Guerlain Habit Rouge – Rouge Prive Review – Delphine Jelk; 2023

[Guerlain Habit Rouge – Rouge Prive review based on a sample provided by the brand in 2023.]

Messing with the greats is always a risky business, and last year, Guerlain’s Habit Rouge flanker, L’Instinct, suggested that perhaps it’s an endeavour best avoided. But now, the venerable brand has redeemed itself with Habit Rouge – Rouge Prive, a Delphine Jelk composition which I reviewed in a recent episode of Love At First Scent. Here’s a link: Guerlain Habit Rouge – Rouge Prive review.

I’m inclined to think that Rouge Prive isn’t so much a flanker but the perfumery equivalent of a cover version. It’s almost as though Jelk has decided not to present a twist on the original, or to cast it in an unexpected light, but to remain as faithful to the edt as possible, while playing its tune with entirely modern instruments. So we have the same glorious bergamot opening, the same dry-leather heart, and the same vanilla-patchouli drydown, but the various elements feel as though they’ve been drawn with ever so slightly bolder outlines: elegant calligraphy pens as opposed to fine-line pencils.

If there is a distinct difference, it is perhaps in the base, where the patchouli rules over the vanilla with an assertiveness that it arguably doesn’t display in the edt. In fact, there are moments when the drydown makes you wonder if Jelk reached out to Givaudan for a few tiny drops of – shock horror – Akigalawood. But as a whole, this is our dear old Habit Rouge, with a fresh lick of paint. Of course, the original eau de toilette didn’t need any redecorating, and it remains the best of the range. Nevertheless, it’s fascinating and rewarding to see what a talented perfumer is capable of achieving when they work within tight constraints and attempt to re-cast the past. Regardless of whether we decide to call it a flanker or not, there is no doubt that Rouge Prive is one of the best ‘updates’ we’ve ever had of a classic scent, and it serves to reinforce Habit Rouge’s standing as one of the most laudable perfumery achievements of all time.

Persolaise

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