Shalimar Parfum Initial - perfume review

Oh, Shalimar.
The story goes that Thierry Wasser has a niece and the niece asked him to make something with Shalimar that it appeals to young generation. Mind you, that's the NIECE of THIERRY WASSER: That means she just has to reach her hand she will get whatever she wants from Guerlain. And there are some new girly ones, made for market, and there are the exclusives ones. But, no, she is a naughty niece and she wants Shalimar for her taste. That could sound ridiculous and this is what many made of it.

For my side I rather see uncle Thierry talking with his niece for the thousand time about the beauty of Shalimar. Yes, there are so many other Guerlains so many perfumes in the world but there is this only one, the PERFUME, and how she could understand this. It's the huge luck and at the same time the curse of Thierry Wasser to be the in-house perfumer at Guerlain. He is expected everyday to live up to the Guerlain heritage and LVHM expects him to sell well. And he adores Shalimar and has talks about its beauty with his niece. May be she loves Shalimar, too, but she tells him that her friends just don't get it and what could be done with it. Natalia Vodianova is not always enough to sell the perfume.

I think it is a beautiful story, a story of how art enters the lives of all who get around, in-house perfumers and nieces and what they made out of it. There is me and many other thousand who love Shalimar and there is a huge majority who just doesn't get it. Poor them. Thierry Wasser is really really sad about it. So he creates Shalimar Parfum Initial.

First, what is with this name? Let me know when you find out because my only idea, from what I read from others, would be a parallel with Chanel Eau Premiere. Silly, isn't it? The initial was almost 90 years ago. Never mind, I don't care about names.

I tried Shalimar Parfum Initial quite late, few months after appearing. I am from that crowd 'don't mess with my Shalimar'. Despite reading some perplexed good reviews I couldn't go past my prejudices and, of course, the pink juice (hey, I just saw yesterday a dead gorgeous pink dress from the last Chanel show in India, how I want that). When finally I tried it, with my mind full of good reviews but also horrified reviewers, I was ready for everything. My nose is a tyrant who stopped me from liking thousands of perfumes I would have put all my money on. My nose brought me to the situation that I didn't write anything on my blog for long because I assumed becoming a weirdo, I just can't wear anything anymore except two perfumes (almost 100 years old) and one of them in combination with a bit of a third one. While I try and try, buy big quantities of samples of everything. I like many of them but can't wear them. So on with my nose in the blotter it was pleasant and I dared to put it on my wrist. And let it there. And liked it again after a while. Now I am at the end of almost ten days of trying it on my skin and fabrics. I fought for and against all this time. It's morning and I didn't make it yet to the shop to put it on again so I went on and smelled it on the pullover from yesterday.

That's a scent that you want to smell of, a beautiful woman who just left her clothes down to go for a bath (see Natalia Vodianova, but why she stays like that, it's kind of unnatural and rather calls for care and warm clothes). Powdery and fruity in a subtle plastic way at the beginning, reminiscent of some girly perfumes but with a Shalimar background. All the way it can bring other perfumes into mind, may be a bit of Angel, may be a bit of Coco Mademoiselle or Dior Homme, but Shalimar is always there in the background. I hate patchouli and the mention of it made me suspicious from the beginning but here is in a luminous way, which is strange combined with tonka. And there is still the smokiness of Shalimar, a bit of incense and mostly I perfectly like the musk which is left at the end together with the vanilla.

I'm decidedly not good at describing notes and I don't care too much about it, actually. For me it's important the overall feeling, who is this girl who wears Parfum Initial (oh, no, it's not Natalia Vodianova, sorry). She is young, gothic, she will wear Parfum Initial to go to library and all day long. But at the party she will wear Bvlgary Black. She is intelligent but just a bit weird as she pleases, her gothic clothes are just washed and smell of clean. And she likes this Shalimar Parfum Initial which leaves a sexy trail and the librarian comes closer to her. Yes, how peredepierre noticed, there is a little dirty hint in it and she likes that.

I didn't read anywhere how the niece of Thierry Wasser felt in the end about Parfum Initial, I would be curious to find out. But I would be really really happy if the girls will buy this, no matter if based on the pink colour of juice and sexy add. The world will smell better. On the other hand, I like it so much that I might wear it a lot these months and I don't want to be just one of the girls there (mostly, I'm not a girl anymore).

For my part, Thierry Wasser did for mass market what they didn't manage to do for their exclusive Guerlain part. In a way is a step further Angelique Noire and Tonka Imperiale. I like both very much but I'm not in love with them. While Shalimar Parfum Initial is a strange cat I can't resist.

Reviews of Shalimar Parfum Initial:

boisdejasmin 

parfum shrine

1000fragrances

nowsmellthis

perfumeposse

I also always like to check the reviews of a perfume on makeupalley.com, fragrantica.com and basenotes.com.