To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Nivycooxy – :
MASTERPIECE….
I remember back in the early 80’s working at the Guerlain counter at Bonwit &Teller. First sniffings of the Guerlain greats !! How many times I had boxes of Parure in my hands…!!!!!!!….and never bought one?!
I guess I was spoiled,since I could wear which ever scent I wished…a different one everyday…lol…since it was “my job”….to smell them and to sell them.
Recently purchased a decant from online…and oh….how I swooned again at the sheer magnificence of Parure!!
I MUST own a bottle before I meet my maker……..
One of my Top 5 scents ever for sure…..
pont835 – :
MASTERPIECE….
I remember back in the early 80’s working at the Guerlain counter at Bonwit &Teller. First sniffings of the Guerlain greats !! How many times I had boxes of Parure in my hands…!!!!!!!….and never bought one?!
I guess I was spoiled,since I could wear which ever scent I wished…a different one everyday…lol…since it was “my job”….to smell them and to sell them.
Recently purchased a decant from online…and oh….how I swooned again at the sheer magnificence of Parure!!
I MUST own a bottle before I meet my maker……..
One of my Top 5 scents ever for sure…..
ever – :
Reviewing the vintage EDT. Parure is opulent, sweet, feminine, and green. In the opening I get a lot of orris and a little oakmoss and green notes. The drydown is sweeter, with a dewy rose, narcissus, and sweet plum. A testament to Guerlain’s workmanship but not to its trendsetting ability. It came out too late; it’s very 30s/40s/50s in style. This perfume is more a summation of some of the good that was in perfume from the decades before it than any kind of groundbreaking creation. However, it’s a must-have for vintage perfume lovers.
Valera S – :
Sorry, forgot to login. Previous ” guest ” reviev is from me.
RusskiyPashka – :
Fragrance Review For Parure
Guerlain
Top Notes
Citruses Bergamot Fruit Notes Plum Green Notes
Middle Notes
Narcissus Lilac Orris Root Jasmine Lily of the Valley Rose
Base Notes
Spices Leather Amber Patchouli Oak Moss
French Perfume At It’s Finest
Released in ’75, Parure is a vintage beauty and a sort of mixture of old and new from the house of Guerlain. This is a bit like at least 2 fragrances from their line over the years: Mitsuoko, Shalimar & Chamade. While not exactly dupes of any of those fragrances this is a beautiful nostalgic woman’s perfume made up of French perfume staple notes, and some newer ones for the mid-70’s. This is hard to find even when you’re a vintage collector because it’s been discontinued though they are out there somewhere. I found mine in the wardrobe of my French girlfriend Lysette who still had remnants of this perfume in her own collection. I took a whiff and wore a bit on my wrist. Smells divine. Lacking in aldehydes or powder notes this was an early fruity floral. It’s evocative of spring and summer, of youth, of Maypoles and lovely girls in bows, ribbons, dresses, and no worries. This is a very pretty scent which would be hard to duplicate today because while some of the top and middle notes of fruits and florals can be achieved through perfumery the base notes would be harder to pull off especially the oak moss and the green notes that can be pretty strong. I dislike to classify fragrances but this appears to be a rare breed of fruity chypre. Smells elegant sophisticated youthful and sweet without being cloying. It has a charm that can only come from the French. It’s a summer party in Cannes or St. Tropez, where a young girl who is all of 19 or 20 has charmed everyone in sight and she dances to her heart’s content. She has the pick of any man she wants. She wears Emilio Pucci fashions and flower power prints, headbands, capri pants, shorts, wiggle dresses and cocktail dresses. It’s a charmer of a perfume.
Parure opens with a fresh delicious orange flavor and fruit notes of rich plum juice. To me the plum is more pronounced than the citrus though they are well balanced. Instantly it freshens you and makes you feel like partying. The fresh fruit opening is very different than some of the Guerlains and because of the green notes that appear it turns into a Mitsouko fairly soon but it doesn’t get too powdery. Sweet florals emerge from the heart including narcissus, heady Grasse jasmine, Bulgarian rose, lilac, iris and lily of the valley. The lily of the valley green-floral note is at variance with the powdery iris. Beautifully floral and feminine, with a ripe plum always present through the performance. Sweet and girly for ’75 though mature by today’s standards. A spiciness develops after the flowers start to fade.
