Beauty

Guerlain, 190 Years of Creation

When perfumer-chemist Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain established his company in 1828, a legendary story of beauty saw the light. Since nobody knows what the future holds, he never expected to write history.

In fact, he didn’t only contributed to the history of cosmetics and fragrances with the unveiling of his first perfume Jicky in 1889 that set the tone for modern perfumery and la Crème à la Fraise in 1840. He also marked the history of Paris by opening a series of boutiques on rue de la Paix, avenue des Champs-Elysées and Place Vendôme – whose column decorated with a scalloped motif inspired the house’s iconic Bee bottle.

Women were, since the beginning, in Guerlain’s mind. From creating the Eau de Cologne Impériale for Empress Eugenie in 1853 – which is the oldest perfume sold today, to taking the prestige of the bullet lipstick to new heights with Ne m’oubliez pas in 1870, anticipating the fashion for Orientalism with Mitsouko in 1919 or responding to the tanning trend with the Terracotta powder in 1984, the house accompanied the evolution of femininity in its own special way.

This quest for satisfying women’s beauty needs in the most sophisticated of ways also gave the House of Guerlain the chance to make its bottles and cases true works of arts. This actually won the Shalimar bottle the first prize at the Exhibition of Decorative Arts in 1925. And with this rich history, we would certainly be looking forward for more!



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