Promenade des Anglais – chic and summery and memorable

When I met with Thierry Wasser, the in-house perfumer of Guerlain, at the Toronto store a couple of months ago, I asked him about Guerlain’s latest release, Promenade des Anglais, his eyes lit up. “I’m very excited about this fragrance” he said. Then, in one smooth movement, he got out of his chair, walked to the display counter, grabbed a bottle of Promenade des Anglais, returned to his chair, sat down, sprayed a scent blotter with the it and inhaled deeply. With is eyes closed, he talked about walks on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice and asked me if I had ever been there.

The question put me back in time and memories of family trips to the Côte d'Azur came tumbling forward. We would fly into Nice and camp there, taking trips along the coast – drinks at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d’Antibes, dinner at a restaurant on the beach near Menton or taking the train to San Remo for a pizza lunch so my young son could say he’d been to Italy. And then there were the beaches. They stretch along the Mediterranean Sea like large, lazy animals. I recalled the jaunty blue umbrellas of some of the private beaches, counting the yachts in the harbor with my son, and the beaches with their large pebbles, called ‘galets’ that made walking so uncomfortable, we’d stroll the Promenade des Anglais instead.

Back to the moment. I told M. Wasser that I had been to Nice and walked the Promenade des Anglais, many times and then we were off talking about our trips there, sharing what we saw, what we discovered, what we loved about it and of course how it all smelled.

This is the experience M. Wasser wanted to capture in Promenade des Anglais, and, for me, after smelling it and wearing it, he did just that.

It opens fresh and gently tart and tangy from grapefruit and bergamot. Right off the top it is elegant and aromatic, not bold or bracing. It is also surprisingly fruity – it’s the fig, ripe and sweet-smelling with its green, bitter nuance I smell. I am transported back to the Mediterranean coast in late July when the fragrance of figs bursting with ripeness travels on a warm breeze. Soon the heart opens up to the most tender note of violet. It’s earthy and powdery and hangs in the air waiting until a note of Iris boosts it. I can smell the fig through the iris and together they smell beautiful. Vetiver at the base, adds a woodiness to it while vanilla adds sweet creaminess to it.

The drydown is elegant and chic and feminine. There is nothing harsh, heavy or dark about it, yet as an EdP it does have depth but floats above my skin, as though I have picked up the scent of a summer’s walk on Promenade des Anglais. I love the way çsmells and I love the way it makes me feel.

Things change but memories and experiences stay the same.  One of the things fragrance does so well is evoke memories but where does it say they have to be your memories? I’d wear Thierry Wasser’s if I didn’t have any of my own as long as they smell this good.

Check out Promenade des Anglais in our Shop.