The dry notes are progressively greener and darker. There’s moss and plenty of it. This is the real deal. Green moss that hangs on trees and covers the floors of deep woods. The scent is also herbal with patchouli and provides this scent with a decidedly unisex body as it dries. There’s leather and musk and a deep resinous amber. The dry down is warmer and cozier autumnal. Smells like the spring and autumn in one single performance. I wish that Guerlain noses would recreate this scent even with the oak moss and or bring this back. There are a number of people including myself who would go out and buy this if it was available in stores today. I am so bummed I live in a time when fragrances don’t even try to smell like the classics, have no sillage, no staying power, and no real perfume. This was enchanting. Totally enchanting. I hope the eBay splash minis are not bad. Anyways just my thoughts on what I smelled coming from a vintage ’75 bottle. Ah, perfume! Come back Perfume!
sef959Diobtetty – :
If you’re looking for Parure, then you probably want to know how it’s aged and if it’s worth securing a vintage bottle. My review is for a bottle of the EdT with a lot number from 1985.
Parure has aged much better than I hoped. The notes in chypres tend to sour quickly, but Parure’s substantial middle and top notes are fully intact. The citrus in the top note is gone which is to be expected since citrus is always the first note to go. However, the plum is still there in the top note.
Parure remains what it always was – an adornment for a woman secure in her womanliness. There is no coy sugar and there’s no sexy animalic. There is the unmistakable Guerlain-ness with its characteristic complexity of notes that are balanced perfectly as the perfume ages on your skin.
Parure gets compared to Mitsouko and Nahema, but neither one is an especially close comparison even with the shared notes. Both are too friendly and pleasing. Parure is aloof and aristocratic.
Parure is one of the great lost gems.
oziftqhqa – :
I find this stately chypre a plummy leathery version of Nahema even though many have reviewed its similarity to Mitsouko. It is complex and full of contrasts. It is tangy with a smidgen of sweetness from the plum and rose, brightened by citrus but darkened by leather, patchouli and incense, noticeable lilac but woodsy in the dry down.
While Barbara Herman thinks it is the perfect warm-weather fragrance, for me, its richness makes it a great dark floral for fall when the weather is warm during the day and cool at night.
According to Monsieur Guerlain ~ Jean-Paul Guerlain stated that he created Parure for his mother, who loved jewelry, out of childhood memories of her elegance. The characteristic scent of balsamic resins, at once velvety like cinnamon and enigmatically smoky-woody, is closely linked to antiquity’s perfumes and incense, and Jean-Paul Guerlain further explained that his olfactive vision for Parure was inspired by the riches of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb.~
Vintage parfum review.
vold – :
I have a vintage bottle of Parure, a 1996 EDT. I’ve worn it a half dozen times, and I feel I am still just getting to know it. The EDT lasts and lasts, with a development and depth that engages my attention throughout the day. Parure has been called backward-looking and stodgy, and I just don’t get this assessment. To me, Parure takes classic floral aldehydes such as Joy, No. 5 and Madame Rochas, brushes off the powder, leaves the poor little civet and its glands alone, and adds dewy fruit and rich spice tones. Parure has the good bone structure of a chypre, with the holy trinity accord of bergamot, labdanum, and oakmoss all present and accounted for (with styrax and damascones standing in for the labdanum, perhaps), but Parure doesn’t feel like a chypre, because it has so many gorgeous florals and fruits layered on top.
Parure opens refreshingly, with great Old School bergamot and some bitter green herbs (sage, some say) that transition smoothly into the oakmoss. Parure’s dry opening and basenotes are soon countered by the emergence of a rich and fleshy fruit that is certainly different from the classic perfume peachiness of Mitsouko, Femme, Que Sais Je?, et. al. So we will call this fruitiness “plum’”, but once again, perfume fruit never smells like fresh fruit to me, perhaps it is closer to plum preserves? No matter, I love the way Parure’s plumminess blends with the roses to give it rich rose presence–like a velvety and wine dark Gallica rose. Parure turns sweeter as the plum note appears and then its flowers bloom in profusion…roses, lilac, jasmine. In its middle and late development, Parure is all about deep toned roses and cinnamon scented plum pudding, but I never find it heavy or cloying. The roses in Parure continue to waft when I brush against my clothes throughout the day.
