Jo’s Scent Notes: Guerlain Mitsouko

This, to use fragrance parlance, will be my #SOTD on Christmas Day. (‘Scent of the Day’ being the hashtag used by perfumistas who are sharing what they’ve chosen to splash or spritz, on a particular day, for anyone who doesn’t speak hashtag.)

I’ve worn Mitsouko for over 25 years, on and off – but always, always on Christmas Day. There’s something about its opulence, the way this iconic (and I don’t use the term lightly) fragrance wraps you in its extravagant embrace. Yet with a touch of spiciness, in there, which somehow seems to go so well with all the mince pie and Christmas pudding deliciousness.

Many moons ago, in the star-ceilinged room atop Mosimann’s club in Belgravia, I attended a workshop exploring Guerlain perfumes, organised by YOU Magazine, where I was Beauty Editor at the time. I knew there were some gems in the Guerlain range, but I’d never really identified ‘my Guerlain scent’. (Everyone has one.) The workshop was hosted by Roja Dove, now creator of his own Roja Parfums range but then working in the Guerlain Press Office (this is w-a-y before he became their educator, trainer and ‘Professeur de Parfums’ spokesperson).

We sniffed, we spritzed, we deep-dived for a whole glorious day into the fascinating history of this perfume house, brought alive by Roja’s words; at the time, this fragrance house had only ever had a Guerlain family member as in-house perfumer (at that time, Jean-Paul Guerlain, who created Samsara, among others).

Mitsouko pushed all my buttons. So opulent, so rich, so grown-up, but not at all old-fashioned – a ‘Chypre’ fragrance (the family named after Cyprus, where some of the key ingredients of this style of scent flourish), constructed around bergamot, oakmoss, vanilla and just enough patchouli to keep me happy. It is delicately spiced, and there’s a peachy fruitiness to Mitsouko, too. And I just adore it. For a while, I had a teeny bottle of the parfum, and dream of another – but meanwhile, I’m clinging on to this bottle of eau de toilette, which is simply beautiful (but does need a re-spritz during the day).

For a few years, though, it’s not exactly a state secret that Mitsouko lost its mojo. Fragrance regulations restricted the use of oakmoss, potentially an irritant – and it is the oakmoss which is the stardust in Mitsouko. Then along came Guerlain perfumer Thierry Wasser, the first non-Guerlain perfumer (and a true genius), who figured out that he could use a form of ‘fractionated’ oakmoss, from which the irritant element had been removed physically (that process is called fractionation). But I remember him telling me, so clearly, ‘that when you take something out of a perfume, it leaves a hole.’ He knew how to fill the whole – with lentisque (a resin) – to make it complete again. Et voilà, just like that, Mitsouko got its magic back.

Mitsouko now resides in Guerlain’s ‘Légendaires’ collection (scroll for pic) – where it truly belongs, along with icons such as L’Heure Bleue, Après l’Ondée, Jicky and Shalimar (I went on to wear that sometimes, too, falling in love with it later); the label has changed since I acquired my most recent bottle, but it’s still in perfect nick (see below for its new look.)

There are many, many more recent creations in Guerlain’s portfolio, notably the L’Art et La Matière collection, which is sublime. But any self-respecting perfume-lover needs to know what all of those original fragrances smell like on their skin, because they are still astonishing.

I honestly think Guerlain should be doing events like this now, with such an unrivalled heritage – that day at Mosimann’s was (no exaggeration) one of my all-time favourite days of all time, I think. But if you visit Guerlain’s boutiques in Harrods or the exquisite stand-alone store in Covent Garden, there are lovely, knowledgable and passionate staff who will love helping you explore the range, to find ‘your’ Guerlain. (It’s a rite of passage for young women in Paris, who are taken there by their mothers as teenagers to identify their first grown-up scent.)

I will be spritzing Mitsouko generously on Christmas Day. Via perfume’s power to catapult us through time and space, it’s like encountering the ghost of Christmas past, giving me a joyous flashback to all the times I’ve worn it for this special day. (I do wear it at other times – to grand soirées – but Mitsouko just IS Christmas, to me.)

And whatever you decide to wear, on the day – your #SOTD – I hope it brings you as much fragrant joy.

£120 for 75ml eau de parfum – buy here