SAMPLE .. Guerlain, Champs Élysées, Champs Elysees, DECANTED SAMPLE from Flacon, Parfum Extrait, Baccarat, Flacon Tortue, 1914, 1995, Paris,

The House of Guerlain is one of the oldest perfume houses in the world. It was founded in 1828 when Pierre-Francois Pascal Guerlain opened up his first perfume store on 42, Rue de Rivoli in Paris.

Pierre-Francois composed and manufactured custom perfumes with the help of his two sons, Aime & Gabriel. His unique approach was to personalize perfume for a specific person, place or event. Honore de Balzac commisioned his own eau de toilette during the writing of Cesar Birotteau, and the periodical La Sylphide, le Journal des Elegances, scented each issue with a different fragrance by Guerlain.

Guerlain catered to the high society of Paris, and obtained a very loyal following. The perfume house was so successful that Guerlain decided to open a flagship store at 15, Rue de la Paix in Paris in 1840. The house was at its peak in 1853 with it's fragrance Eau de Cologne Imperiale. This perfume gained Guerlain the prestigious title of His Majesty's Official Perfumer of France. This in turn led him to create perfumes for other royals such as Queen Victoria of England, the Empress Sissi of Austria, the Queen of Belgium and Queen Isabella of Spain as well as other crowned heads of royalty.

Pierre-Francois passed away in 1854 and his sons inherited the perfume house. Aime became the master perfumer, a tradition that would be upheld for the next master perfumer in lineage. Gabriel managed and further expanded the house. Aime, created several fragrances for the perfume house, these include Fleur d'Italie, Rococo, and Eau de Cologne du Coq and his greatest creation, Jicky.

Originally launched in 1914, and then relaunched in 1995, Champs Élysées was presented in the most exquisite Baccarat turtle shaped flacon. The turtle-shaped bottle .. flacon tortue .. was created by Jacques Guerlain in 1913 in honour of the opening of his “new temple of Beauty” at 68, avenue des Champs-Elysées in Paris, and is a playful nod to the unhurried pace of the construction work that delayed its inauguration.

Now, more than a century later, Guerlain has partnered with Baccarat to produce a new limited crystal edition of this iconic bottle in a 60 ml format. With more than 80 facets carved into the crystal, the turtle-shaped bottle is entirely handmade with painstaking attention to detail. This unparalleled treasure of craftsmanship is a testament to the unique ancestral expertise of Baccarat.

This Exceptional Creation contains a woody spicy floral Extrait created by Thierry Wasser. Everlasting flower is at the centre of the warm, spicy base note, while osmanthus lends the fragrance a fruity heart note that is energized by a refreshing mandarin top note. Tonka bean, benzoin and vanilla give the scent a sweet and sensuous fragrant trail.

Founded in 1764, Baccarat, symbolising the excellence of French art de vivre, has always created exceptional bottles for Guerlain. Today, the perfumer and the glassworks reedit the famed Turtle-shaped bottle in a 60 ml format. As an incredible heritage of Guerlain, its mold is kept carefully in the workshop's factory.

Champs Élysées falls into the floral, chypre, woody category.

Top notes are Bergamot, Violet, Lavender, and Orange Blossom
Heart notes are Rose, Jasmine, Tuberose, and Orris
Base notes are Clove, Oak Moss, Patchouli, and Sandalwood

"When at the beginning of the twentieth century Guerlain decided to open a sumptuous new house on the Champs Élysées boulevard, it had to be marked as a triumph of luxury. Designed by Art Nouveau architect Charles Mewès, the house would contain a shop as well as offices and apartments for the Guerlain family. Hard work and high quality had made it possible for founder Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain to open his first shop on the rue de Rivoli in 1828 and move it to the more elegant rue de la Paix eleven years later. But, to have a boutique on the ChampsÉlysées, in those days the most fashionable address of Paris, was so extraordinary that Jacques Guerlain decided to celebrate it by naming a perfume after it. A few years later, his brother Pierre made a perfume named after the rue de la Paix.

"Parfum des Champs Élysées heralded what came to be Après l'Ondée's hallmark, the powdery accord of aromatics, orange blossom, violet and orris, but laid on a warm and smoothly woody, almost cocoa-like base. As such, Parfum des Champs-Elysées was also the first of Jacques Guerlain's perfumes to display the gourmand aesthetic that has defined Guerlain ever since. The perfume opened directly onto the scent of violet mixed with lavender and orange blossom. The beauty of this accord alone, at once fresh, powdery and sweet like violet drops, gives us inkling as to why Après l'Ondée became Jacques Guerlain's first masterpiece. As Parfum des Champs-Elysées evolved, the violet got woodier and met with the warmth of sandalwood, clove, tuberose, patchouli and oak moss .. if Après l'Ondée was spring rain, then Parfum des Champs-Elysées felt like the brown foliage of autumn.

"The impression of a cocoa note, tickling the nose deliciously, could be the patchouli, with its earthy accent, combined with sweet sandalwood and musk, and the dustiness of oakmoss. Together with violet, we got the associated scent of orris, an ingredient which Jacques Guerlain would use in the majority of his later works, seemingly more and more each time and peaking with Coque d'Or. Orris, that dried rhizome reminiscent of freshly turned soil, brandy, dusty old books, and face powder, is one of the defining features of the Guerlinade accord. Smelling the drydown of Parfum des Champs-Elysées, one of Guerlain's most musky and long-lasting by the way, we can't help thinking that the composition bore the preliminary layout for that very French perfume, Vol de Nuit. Generally, we understand and accept that only a handful of Jacques Guerlain's approximately four hundred creations were able to transcend time and the dictates of fashion, but Parfum des Champs-Elysées could easily have been one of those that persisted. It has all the necessary beauty and charisma, a real gem for Guerlain lovers interested in the historic Guerlain universe. Maybe therefore, it was reissued commercially in 1995 and again in 2008, albeit in reformulated versions complying with safety norms." Monsieur Guerlain

Offered here is an opportunity to try a sample of the beautiful Champs Élysées. This is so rare and hard to find now, and is a real treasure! This specific re-issue comes in the original Baccarat crystal, in the Flacon Tortue or "turtle bottle" which was conceived by architect Charles Mewes to denote the "slowness" of works but also to suggest that one could "climb on its back and be transported to paradise". The reissue is from 1995.

Guerlain lovers ..