Champs-Élysées 1996 Eau de Parfum

Champs-Élysées (Eau de Parfum) by Guerlain
Bottle Design Robert Granai
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8.3 / 10 154 Ratings
A popular perfume by Guerlain for women, released in 1996. The scent is floral-fruity. The longevity is above-average. It is being marketed by LVMH.
Pronunciation
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Main accords

Floral
Fruity
Sweet
Fresh
Powdery

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes Top Notes
VioletViolet AniseedAniseed PeachPeach AlmondAlmond BlackcurrantBlackcurrant MelonMelon
Heart Notes Heart Notes
LilacLilac PeonyPeony Lily of the valleyLily of the valley MimosaMimosa RoseRose HibiscusHibiscus
Base Notes Base Notes
Almond tree BenzoinBenzoin SandalwoodSandalwood VanillaVanilla CedarCedar

Perfumer

Ratings
Scent
8.3154 Ratings
Longevity
8.0129 Ratings
Sillage
7.4133 Ratings
Bottle
8.3135 Ratings
Value for money
7.436 Ratings
Submitted by Serenada, last update on 05.03.2024.
Variant of the fragrance concentration
This is a variant of the perfume Champs-Élysées (Eau de Toilette) by Guerlain, which differs in concentration.

Reviews

5 in-depth fragrance descriptions
MinoTaurus

13 Reviews
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MinoTaurus
MinoTaurus
Top Review 29  
LVMH takeover
So in the mid-90s, LVMH was now wearing the pants at Guerlain, and in addition to the cash injection for the revival of great fragrance classics, there were still strict instructions from the new masters: Guerlain was to become younger, more pleasing, more suitable for the masses and more colorful. With a - for Guerlain - new olfactory concept, LVMH wanted to attract completely different customers.

The instruction to Guerlain was this: Make us a fragrance that breaks with the stylistic gimmicks of the classics. LVMH didn't want any more guerlinade in this new fragrance!
( For those who don't know, the guerlinade was embedded in all the fragrances except the eaux, including the men's. A round composition of vanilla, bergamot, jasmine, rose and iris. The Guerlinade was the signature of all Guerlain fragrances ).
The name "Paris" was taken, but "Champs Elysées" knows the world.

Guerlain complied and created Champs Elysees without Guerlinade: An opulent, floral fragrance with a light lilac note - and the fragrance was a flop! To the old customers it didn't smell like "Guerlain", and to the young new customers it also didn't smell like "Guerlain" in the way they might have known it from their parents and grandparents.

In the end, sales figures argued for listening to Jean-Paul Guerlain's objections again after all, and LVMH let him reformulate the fragrance. The Guerlinade was added, and since then Champs Elysées is a permanent fixture in the Guerlain fragrance world with many loyal fans.

The fresh, floral opening gains a comforting warmth after a while, depending on your skin type, a slightly biting almond note can pierce through, and at the end you are left with the soft, slightly cool vanilla-sandalwood note. A typical "Guerlain".

By the way, for a few years now, LVMH has been tampering with the Guerlinade again: it is now told at training courses and events that the Guerlinade is always included as soon as one of the five fragrance essences is part of a perfume: if vanilla is in the fragrance, one speaks of Guerlinade. Is there a dash of iris? Well, then it is also the Guerlinade.......and the advertising department can be sure that there will be fewer and fewer people who can remember that the Guerlinade had always consisted of five essences, and had been part of every Guerlain fragrance as an independent fragrance composition.

