamless, although in the L’Art & La Matière collection they are somewhat less mysterious than the classics L`Heure Bleue or Chamade.

In Santal Pao Rosa, this seamlessness is literally felt by the skin. The aroma glides over it like gray silk crepe. In the traditional oriental pattern, there is a red speck of caramel and a black ligature of vanilla, a cold green glow of cardamom and earthy-mushroom tones of myrrh. Santal Pao Rosa quickly warms up on the wrists, merges with their own slightly milky scent and sleepy morning warmth, responds to every increase in the pulse and repeats all the movements of the body with a slight rustle.

The border is blurred, and now it is not the aroma, but you yourself who smell like a gift from the Magi. The woody and spicy power only increases with time, but having become one with the aroma, you no longer understand when it all ended and whether it ended?

The pattern in Santal Pao Rosa is oriental, but the cut is quite European. An example of almost perfect assimilation of oud far from home. He's like Jean-Claude Van Damme in his famous split between trucks. And with the same self-confident grin.

Unexpectedly I love it, I wear it with pleasure. Santal Pao Rosa is one of three fragrances in this collection that I would like to have in a bottle.

Santal Pao Rosa Guerlain, 2021

Delphine Jelk

Sandalwood, fig, hazelnut, rose, oud, myrrh.

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