Like many classic Guerlain fragrances, Mitsouko was inspired by a love story. Jacques Guerlain named his creation "Mitsouko" after the heroine in the 1909 novel 'La Bataille' by French author Claude Farrère.

The Mitsouko EdP perfume story opens with a note of sparkling bergamot flanked by tart, bright lemon. In the novel, Farrère says the name Mitsouko means 'honeycomb' and honey-faceted mandarin orange along with the honey blossom aspect of neroli are a nod to the character. The sweet juiciness of the orange, along with the sweet, floral neroli, smoothes out the tartness of the bergamot and lemon. As it progresses, a note of fresh, juicy peach comes forward. It's not really peach, but C14 aldehyde, which smells like a peach with aspects of apricot, mango, and apple along with milky undertones. My nose processes it as peachy, fruity, creamy, fatty and stunning! A note of clove warms the fruit so that it smells like a sun-drenched peach just plucked from a tree. Peaches are a luscious, sensual fruit - juicy, fleshy, covered in soft cashmere-like down, they call out to be held and caressed, so when its scent is joined by heady, opulent jasmine and rich, sweet ylang-ylang and lush, deep rose, well, there's no going back. The story continues as the fruits and flowers settle on a woody, spicy base of patchouli and cinnamon balanced by a bitter mossiness and sweetened by vanilla.
 
The drydown is elegant and wonderfully warm and sensuous. Mitsouko EdP really comes to life on skin - your skin – because, more than any other fragrance I know, it responds to each person's skin differently. The pacing and development are different; notes can be different (you smell plum? Not me), but the unfolding of a timeless, classic, fabulous fragrance happens on all skin.
 
Notes: bergamot, lemon, mandarin, neroli and peach (C14 aldehyde), jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang and clove, patchouli, bitter mossiness, and vanilla.