Annick Goutal, Grand Amour, 'Great Love', 100 ml. or 3.38 oz. Flacon, Parfum Extrait, Limited Edition, Baccarat, 1986, Paris, France ..

Annick Goutal’s career as a perfumer was never presumed. She blossomed late, coming to perfume making after a career as a prizewinning pianist and model. She then met a man, separated from him, and found herself alone with a baby .. her daughter Camille. She was then diagnosed with breast cancer and married her childhood sweetheart. She went into the skin cream business with a friend and instinctively felt they were missing two things, fragrance and packaging.

Then, in 1977, she met perfumer Henri Sorsana, a Grasse perfumeur, and spent the next seven years memorising ingredients and honing her talent as an extraordinary nose. The words were the same .. note, harmony, key... "I was back with music again, with that part of myself I had been sadly cut off from". Her first three fragrances, Folavril, Passion .. her own personal perfume .. and Eau d'Hadrien set her apart. She later opened a small-scale perfumery in Rue de Bellechasse, Paris in 1980 in Saint Germain. Each fragrance is a touchstone, a reminder of someone or something important in Goutal's life. "Like precious bouquets, gathering the rarest and most noble of natural essences, they are composed as a symphony, note by note, in an eternal quest for balance, quality and perfect harmony". Her fragrance following is cult - once you have sampled the fruits of Annick Goutal you'll be a devotee. The impalpable Eau d'Hadrien is a favourite of fashionable stars such as Madonna and Prince ... even the Guerlain family comes to Annick Goutal.

Five years later she had a dedicated clientele and signed an agreement with the Tattinger group putting her name along side the famed champagne house and Baccarat Crystal. During the 1980s her success was immediate amongst niche European perfume circles as well as America where she was stocked by luxury department stores such as Neiman Marcus and Saks.

Sadly Annick lost her battle with breast cancer in 1999 at the age of 53. Her daughter Camille Goutal now continues her legacy. She is joined by house nose Isabelle Doyen. Together the pair has released a series of fragrances to honour Camille’s mother in the same way Annick had honored her daughter with creations Petite Cherie and Eau De Camille, two perfumes Annick created for her daughter as she progressed towards adulthood. Eau D’Hadrien was one of Annick’s first creations.

Launched in 1996, this fragrance Annick Goutal created for herself. It is devoted to love, the most powerful force which can move the worlds. The composition is based on three accords: floral, amber, and musk. In the floral bouquet, lily, honeysuckle, and hyacinth lead the way to Turkish rose, French jasmine, and Indian mimosa, with a touch of fruity notes. Oriental accord (amber) is represented by the notes of amber, vanilla and myrrh. In the base the sensual musk united with precious rare balsams create a very long trace.

'What is the scent of love .. Is it radiant and smiling, smoldering and seductive, or intoxicating and ravishing. For Annick Goutal, the answer is clearly the latter, and Grand Amour serves as a beautiful example. From the tender kiss of hyacinth and honeysuckle to the warm embrace of vanilla and amber, Grand Amour maintains the breathless, exhilarating sensation of surrendering oneself to an emotion that can no longer be contained.

Created by perfumer Isabelle Doyen and Annick Goutal in 1986, Grand Amour exemplifies a voluptuous elegance. The floral bouquet slowly sheds one lush layer after another before revealing a soft like peach skin base. Despite its richness, the composition maintains a wonderfully soaring effect. It is for a woman whose beauty is both complex and intriguing.

Reclining on the balsamic base of woody amber and vanilla, the sweetness of Grand Amour conveys a certain disarming tenderness. In an unexpected twist that makes Grand Amour such a fascinating fragrance, a ribbon of myrrh resurfaces under the floral opulence of the heart. Its somber incantation provides a brilliant counterpoint to the headiness of the composition, suggesting that even great love always retains a layer of mystery.'

Top notes are Hyacinth, Lily, and Honeysuckle
Heart notes are Turkish Rose, Broom, Indian Mimosa, and French Jasmine
Base notes are Balsams, Vanilla, Myrrh, and Amber

Offered here is a rare and beautiful 100 ml. Baccarat bottle of this exquisite perfume .. the perfume of love .. with its glorious velvet bag that sits in the gilded presentation box. The bottle itself is stamped with the Baccarat seal and is covered in a gilded design of tendrils and vines, intertwined. It is highly collectible, and will be a great joy to own.