As you can tell, I adore Parure. If college tuition bills didn’t loom on the horizon, I would order one of the original crystal parfum flacons right now and fondle it obsessively, like Gollum with his ring, for the rest of my days
Boy09 – :
Parure is a really lovely Guerlain creation that reminds me of Ode without the musky civet thing. Green and rosy with oakmoss and a subtle spiciness, Parure is one of the best Guerlains I have tried. I have a montre of eau de cologne with a gold cone-shaped screwtop, probably late 70’s – early 80’s vintage. I really like wearing Parure. It smells wonderful throughout the day.
I read that Parure’s creation was inspired by the treasures of King Tut, which were a major topic of interest in 1975 when it was released. I saw a beautiful spray cannister for Parure on Ebay that had a lovely faience green herringbone/tile-like pattern. The perfume bottle, on the other hand, seems very abstract and Brancusi-like and unconnected to the Tut theme but is still very classy.
I wore and LOVED Vivre by Molyneaux and EL Private Collection in high school and bought some of each recently to retry them. Parure is the same type of 70’s green floral chypre but sweeter and more subtle than vintage Vivre’s lily of the valley dominant scent or the current formulation of Private Collection, which is overpoweringly strong.
sirenko – :
Edt review
Achingly beautiful scent. The more you wear it she opens up her beauty. Its complex, aloof, warm sensual, and stunning. Moments are different with the notes that envelop you.
Body warmth coaxes her secrets into bloom. I’ve never quite experienced anything like it. You think maybe Y by YSL or Givenchy III but no she is a cut above.
I was eating dinner and suddenly this beautiful scent enveloped me and I knew suddenly it was Parure. Guerlain said his mother wore it, and it shows maturity, complexity, feminine, and only the very best. A stunner.
If I attempt to say what it smells like, I will not do it justice. The musty green start is rough, like a woman that guards her heart. But once the heart opens..she is magnificent. oh the lilac and spicy drydown…best in the fall/winter
xtr089Bessinepome – :
I have so good memories about this monster… My aunt used to wear it; she was so chic, sophisticated, warm and distant at the same pace. PLEASE, if anyone find something similar to replace it, write it down here or PM me.
I don’t agree that it is similar to Mitsouko, neither Aromatics. Aside oakmoss, they’re completely different.
The first seconds of Vol de Nuit remind me Parure, but it lasts only a clin d’oeil…
Chant d’Aromes would be a possible similar fragrance?
voha10 – :
I am very happy because today I received this masterpiece from Claudia…thank you my dear friend you don’t know how I am excited to add Parure to my perfume collection! I find some similiarities with La Perla classica and also with Aromatic elisir…
Antonio32 – :
The signature scent is an obsolete model of perfume use. It was the perfume you mated with and wore exclusively day in, day out. If your perfume was discontinued or fatally reformulated, you were out of luck. I read often about the drawbacks of so many perfume releases each year. Creativity and exploration in commercial perfumery is stifled by market needs, narrow margins and short time frames for success. The explosion of ‘niche’ is impossible to keep up with without curation. Each year, hundreds of launches are aimed at the same fat middle of the bell curve. 25 years ago the dilemma was simply a dozen men’s perfumes that tried to copy Davidoff Coolwater’s success after the fact. Today it’s hundreds of concurrent launches that all smell like Bleu de Chanel, each following the same model of risk management.
iTania Sanchez’s analysis that Chanel 5 wasn’t successful due to marketing but to quality isn’t applicable to new perfumes. Half of those hundreds of simultaneous fragrances don’t smell any worse or much different than Bleu. The quality, innovation or artistry of the product are the least important variables in the equation. Branding and marketing are the deciding factors and Chanel wins through PR power and prowess alone.
