Les Élixirs Charnels - Oriental Brûlant Guerlain 2008

Les Élixirs Charnels - Oriental Brûlant by Guerlain

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

8.1 / 10 153 Ratings

Les Élixirs Charnels - Oriental Brûlant is a popular perfume by Guerlain for women and was released in 2008. The scent is oriental-gourmand. It is being marketed by LVMH.
Pronunciation

More

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

Main accords

Oriental

Gourmand

Sweet

Spicy

Powdery

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Balsamic notes

Clementine

Heart Notes

Spices

Almond

Base Notes

Styrax

Tonka bean

Vanilla

Perfumer

Christine Nagel

Ratings

Scent

8.1153 Ratings

Longevity

7.6119 Ratings

Sillage

6.6120 Ratings

Bottle

8.3119 Ratings

Value for money

7.417 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 09.01.2024.

Reviews

4 in-depth fragrance descriptions

11/21/2021

8
Pricing 10
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 10
Scent

FumeHeaven
25 Reviews

FumeHeaven

2

An underrated beauty from Guerlain: a lovely Oriental Gourmand

Oriental Brûlant is a soft and warm Oriental Gourmand scent. It is powdery, nutty and buttery (almond and tonka bean), sweet (vanilla), and styrax gives it a unique amber-like resinous/balsamic quality.

Oriental Brûlant is quite smooth and pristine with a cozy and comforting vibe, making it an ideal choice for the fall and winter. It shares some similarities with SDV and Tonka Impériale and is another classic and timeless release from Guerlain. Without a doubt, my favorite fragrance from the now discontinued Les Élixirs Charnels line (I own it in a 125 ml gold bee bottle from the Paris boutique). I love Oriental Brûlant and it is among my top five Guerlain fragrances!

02/15/2019

10
Bottle 8
Sillage 9
Longevity 9
Scent

Chanelle
113 Reviews

Translated Show original

Chanelle

Helpful Review 11

Shalimar under radar

After hearing from a long-time Guerlain employee that Oriental Brulant was the most elegant variation of Shalimar, I had to reconsider my earlier opinion that OB was cutting into the same Gourmand notch as Gourmand Coquin. I hadn't really smelled at a rehearsal that was passed to me years ago, or had had an odorless day. But the two have not the slightest resemblance either. But this misjudgement contributed to the fact that until recently another very successful Guerlain scent flew under my radar and is not even produced anymore, i.e. now or never.
There are indeed Shalimar hints or similarities in the structure and course of the fragrance, but overall I initially feel the equally great fragrance Ne m'oubliez pas as closer to it.
The top note is clearly very spicy Clementine, somewhat greenish, but fruity. Not summery, more like Xmas! The spices are still quite potent in the beginning, but are decreasing in intensity. They are replaced by a smoky vanilla, which is not sweet. I wouldn't talk about gourmand here. The Oriental prevails. I also find the fragrance more like smoked leather in the base, very balsamic and woody in the background. The drydown has something of Fumerie Turque, my favorite Oriental!
Rarely have I been so wrong. Instead of another sweet-sweet gourmand we are dealing here with a fragrance that would have had what it takes to become an oriental classic, that would have had the link from NMOP to Shalimar, smokier and spicier than the two of them, and yet does not slip into the incense stick penetrant. The shelf life is 7-8 hours
It's a shame if he goes off the market completely. But Guerlain has fortunately discovered the scam, unrecognized, bringing back great scents every now and then (under another name, in limited form, or as a one-shot). Let's see if the last bottles are the last ones.

03/15/2016

10
Bottle 5
Sillage 6
Longevity 8.5
Scent

ScentedSalon
96 Reviews

ScentedSalon

3

Spicy Pastry Cream

You know to turn to Guerlain when you want something creamy and delicious, and Oriental Brulant is another dessert in a bottle along with Gourmand Coquin, Cuir Beluga, Tonka and SDV. I would say OB is very similar to Coquin in the pastry-like vanilla aspect. There is not that rum opening here: it is more focused on spice and storax. The vanilla drydown is sublime. So comforting.

11/23/2011

7.5
Longevity 7
Scent

Apicius
222 Reviews

Apicius

Helpful Review 2

A very tender fist in the eye

On the recommendation of Coriolon, I appoached the Elixir Charnels scents today - by visiting the new Maison Guerlain in Berlin. It is just a small niche in a mainstream perfume shop, but the most important exclusives are there. However, some scents seem to be missing: Sous le Vent, Vega, and also Mouchoir de Monsieur.

The Elixir Charnels perfumes are presented as ladies scents, but at least with Oriental Brûlant, we do not have to be so strict. Okay, there is an interesting floral-fruity start, which is kind of ladylike. But when you get through this, Oriental Brûlant shows itself as quite typical, however minimalistic Guerlain. So again, this is about vanilla and tonka bean, just as you may expect from something "oriental".

At this really cosy, somewhat chocolate-like note, some things are added that I would describe as slightly aquatic, even almost salty - and this is what makes it charming. This is neither unique, nor new. Guerlain copies itself: may I mention that oriental aquatic with the beautiful name “L’Instant pour Homme Christaux d’Agrumes” ? That variation of L'Instant pour Homme is much more vigorous than Oriental Brûlant, and also citric. By the way...also Martine Micallef commented on this concept with something beautiful: "Avant Garde"!

Oriental Brûlant is diffident: forget the too volatile top and middle notes, then you have the concept of bringing together harshly contrastive notes in a very tender way. With so much understatement, you could easily do without the top and the middle. Nothing remains of it anyway, so it is rather out of place. Dazzling the customers with promising top notes usually is not the style of Guerlain.

This scent is not enough for me, especially as the delicate aquatic impression cannot keep up the pace towards the end of the development. Oriental Brûlant is so much discreet that it modulates a persons' own scent rather than giving its own statement. With such discretion, one might be reluctant to call it a forthright "perfume".

There is one thing where oriental Brûlant is ahead of the other two perfumes mentioned. The combination aquatic plus oriental or gourmand is quite strenuous. But with its discretion you will not feel tedious about it, although it fits like a fist in the eye.

Oriental Brûlant has beauty. But beware of the the top and heart notes when you test it - they hide the real character during the first half-hour.