2 Comments
9
Bottle
8
Sillage
8
Longevity
8.5
Scent
Annarosa

93 Reviews
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Annarosa
Annarosa
Very helpful Review 9  
A hymn to the reformulation
Recently I was carried away by the enthusiasm of some perfumes for Champs-Elysees in Eau de Parfum concentration. I tested the perfume at Douglas one day and thought to myself, "Wow! He's nice. I'd buy that if I could get him somewhere cheaper." So feminine, multi-faceted, exciting, the fragrance has occurred to me despite the alzu well known theme lilac.
Said-done. A short time later I saw the scent of TKMaxx strongly reduced and took immediate action. How surprised I (no Guerlain fragrance professional noticed) was when I found a completely different bottle than expected when I opened the package. It wasn't a bottle with the bees that I saw at Douglas, but a cheap-looking square-edged bottle made of two triangles with a plastic collar on the bottle neck, as in the picture below the large Falkon picture at Parfumo!!!
I wouldn't care about the appearance of the bottle if the fragrance were identical to the one I tested. But far from it. The scent I have acquired is unfortunately a straight lilac scent and nothing more. No facets, no apple and no green, no play with the transitions, no complexity as is the case with the Bienchen bottle. In this sense a disappointment.
Since I consider the square bottle to be older than the uniform Bienchen bottle of today (but I am no expert on this), I conclude that in the case of the "Champs-Elysses" the present reformulation is far more charming and beautiful than the original. (If my hypothesis is correct)
All in all, the fragrance in the square bottle is not bad - purely feminine, purely floral (a classic lilac fragrance), durable all day long and has a medium sillage - but unfortunately it is not as exciting for my nose as the one in the Bienchen bottle.

4 Comments
Ambercase

9 Reviews
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Ambercase
Ambercase
Helpful Review 12  
I think my nose is going crazy....
One thing first: I love Guerlain fragrances and also own some bottles and bottlings. The praise for the fragrance have made me quite curious and with the pyramid I was quite curious how Champs-Élysées would smell. I like lilac, rose, peony, mimosa, vanilla and floral-fruity always goes.

Full of anticipation, I sprayed the fragrance on the back of my hand, and then came the shock. What was missed there my nose, I had not expected: Stale floral water with sour fruit salad and wilted lily of the valley. It shook me. Where is the rose? Where's the mimosa? Nothing of lovely lilac, melon or sweet vanilla. I love the scent of lilac blossoms. I rejoice every spring that I can sink my nose into lilac blossoms. This scent, however, makes me nauseous. I waited to see if there would possibly be a transformation and the scent would smooth out or calm down.
After two hours, the same scenario: stale lilac floral water with wilted lily of the valley and in addition joined a sour note, which reminds me latently of Erbochenes. I'll call it a vomit note here. It is described here as powdery, I smell no powder at all, not even a mini crumb.

More than two hours I have unfortunately not endured, I had to wash off the fragrance.
I have no idea which of the fragrance components of Champ-Elysees gives my nose this sour-shale impression. I will spray the fragrance again on a paper strip and see what he does then after a few hours so.

A rating I do not dare to give yet, because I find Champ-Elysees at the moment still quite terrible
9 Comments
Anthology

18 Reviews
Anthology
Anthology
2  
Champs Elysees EDP by Guerlain
At first sniff – lily of the valley – fresh, sweet, magnificent. It opens with floral scent, more floral than fruity to my nose. In the opening there is a mixture of mimosa, rose, lily of the valley, violet – like a little floral garden from someone balcony. Some fruity notes can be spotted but in a little proportion. I can smell anise because it spreads a sharp, pungent odour. It’s not disturbing, it’s like a high note to a musical composition. The result is a beautiful harmony between flowers and fruits.
The heart of the perfume is sweeter than the opening. This sweetness comes from peony and rose, it is more like a jammy odour. To my nose this is not a mimosa scent. It is a floral scent but not with mimosa on the first line.
The dry-down is vanilla, woods and benzoin, sweet and warm. Projection and longevity are average on my skin. Not a loud perfume for me.
This is a lovely perfume, no matter what others say. Maybe it is not as good as L’Heure Bleue but is beautiful in its own way. I recommend a try if you look for a floral fruity scent.
0 Comments
6
Pricing
8
Bottle
5
Sillage
8
Longevity
9
Scent
Nicolata

4 Reviews
Nicolata
Nicolata
1  
Beautiful Fragrance
I've been working my way through decants of all the classic Guerlain fragrances, when I saw this perfume in a drug store and had to try (the stores near me mostly carry the Aqua Allegoria line, not the classic Guerlain perfumes).... I was blown away.

It opens with an intense spring flower scent-- felt very much like standing near lilac bushes on a warm spring day, though you can also smell rose and peony. As it dries, it sweetens and I get the almond scent, eventually giving away to a warm but fresh amber that sits close to the skin. A gorgeous floral-forward scent, and I don't get any powder, though the violet is very similar to Guerlain's meteorites face powder.

The warmth feels a bit sexy but the freshness keeps it from cloying. I'm in love.
0 Comments

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