Guerlain launched Idylle in September 2009, Thierry Wasser’s first feminine fragrance as the house perfumer. Around a communelle of Bulgarian roses with hints of raspberry and lychee, he brings together lily of the valley, peony, freesia, lilac and jasmine over a chypre base of patchouli and white musks. Persolaise finds its diffusion astonishing; Victoria, of Bois de Jasmin, expected more.
Persolaise praises its diffusion without seeing a major work in it, Victoria expected more, Thomas Dunckley finds a pretty floral.
Olfastory’s review
Persolaise, May 2010
In May 2010, Persolaise notes the muted welcome Guerlain devotees gave Idylle at its release, but refuses to see it as a betrayal. He describes an astonishing diffusion, a garden of heady flowers dominated by a rounded rose, and a dry, musky base, very wearable, without the refinement of the house’s classics.
Victoria, Bois de Jasmin, February 2011
In February 2011, Victoria, on Bois de Jasmin, grants Idylle an expensive smell, free of the sugary clichés of so many launches. She nonetheless says she is disappointed: from Guerlain she expected more than a simply pretty, wearable fragrance, and she reads in it how few risks houses take.
Thomas Dunckley, The Candy Perfume Boy, December 2011
In December 2011, Thomas Dunckley, on The Candy Perfume Boy, sees Idylle as a break with the house’s grand chypres and orientals. While not a triumph of modern perfumery, he judges, it is a worthy addition to the lineup, and a pretty floral for anyone looking for one.