The lifelong signature fragrance has become a losing prospect. Perhaps a better model is to swim out a bit further and let the tide carry you. I don’t mean to Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Wall at Sephora. But investigate a bit. Interested in oud? You’ll have hundreds to choose from. Don’t like oud? Try one of the throngs of translucent incense perfumes. Rose is having a moment these days and there are some gorgeous Rose perfumes. Why not try one of those? Even a genre as tired as for the Fruity Floral has been tested by evolution for long enough that there are some solid choices.
If you never step into the same river twice, maybe this constant flow of new perfumes isn’t a bad thing. I can’t think of any given time in the past 20 years when there haven’t been a good number of exceptional perfumes available. I’m thrilled that Guerlain seem to have found a way to resurrect Mitsouko. But if it had simply gone the way, I would have shed a tear and moved on. This attitude is not ahistorical. There lineages, traditions and movements in perfumery that continue whether historical icons remain extant or not.
We reminisce about signature fragrances when we talk about dear old Gran who wore Arpège and Grand-dad who used to wear Caron pour un Homme. Forget the arcadian past and ask yourself, would anyone be better off still wearing Giorgio every day rather than having discovered Carnal Flower? What if your boss still wore Opium rather than l’Air du Désert Marocain?
The choices are there if you chose to act. Investigate new entries in a genre that you’ve like in the past. Discover something completely new. Follow a perfumer whose work you’ve admired. There’s a lot of perfume bliss to be followed these days
***
But back to Guerlain Parure and the value of the new. A large decant of the discontinued but coveted Parure was sent to me by a generous friend who has a particularly good ability to read perfume. I think there was some degree of test implied in the gift. What would I do with Parure? Thinking about the river of new releases has influenced my take on Parure.
From a market perspective, novelty has come to be a universally positive attribute. It has a value beyond mere goodness. If new is good, then newer is better. The latest is the greatest.
Oy, did Parure missed the boat.
Parure was released in 1975, composed by Jean-Paul Guerlain. For perspective, Guerlain released Chant d’Aromes, a prim powdery floral in 1962, Chamade, an exquisitely powerful green floral from 1969 and Nahema, an over-the-top disco queen in 1979. How is it possible that Parure is so much more in the mold of Chant d’Aromes than Nahema?
I don’t think Parure was intended to be retro. It was simply behind the times and was released into a market that had already had many similar fragrances for years. Aldehydic floral chypres: Paco Rabanne Calandre (1969), YSL Rive Gauche (1970). Green powdery chypres: Estée Lauder Private Collection (1973), Weil de Weil (1971). The more emancipated green fragrances had left the dainty green floral aldehyde behind. By emancipated, I mean taking the lead like Aromatics Elixir (1971), carefree like Revlon Charlie (1973), or active and engaged like Estée Lauder Aliage (1972). For god’s sake, 25-30 years prior women were wearing Rochas Femme (1943), Robert Piguet Bandit (1944) and Miss Dior (1947). These perfumes were erotic, some tacitly, others blatantly. They highlighted the sensuality of the body. By comparison, Parure suggested as much distance from the body as a perfume can make.
Parure was intended for a woman who closed the drawing room doors before the Summer of Love started and still hadn’t opened them in 1975. Even the name, “Parure” which means both a matched set of jewelry and, simply, finery, shows how out of step this perfume was in 1975.
But that was then. As a homo in 2014, I reclaim Parure. Its dynamics are delicate and balanced just so. Removed from the context of the retiring bourgeoise of the mid 1970s, it is a soft floral chypre with fruity elements that, after 15 years of syrupy tactless fruity florals, seem subtle and sexy. Appropriating staid perfumes that were well designed but fundamentally conservative and making them a bit come-hither breathes life into them. God, it’s great to be queer.
AHMADOFF – :
Today on a cool autumn day it is thin and sharp and the oakmoss, my gott in himmel the oakmoss is … I frankly can’t stand it.
