GUERLAIN
Jardins de Bagatelle EDP
1993
PERFUMER
Jean-Paul Guerlain
violet
aldehydes
bergamot
lemon
jasmine
narcissus
ylang-ylang
gardenia
neroli
lily-of-the-valley
orchid
rose
magnolia
musk
tuberose
cedarwood
patchouli
vetiver
Most of the vintage Guerlain’s that I’ve tried up until this point were up my alley; Mitsouko, Shalimar, Nahema and to a lesser extend Chamade. I’ve had a couple of old miniatures of Jardins de Bagetelle, but they remained in the shadow, as this fragrance didn’t appeal to me as much (on paper).
And it doesn’t really appeal to me after all. But after trying both a vintage EDT & EDP, I’m happy I didn’t forget about Jardins de Bagatelle. Mind you, the EDT had a literal drop left, so I’ll make a small remark on it and focus on the EDP.
The EDT felt greener and because I had so little, it evaporated quickly. The scent was mostly the same; it had aged a lot and the juice was darker than the EDP’s, so it wasn’t really a surprise, that it wasn’t all that much different in the opening.
The EDP is quite nice; as mentioned, the scent profile didn’t appeal to me directly, and this is overall not my style of fragrance. I felt it was surprisingly… ‘modern’? Or at least, youthful, playful. I didn’t get as much of a sophisticated bouquet of flowers, as a dewy, slightly fruity green scent that took me back to the 90’s more so than before that.
I has a slick, washed, watery, outside of a fruit vibe to me and at times bordering on smelling like a shampoo. I was first reminded of rhubarb, later as things felt a bit more spicy and woody a green bell pepper. However, that doesn’t last; it warms up and resulted in a almost creamy scent with warm, soft florals (rose mostly and the creaminess from ylang-ylang or perhaps tuberose).
Likely due to the state of the miniatures, there’s barely any sharpness here; averting my expectations based on what I’ve read about it. Probably in favor of my personal taste though. Jardins de Bagatelle definitely isn’t up there with my favorite Guerlains, but it’s one that perhaps deserves to be mentioned more often among them.
