Hello and welcome back to my little corner of the interwebs in which I indulge myself and a small audience in my fragrance fantasies. Today I bring you something from a house I had known nothing of until watching a documentary on the contrasts between designer fragrance and private, niche fragrance houses. Coriolan by Guerlain is most certainly a contrast (I typed that while chuckling to myself) to fragrances of it's time. This is another daringly different scent and it's short-lived life on the shelf holds true to that statement because as most don't know about this fragrance, with a storm of style, this one does not conform to a consumers society...but first, a little background.
The name Coriolan is derived from a legendary Roman general named Coriolanus. To quote one of my sources, "Coriolanus has inspired Shakespeare, Plutarh and Beethoven. He was the man who accomplished all of his goals, not because of his glory, but because of a woman he loved." Apparently the story of this man inspired Jean-Paul Guerlain to create a scent to celebrate such passion, strength and knowledge. Now on to the technical side of things.
This fragrance was released in 1998 and soon after was discontinued, the year in which is was discontinued as well as the reason remains a mystery to me. The presentation and bottle itself, while at first may seem feminine due to it's shape, begins to take a refined masculine tone once the fragrance itself is experienced. All of the shiny pieces you see on the bottle are said to be made of real bronze and when shone in the correct light, reflect that claim due to the rainbow of color that is shown while the top of the spray nozzle is engraved with Guerlain's symbol. When held in hand the bottle feels like something of a small gunpowder flask. Projection and sillage on this fragrance remain a bit of a mystery to me as well although I have received a few compliment only after two wearings. Longevity on the skin though is absolutely fantastic given the age of the fragrance, staying on my skin for over 8 hours while working. That speaks volumes of it's quality.
Top notes: bergamot, lemon leaf, neroli, sage.
Heart notes: ylang-ylang, absinthe, pepper, juniper berry.
Base notes: vetiver, patchouli, benzoin, everlasting flower.
In the end, I make my own conclusion about this fragrance and why it is no longer offered. To me, this is not an everyday fragrance. It is not fresh from either top notes or bottom notes to my nose. Instead it starts out rich and peppery with a hint of thick semi-sweet lemon leafs, progresses to an even fuller, richer statement while the pepper almost completely disappears and patchouli makes it's never-ending statement and VERY slowly dries out to a close romantic scent where the patchouli is met with the slightest earthiness of the everlasting flower giving it an almost tangible texture. Mid-way through this scent though, on my skin, I catch a whiff of what I can only describe as sex. I know it sounds strange but my god is it provocative. The rest of the notes are not important to me as this formula is so extremely well blended that one cannot possibly point out all of the notes within.
Absolutely elegant fragrance that never received the notoriety I believe it should have, and for that I am thankful. It is unheard of, unique and therefore another winner in my collection. Now we'll just have to see what the wife thinks when she gets back from her vacation. Thank you for reading!
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