Annick Goutal Heure Exquise

GORGEOUS!!! A beautiful masterpiece. I love this. I have a huge perfume collection, and this is definitely one of my top 5 favorites. I swoon every time I wear it.

This perfume is like a lighter version of Heure Blue from Guerlain. It has less nostalgia and a bit more of sensuality.Is not headache inducing like HB. A true masterpiece. For those who like HB but can't stand it's power this is your solution.

Two star meritorious, but I wouldn't reach for this often.

Kalishka below describes buttery powdery sandalwood and iris. Agree.

I don't find it similar to my bottle of vintage Chanel 19 edT - that has more sharp Galbanum and this is more quietly green to my mind - almost the powdery quality people attribute to Guerlain Chamade, minus the hyacinth.

This is vintage in feeling (I am a vintage perfume lover). Something about it evokes green chypre to me, and this is certainly easier to wear. Not fusty, musty by any means,but evocative of retro, yes.

I have no idea what this scent contains as I am a fragrance n00b. But I knew what I wanted to smell like. And it was the smell of good old fashioned bar soap, that my little brother stole back home from his military camp. He did not have much money for Christmas presents so he gave me a couple of bars of his military soap. I loved the smell of this soap, but it would never last on my skin for long. So I went on for searching a perfume that would give me the very same clean, soapy, powdery, vintage scent. I described what I wanted to the boys at the Annick Goutal counter, but unfortunately the scent Folavril that makeupalley board recommended to me had disappeared. So the boys at the counter were helpful and started to spray me. The 2 scents on my wrists were too citrusy, then as I was almost leaving the boy came with a sample strip, with Heure Excuise, and it was the one. I knew it! My military soap fragrance!

This is indeed very similar to Chanel No.19 EDT, especially the lovely Iris dominated in the drydown. To my nose, Heure Exquise is slightly heavier than No.19.

All the positive reviews before mine are on the money.

Heure Exquise is vintage in the best sense of the word. Makes me feel like I should be sitting in front of a huge mirrored vanity with a satin robe and marabou slippers; dusting myself silly with a swan's down powder puff filled with expensive French talcum powder. It's one of those fragrances that works regardless of season or time of day. It should be noted that I have the EDP, not the EDT.

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Thank you thank you thank you Noisome. Yes, this is indeed Chanel No. 19 in EdT. I KNEW I had smelled this before and couldn't place it and then you hit the nail on the head. This is very lovely. Soft rose, iris and I would guess mosses. Restrained sillage, but still noticeable by the wearer (No. 19 is stronger). I have Chanel No. 19 in EdT so you have saved me buying this on a lemming spree. If you don't have No. 19 or can't get it, get this. Either are beautiful, feminine refined beauties that you can't go wrong with. Sadly, both seem to be getting harder and harder to find. Happy sniffing!

By the way, No. 19 in EdP is a completely different scent to my nose. Stronger, harsher, less round and feminine, less comforting. More vetiver . . . MUCH more vetiver. Both are still beautiful though I prefer the EdT in 19 as I do in No. 5.

Sophisticated...
Powdery sensuality that comes from afar, elegant sensuality and not primitive, ethereal, mystical... And expensive Iris. Deep, not for the amateurish (Annick would recommend it to those with some experience in the matters of love). It's deep purple... almost black. You are caught in the twilight zone, but you are confident enough to delight, and not get scared. Don't judge it from the first few seconds... Let it rest on you, and envelop you in its magic. I love it. I possess it, and I'm possessed by it...

Redundant to say so, but this *is* Chanel No 19 with a soul, even if the notes don't exactly correspond. Somewhere in the drydown I can smell a purse full of freshly printed cash. Below I see a reviewer comparing it to Guerlain's htf Voilette de Madame; not untrue but I find Heure Exquise much easier to wear. Discounting the timeline of the art I see this evolution; of the warmly vulgar to the austerely cold : Voilette De Madame>Heure Exquise>Chanel No 19.

It seems I have at last found the closest thing to a signature scent I could have dreamt of. This is the perfume which goes beyond beautiful to me, it defies logic in the sense that it resonates so deeply with what I have been looking for, never hoping to find, that it seemed nothing short of a miracle, then, having at last discovered that it actually existed.
Consequently I may well call it serenity in a bottle, such as I would not have believed possible. However, unlike Après L'Ondée and L'Heure Bleue, the two Guerlain masterpieces to which Heure Exquise clearly owes its lineage, this is NOT the sort of serenity that accepts tragedy as part of life yet remains heroically upright and gracious despite it all. Rather, it's the sort of privileged, quietly happy serenity that runs through your veins when you just know all shall be well, even though you have no solid proof whatever, but are soundly game enough to trust your own healthy instincts and yes, perhaps even smile a little.
Philosophically it's what Pascal intended by his idea of Le Pari (The Wager), basically suggesting that FAITH in a higher dimension, call it God, Providence, or Divine Wisdom, may be adopted just because it affords a chance to live better - therefore, betting a wager on it even on very slim empirical evidence, is not really risking very much (Blaise Pascal, Les Pensées, 1662). Call it suspension of disbelief if you like, hold your head high, and resolve to be happy no matter what. A stunningly simple philosophy, yet absolutely brilliant for its very simplicity. Just like this perfume, in fact - it somehow manages to be multi-dimensional, still surprisingly uncomplicated at the same time, pure, clean, gentle and comforting.
It is fairly obvious that Heure Exquise could only have been composed by a perfumer with a profoundly musical sensibility, as indeed Annick Goutal famously was (an enthusiastic musician before she made a career of her love for fragrance). Of all her perfumes this is the one which, to me at least, most intrinsically epitomizes her legacy. I have no idea what she had in mind, but if I may hazard a guess, Frédéric Chopin's 4 Ballades (the 2nd in particular), would be my own most immediate association.
Florentine Iris, Mysore Sandalwood, and Turkish Rose, constitute the heart of it, the overall impression being delicate, powdery, vaguely sweet, predominantly white yet faintly blue and violet too, with a hazy pink glow to it, just like the sky at dusk, before the sun sets ~
only to rise again tomorrow, shining more brightly than ever.