On a warm summer day, it is outstanding. When I first sprayed it on I could smell both Chamade and Vol de Nuit. Thirty minutes later, Nahema peeks through (a little foreshadowing since Nahema was born in ’79). About an hour later, it’s fresh pink roses and Guerlinade. What persists 24 hours later is a rose and vetiver dry down identical to my beloved vintage Chanel N°19.
This review is of the 100mL EdT and most likely from the late eighties. Despite it’s age, the top notes are intact.
goriladzee – :
Hello everyone, I want to let you know that if you go to Etsy.com, look for Nunzio’s Discoveries by ODONA, they have a vintage Parure edt that they recently listed for sale (they put it up on Thursday) and I checked just now June 14 at 8am, CT (US) and it’s still there. They find lots of beautiful vintages; they also have a vintage Chant d’Aromes edc and Shalimar edc just listed, amongst others. I bought my vintage Anais Anais from them and they are great people to do business with. I just wanted to mention them. I am not connected to them in any way at all. I’m just a fellow perfume fan sharing a little gem of a source.
nafania – :
I agree with Ms. Rochambeau the there is a distinct relationship with Mitsouko. That wacky oakmoss! It’ll nail you every time.
But where Mitsouko is warm and come-hither, Parure is distant and noli me tangere. Parure is green with rose and something that smells like iris, always a chilly scent.
Parure is a shapely ghost, the tasteful remnant of a thousand departed perfumes. Wear it if you’re hoping for an early end to your evening.
Дампирша – :
this reminded me of a spring summer garden after a rain storm , wish they still made it
Esorsskicky – :
i have never smelled this one but something about it makes me want it!!
vovanvelo1 – :
This is SOOooooooooo good!
I was gifted a sample of this by a dear friend here at Fragrantica ( thanks, hon! ) which I then took with me on vacation. At first I was Pleased with this fragrant creation.
After an entire week of Generous Application I’m in Love. 🙂 There is a way in which this seems to me very close indeed to the same Guerlain aura as Mitsouko, but the reviewer who stated it’s lack of peach is correct. I don’t miss it, even though my nose detects no fruit whatsoever.
Oakmoss is now considered such a “dangerous” substance that Guerlain cannot properly reformulate her. To discontinue this beauty is perhaps the most respectful choice. But!!!!
In the final analysis, PLEASE do try Parure if she crosses your path. Guerlain lovers will not be disappointed by her oh-so-special charm!
elenkaaaa – :
I understand why this perfume was discontinued. I remember when this was the least sought after, least appreciated in-production perfume Guerlain was offering. When it had absolutely NO context in current perfume trends. In the late 90s/early 00s this was heavy and dated. Oakmoss was foreign, weird, obscure and unwanted. My how things change in 10+ years.
This perfume has haunted me. I remember in my active swapping days someone offering me a really generous, beautiful bottle of this and seeing as how it was at the time one of the least desired Guerlains, I declined, never having tried it. Everyone was trying to get rid of it. In hindsight although I kick myself for declining it, I’m happy that this particular bottle never passed through my hands in my active swapping days. I would feel worse knowing now that I let such a precious thing slip through my fingers. In my early 20s, Guerlain was not my house.
I did eventually buy myself a cheap (cheap!) bottle on…perfumebay (shows the timeline). I was young and didn’t enjoy the opening, loved the classy finish but eventually swapped this out too because it didn’t really suit my surroundings. Big deal, I won’t miss it. I was wrong.
It’s siren song called me for years afterward, some of those years I ignored. My tastes changed again and again. I found myself wanting another hit of Parure, only to find it was seemingly impossible to find anymore. I knew it was being discontinued in 2007 or so and I just let it go. I was a young girl who wanted to ride on the crest of perfume trends. Little did I know that I was about to get tossed around the niche world and leave it running and screaming, into the arms of those wiser, more experienced, less tragic classics.
This perfume is perfection, for those who don’t fear its style. Not for everyone. It actually reminds me of a bolder Chant d’Aromes, another love of mine. Deeper, more leathery but still having that bright prettiness. Lovely day time perfume for colder months. Clean, romantic, a little personal.
If you are really interested in this, don’t stop searching.
