Shalimar Souffle de Parfum

The composition is built in three tiers: bergamot, lemon and mandarin in the top, sambac jasmine and orange blossom water absolute at the heart, Indian and Tahitian vanillas and white musks in the base. Angela, on Now Smell This, sees in it a freshness the original never sought.

Orange blossom

Guerlain highlights an orange blossom water absolute, a material the house was using, according to Now Smell This, for the first time. The house calls it powerful, meant to accentuate the floral trail of the fragrance.

Sambac jasmine

Sambac jasmine accompanies the orange blossom. The Candy Perfume Boy finds the whole perky and likeable, and comfortable to wear, without seeing an obvious link with Shalimar.

The vanillas

The base pairs two vanillas, from India and Tahiti, with white musks. Angela praises the fragrance’s presence and its longevity, worthy of NASA in her view, but does not find the mystery of Shalimar in it.

What the label declares

The label opens with alcohol, fragrance and water, ahead of limonene, hexyl cinnamal and linalool. Two UV filters, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate and butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane, protect the juice along with BHT and tocopherol, two antioxidants.

The list also names alpha-isomethyl ionone, citral, benzyl alcohol, anise alcohol, geraniol, benzyl benzoate, farnesol, citronellol, amyl cinnamal, eugenol, coumarin, benzyl salicylate, hydroxycitronellal and isoeugenol, along with a violet colorant.