The first entry in Potions & Remedies since 2023, Bold Blend is released in 2026 under the signature of Paul Guerlain. Mint and black pepper open on a stark contrast that violet leaf and clary sage pull toward green. Aromatic and spicy, it closes on a woody base of palo santo, cypress and cypriol.
In the top notes, mint strikes cold, almost camphoraceous, and black pepper answers with a sharp dryness rather than a burning one. The contrast is immediate, with no transition: nothing prepares one for the other. Part of the reception hears in it less a fragrance than a balm, which speaks well enough to the bluntness of the opening.
The heart turns green without turning floral. Violet leaf brings a note of cut stem, damp and slightly metallic, more green than floral; clary sage adds its herbaceous bitterness and a faintly musky undertone. The softness one might expect from a violet is kept at a distance.
The base tips the composition toward dryness. Palo santo lays down a woody, smoky resin, cypress a resinous greenness, cypriol an earthy facet close to vegetal leather. This is where the fragrance settles, and it is also where it retreats: the shortness of its longevity is the most consistent criticism made of it.