Also, many have mentioned it being like Mitsouko. There is SO much rose in this and NO peach. They share a few characteristics at first blast but after 30 seconds that is over.
Wanted565656 – :
I have never seen Somewhere In Time but I used to love the VHS cover for the movie. On it, Christopher Reeves is wistfully looking into the distance, dreamily wishing for the woman he loves, while a superimposed sketch of Jane Seymour represents his daydream. There was something so beautiful, so romantically vintage, and so surreal about that cover. If there ever was a fragrant interpretation of that VHS cover, Parure is it.
Wistful roses, an enchanted forest, whispering spices—all these things are trapped within the beautiful bottle. The roses contained within this perfume are a bit dusty but they are also opulent. If roses are the floral representation of eternal love, then Parure spends its days professing undying love. The oakmoss reinforces the ethereal aura and brings enchantment often found in fairy tales. The oakmoss sets up a scenario where a princess is imprisoned within a forest and a prince comes to save her, relying on unyielding love to be his weapon. Eventually the scent quiets down but never fully leaves, depositing sweet spices as a reminder that love never fully leaves either.
I am probably over-romanticizing this masterpiece of a fragrance. I suppose the cast and crew of Somewhere In Time over-romanticized time travel and art. But fantasy is one of life’s greatest gifts. I am contented to fantasize and over-romanticize a period of time—for me, I imagine dabbing Parure on during the Harlem Renaissance, before taking in a night of dancing with a handsome stranger. I am grateful for the chance to travel with Parure.
sblishko – :
I read somewhere that the creator of this perfume was inspired by his wife, who he had divorced a few years earlier–he said his inspiration had been the idea of “icy flowers”–sweet, fragrant and yet cold and distantly elegant. I think he achieved this perfectly. I remember seeing a rare TV ad for this scent in the late 70’s,that featured Katherine and Heathcliff meeting on a moor and kissing passionately–a fitting metaphor for an intense but failed relationship. It is elegant, feminine and emotionally unavailable. I love that kind of complexity in a fragrance!
ols12 – :
Mitsouko with plum instead of peach, but even with the similarities, it’s worth having on its own…if you can find it. For lovers of oakmoss, it’s the first note out of the bottle, so it’s no wonder for me why it was discontinued. I managed to find a full bottle of the EDT and a tiny 1/2 full mini of pure parfum a while back on ebay at a reasonable price (forget that now) and I use them both sparingly.
negoro – :
So earthy at the opening so heavenly rosy at the drydown. In two words; A precious gem! And you don’t need any other adornment (=parure) when you wear this.
cartman296 – :
Top notes gone all too fast. What’s left is Mitsouko minus the peach. It could be almost any chypre base at this point. Like tessture, I get a medicinal smell at the end, which usually signifies oakmoss on my skin.
sergey1975 – :
I have loved this perfume since its launch. Out of all the great Guerlain perfumes, this is my favourite. I could never understand why it was withdrawn until I spoke with Guerlain earlier this year. EU regulations specify the amount of rare natural essences which can be used in the production of any perfume. Sadly, Parure was the only one in the range which didn’t work with the revised formula. To quote Guerlain ‘it lost it’s heart’ Therefor the decision was made to withdraw the perfume from the market.I still manage to buy it on-line from various sellers, but dread the day when I can no longer get anymore.
1973andrey1973 – :
If the world should end and three perfumes had to saved, I would choose PARURE, ORANGE STAR and FRACAS – in this order. Parure is one of the most magnificent scents ever made, it is perfect in every aspect and has no fault of any sort. I see it has been compared to others but for me this is truly unique. I am not aware of any other scent resembling Parure in any way. It is too complex to be appropriately described: it’s chypre with a touch of fruit, it’s woody with a touch of flowers. It’s the epitome of what a Great Scent should be: complex without being too much, opulent without being aggressive or overwhelming, elegant without being banal or too understated. I really can’t see why this has been discontinued even though a sales person at Guerlain whispered me that a bottle every now and then surfaces on the counter desk and soon it disappears. Maybe to be saved for future generations so they can enjoy this masterpiece.
