Elixir Charnel LE – Oriental Brulant [DISCONTINUED]

7 Reviews

1. 

   outlyingPonie1

   Reply

   I really like this perfume. You have amber, vanilla and spices (cumin) a really smooth, tame orientals from Guerlain. if you with for a tamer Shalimar, go and smell Oriental Brulant.

2. 

   vengefulBuck9

   Reply

   I completely agree with one of the reviews below. More is not always better. Oriental Brulant is not a heady Oriental but rather a very creamy and easy going amberisque fragrance. I love and appreciate the softness and soothing aspects of this fragrance. Amber scents can be at times very strong or abrasive and it is nice to have this version in ones collection. This scent can be worn in just about any environment without offending. It is so well blended that it is incredible hard to pick out the notes other than a very refined and pleasant amber essence which lingers on the skin for hours. This is one of the stars in the Elixir Charnel collection and a plus, as I believe it can be worn all year round. Not a scent designated for any particular season.

3. 

   sadCockatoo8

   Reply

   This is a beautiful oriental from Guerlain’s upper-end boutique line. I find it easier to wear and more Guerlain than Bois d’Armenie. I am considering purchasing it next fall for the cooler months. Not a masterpiece like Shalimar or Mitsouko, but then again no baggage (Grandma’s perfume, Aunt Barb’s signature scent, etc.) yet. Actually would make a great unisex if it didn’t come in such a girly bottle. Oh, and speaking of the bottles, for $255 a pop,. these are really just glass L’Instant type bottles with a pewter plate on the front and the cheap plastic caps. For that kind of money, I expect more dressing table appeal.

4. 

   kindChamois4

   Reply

   Initial spray: a blast of baby powder… then, once it evaporates: the Guerlinade vanilla, a la SDV– boozy vanilla, which I’m actually not too fond of, strangely. (I didn’t like Spirituese Double Vanille)… mixed with: a quieted-down version of Le Baiser du Dragon!!

   This is like the tame kitten version of Le Baiser du Dragon mixed with some boozy vanilla… which is fine, but… I thought it would be a little more peppery, spicy, interesting? Oriental? This is about as oriental as a little Christian Dior with some peony designs on a silk robe… which was a little disappointing. It’s alright, but definitely not anything special.

5. 

   pluckyMacaw8

   Reply

   An academic study in less is more.

   Oriental Brulant is a highly refined amber that feels like an exercise in deconstruction of the use of amber in perfumery. Amber is a compound with which it seems one can be lenient; it can be made sweet, earthy, resinous, and, as it is here, peppery.

   OB has a vanillic kinship to Shalimar, but vanilla is not the focus. Amber in Oriental Brulant is rinsed with vanilla. Interestingly, the rinse doesn’t sink in and sweeten the base, thanks to the gorgeously smoky tonka that rises and orbits in wisps.

   A discerning spatial logic exists between the layers of the pyramid. Tangy hesperedic note (clementine, a form of mandarin orange), performs the same function as bergamot in Shalimar, as a high note that sparkles briefly before being absorbed into the porous, powdery heart. This occurs subtly, and it is something that Guerlain does exceedingly well. Much of modern perfumery seems hurried to me, as if there were some end-of-time rush to pack everything into the first few moments without worrying about tomorrow (the drydown). If that tomorrow then seems dissatisfying, it’s because we have now become conditioned to contact highs of a sort we might get from the assault of aroma coming from Abercrombie and Fitch as we walk through the local mall. We move from smell to smell, reacting, rejecting, purchasing. Open big, finish small, seems to be the mantra.

   Drydown is smoky and smooth as fine Scotch. Light touches of vanilla and leathery styrax are vaporous against the amber. You won’t encounter a finer unisex amber fragrance, and in Oriental Brulant you find the type of genealogical link that pleases both the student of perfumery and the casual observer (me) who have had decades-long buying history with the House of Guerlain.

   There is a current trend towards specialized pricing schemes in the houses of Cartier and Van Cleef and Arpels. One must make note that Guerlain appears to have led the pack in this epater-le-bourgeois marketing with the Elixirs and the city scents, leaving the others to a late end-run.

   It is as it should be.

6. 

   affectedCaribou8

   Reply

   This is quite pretty and I actually would give it a 3 1/2. But the prettiness does not justify the crazy price. I don’t think this needed to be $250 for 75 mls. It’s basically a warm vanilla with a hint of ambering, very subtle ambering so that the incense/leather feel is buried under the vanilla. There’s also hint of almond, but so little it gets lost in ambering. On the top there floats a very light, light, orange flower note, listed as “clementine” in notes but what you get is a very light floral at the top that smelled more like a jasmine to me than OB. That said, I do sometimes confuse them in that high range.

   I think you could probably come very close to this for MUCH less money by layering perhaps CSP Vanilla Amber in light cloud over light touch of MPG’s Jardin Blanc. I might buy this on sale for under $75, but I’m not even sure I’d do that. It isn’t awful, just not something I feel like I need. I think it was being pitched to the almond and vanilla lovers.

7. 

   sincereHyena2

   Reply

   A soft oriental over an even softer warm base that lasts for quite a while. The base is definitely gourmand. Nothing really leaps out.