Patchouli Ardent was born in 2020 in Guerlain’s Les Absolus d’Orient collection, signed by Thierry Wasser, who wanted to reveal the luminous, vibrant facets of patchouli. The fragrance has since joined the Absolus Allegoria collection, with a formula of more than 90% natural origin and the Allegoria bottle: the house announces patchouli, rose, and a leather and musk accord.
Two signed reviews assess the 2020 version: Persolaise praises the link between fig and patchouli, which he enjoys more and more, and Varanis Ridari, of The Scented Devil, approves it as a rose and leather patchouli with a very 1980s character.
Olfastory’s review
Persolaise
Persolaise presented Patchouli Ardent in March 2020 in his video series Love At First Scent, as a Thierry Wasser addition to Les Absolus d’Orient. He says he has enjoyed it more and more since and finds the connection between fig and patchouli very successful, with the floral notes serving as a bridge.
Varanis Ridari, The Scented Devil
Varanis Ridari approves of Patchouli Ardent, which he describes as a rose and leather patchouli enhanced by fig and a touch of tonka, the whole evoking black tea. He compares it to Le Labo’s Thé Noir 29 and believes Thierry Wasser takes this style higher.
He warns that this is not a classic patchouli: the opening is frankly virile, musky, and animalic, the rose rises slowly, and a dry, slightly sour cedar carries the leather. The whole strikes him as very 1980s, in the spirit of the perfumer’s early work.