CEO Gabrielle Saint-Genis. Photo: Courtesy of Guerlain Save Story Save this story Save Story Save this story L’Heure Bleue marks Guerlain’s first major women’s fragrance launch in nearly a decade, following that of Mon Guerlain in 2017. “We take our time at Guerlain, waiting until we have something truly meaningful to offer the world,” CEO Gabrielle Saint-Genis says. “When you’re a house that has been passionate about fragrance for 200 years, you are obsessed with innovating. And in this particular case, we wanted to pay tribute to this extraordinary creation by Jacques Guerlain.”
L’Heure Bleue is a new iteration of a cornerstone in Guerlain’s heritage: a fragrance created by Jacques Guerlain in 1912 that is still available today and is one of the house’s oldest, albeit lesser known, fragrances. “He created L’Heure Bleue after an immense emotional experience one evening while crossing the Pont Neuf, right there,” Saint-Genis says, speaking from her office, just a stone’s throw from the bridge, with a sweeping view of Paris.
“He witnessed the blue hour — a suspended moment when the whole atmosphere is bathed in blue, creating a feeling of immense peace. It’s also a moment when plants and flowers release their most beautiful fragrances,” she continues. “He was fascinated by the beauty of the scene. Afterward, he spent two years trying to recreate it. Jacques was an artist, and perfume was his way of expressing himself — capturing through fragrance this extraordinary moment he had experienced.”
As for the new L’Heure Bleue by Delphine Jelk, Guerlain’s director of perfume creation? “Delphine started with a question: if Jacques Guerlain were here today, with access to the full olfactory palette now available to perfumers, how would he create what we call the ‘fragrance of the sky’?” Saint-Genis says. Jelk’s creation has “a slightly marine, salty, ozonic character created through Cascalone”, according to the CEO. Jelk also introduced a world first: an iris tincture, resulting in an iris “that feels luminous, light, and crystaline”.
Jacques Guerlain, the legendary perfumer behind some of the house’s most iconic fragrances.
The new L’Heure Bleue launches globally on Friday, following its earlier release in China this month. The two fragrances are going to coexist. “We’re going to cherish [the first L’Heure Bleue] like a treasure. The only difference is that it will be called L’Heure Bleue 1912, which is Jacques Guerlain’s creation, and the new L’Heure Bleue, which is Delphine Jelk’s creation,” Saint-Genis explains. “Rather than inventing perfumes from scratch, we find it interesting to look back at our heritage. I think we’re living in an era where there’s a certain need to hold on to something solid.”
L’Heure Bleue marks Guerlain’s first major women’s fragrance launch in nearly a decade.
The new L’Heure Bleue is priced at €169 for 100ml, €122 for 50ml, and €86 for 30ml. “We wanted — and needed — a global flagship [fragrance] that would be ‘accessible’. That’s why it comes in 30ml at less than €100,” Saint-Genis says. (L’Heure Bleue 1912 eau de parfum is priced at €147 for 75ml.)
She continues: “Fragrance can go very far at Guerlain when it comes to sophistication. That said, our vision — and my vision, in particular — is that Guerlain is not a house of elitist exclusivity. What we wanted to do was really offer the exceptional quality of Guerlain at those prices.”
The venerable French perfume house was founded by Jacques’s grandfather,…