InnaNew – :
Ah, Parure! The lost and perhaps best Guerlain, as far as the florals go. It is elaborate and opulent not to be worn casually. Perhaps thats why it was not so popular in the USA. It is a direct sequel to Mitsouko as far as chypre is concerned. My tiny decant last for hours per drop. Amazing! It will never be forgotten…
Thanks Natalie!
Update 1/5/2015 After years of waiting and watching I found a small bottle for under $100.. This is JP Guerlain’s GREAT WORK. It trumps all of his other classics. It stands right next to Mitsouko as the best work from the house. This speaks volumes. Oakmoss, ever so forbidding on cold days warms my heart.
The leather and plum gives it a mature character and there is a very approachable rose that can last until your next shower. This was worth the wait!
tokai13 – :
On a hunt to get my paws on this, I first bidded and won an empty flacon of Parure-ok the bottle is beautiful but totally deviod of any scent. Second time I bought an unlabeled bottle which I’m not too sure about-will have to do a wrist by wrist comparison. Third time is a charm, this is the real deal and it’s stunning.
Parure is a complex and deep chypre. Starts off gentle with the plum, citrus and green, nice and easy. A bit later things get shaken up with the orris but are tamed with hints of florals such as lilac, rose and jasmine. For the dry down there’s more spice combined with the earthy patchouli, lots of moss and leathery notes and a bit of amber. Amazing, at this stage it’s sultry and seductive, warm and inviting. Something a femme fatal would wear.
Shame on Guerlain for discontinuing this. From what I’ve tried from their line, Parure is a stand-out perfume compared to the others. Of course Mitsouko, Jicky, Shalimar, Vol De Nuit (to name only a few-I could go on and on) are beauties, but Parure is different and I’ve not found anything similar in Guerlain’s current offerings.
хорнет – :
The entire composition its grassy, earthy deepness, and full of complexity with a Beautiful citric/Chypre opening.
But after a while…. this smell exactly like the Vintage Miss Dior Cologne, and I love Miss Dior, but Parure doesn’t add anything new.
I feel a little disappointed about this one.
nutihada – :
I would consider it a floral version of Mitsouko. A touch of aldehyde, which settles down to pure exquisitness.
sumerkinaoy – :
My introduction to Guerlains Parure in the 70’s was purchased in San Francisco at the now defunct store, I. Magnin. A purchase with no regrets. Upon my first application, my initial response was this is ethereal, its heaven in a bottle.
Vintage Parure is a mixed bag of greatness. The fruity opening, with plenty of plum in the forefront, blends to perfection with the citrus lemony bergomot and a smidgen of green notes The heart brings on a lushness from the rose (a wearable rose) as the sentimental sweetness of the jonquil combined with the jasmine and lily of the valley bring out a reminder of old time glamour. The scrumptious dry down with it’s leather, loads of oak moss and a jot of patchouli equates to a “boom boom pow” scent that can be so “now” as well as so happening in 3008! It’s nostalgic, it’s now, it’s futuristic, it’s timeless!
Parure has been discontinued. Why Guerlain pulled this wonder in a bottle off the market is beyond my comprehension . It is scarcely available and with an intense search it can be found. The remains in my blue glass stopper bottle in EDP is all but gone so my quest to own another bottle of this classic, long wearing fabulous mood elevating fragrance has just begun. Parure is a perfume adventure not to be ignored.
Upshot: Upscale—all the way!
ILDAR58 – :
I’m never sure how to review discontinued fragrances, because really, what’s the point. The only question to answer is should you lay the funds out for a sample of this.
Yes you should.
And when you’re done with your sample, call up Guerlain and complain loudly. I would buy this stunning classic in a heartbeat.
dr.alex – :
This went on gorgeous for me, then dry down rapidly became disastrous. There’s a note in the final combination that smells exactly like medicated foot powder and between that and the plum notes, it smelled too old fashioned on me and just too old.
wtrubaw – :
Yes, too bad it’s so difficult to find it. IMO it would have deserved a better fortune when launched, maybe it was too avant garde, as all Guerlain perfumes are. Paru