Guerlain Cologne L'Homme Ideal Eau de Toilette Spray For Him, 100 ml

Product Information

Projection wise, it’s pretty moderate. It’s not an absolute monster in this regard but it does the job pretty well. Longevity, is decent most of the time. I’ve worn it a few times and I’ll get 4 good hours out of it and the 6-7 the next time. It’s not great, but it’s passable. I think the first few hours is going to be when you’ll actually get complemented on Ideal. After that, it might have turned too light for many people to notice, outside of those who are close by.

This one was a great summertime option. The focus here is going to be on the citrus notes, such as: grapefruit, bergamot, and orange. The Ideal almond note, plays a lesser role with Cologne, especially early on. But, it will come around with a nice vetiver. It does have a good versatility, as it’s subtle enough to wear at work yet still quite sexy and attractive to wear on a date. The more that I went through the sample, the more it grew on me, and the more complements I received. The problem is that the base of the Cool is rather weak and transparent. No part of the base note gives the mint / almond weight. I wonder why musk was not used here either, to emphasize the almond and mint and keep it alive longer. It's almost like when an author hasn't thought up a good/logical ending. I've made it easy for myself at the time, and it as scratchy refreshed L'Homme Idéal Eau de Toilette dismissed, which, however, does not do it justice. Now that I'm almost through the 10ml bottling, I'd even say that it serves a niche for which I see few alternatives per se. L'Homme Idéal Cool reminds me of classic US barbershop-inspired aftershaves, such as Green After Shave , with its minty cool freshness and spicy sweetness only lightly hinted at by anise, and yes - Listerine. The signature almond of the Homme Idéale line fits perfectly into the concept and puts its unmistakable stamp on the fragrance. The fact that the green Power Ranger is fighting with Batman ( Sauvage Eau de Toilette ) in the Ambroxan superhero league doesn't bother me personally, because that's exactly what adapts it to the zeitgeist, but at the same time leaves it with a distinctly masculine gruffness, which I expect from a fresh, somewhat more mature men's water. Ambroxan is not overdosed here anyway, and it must not always be leather or woods.One thing that I really enjoy about this gourmand fragrance, is the inclusion of the citrus notes. They are never overpowering or brought out as the main attraction in this cologne, but they do provide an energy, and a change of pace from the rest of the composition. Extreme is actually pretty similar to the others, with the standard nutty almond note, but paired with fruity notes such as plum. Quite tart to me, rather than sweet, early on. Add to that, Ideal Extreme has spicy notes and a tobacco finish. Still dry fruity sweet, but not overly sugary or unbearable. The Guerlain house was founded by Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain in 1828. Starting with common hygiene products, Guerlain was also creating perfumes for his customers, and over time he developed the business into a highly successful company that became an official perfumer for several European royal courts. The citrus is fresh and reminds me somewhat of the Cologne version of Ideal, but this one still stays in more of a nutty/leathery mode, in totality. This is where it being called Cologne seems misleading. It's a medium weight scent, not a faint cologne. There's no fading citrus topnotes, instead this grapefruit hangs around for the whole duration and steadily tapers off through the drydown. You get the classic warm/cool contrast that often makes for great fragrance (Fahrenheit for example), and prevents it from becoming overly linear as you get varying mixes of the almond/grapefruit accord through the length of the wear into the vetiver/wood finale.

I also don't get prominent vetiver and that's a good thing for me. I'm sure it's in there but either blended in well enough or being the smoother, softer, woody vetiver rather than the more grassy or smokey type which I don't like.

Almond, citrus, and woody spice start this one off. To me, this has the most almond in it, especially in the early stages. You get leather in there as well, but mainly its a citrus blast with a nuttiness. Sweet, dry, and clean coming down the home stretch. So it is with great satisfaction that I appraise my empty 50ml (quite nice) bottle of Guerlain L'Homme Ideal Cologne, and bid it a long overdue farewell. It doesn’t have the type of scent profile you’d expect to be versatile. I mean, it contains cherry and leather after all. His nephew Jacques Guerlain was the next nose of the Guerlain house. He created some of the most well-known perfumes of the house, including L'Heure Bleue (1912), Mitsouko (1919) and Shalimar (1925), which is one of the best loved perfumes of all time.

For spring and summer I bought a bottling and tested it several times during the last days. Especially in sunshine and on my skin I got to know a new side of cologne which inspired me. The star is the grapefruit in the top note. It's not the type that reminds me of the sour and bitter juice of various mediocre breakfast buffets, but a sweeter, more ripe fruit that immediately brightens my mind and makes me think about summer. This is probably due to the sweetness of the L'homme-Idéal DNA - here it works wonderfully and is rounded off by a fleetingly perceptible bergamot. I get a smooth and creamy blend during the final stages, that is peppered with some rosemary herbal spice. Leather, tonka bean, and almond with a fresh base of cedar and cool vetiver. When L’Homme Ideal is performing well, it is a fantastic smelling cologne.All in all, a favorite of the series has emerged very surprisingly for me, which I smiled at until two weeks ago - but which I will wear gladly in the coming warm months, when I feel like summer refreshment without a cool lemon. If you're interested in a summer Guerlain, go with Vetiver/Vetiver Extreme, Homme L'Eau Boisee, or even L'Homme Ideal Cool, which I think is a lot better than Cologne, if not earth shattering.