Shalimar Parfum Initial Guerlain 2011

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Top 88 in Women's Perfume

8.2 / 10584 Ratings

Shalimar Parfum Initial is a popular perfume by Guerlain for women and was released in 2011. The scent is powdery-oriental. The longevity is above-average. The production was apparently discontinued. Pronunciation

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Perfumer

Thierry Wasser

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes	Bergamot, Green notes, Orange
Heart Notes	Iris, Jasmine, Patchouli, Rose, Vetiver
Base Notes	Caramel, Musk, Tonka bean, Vanilla

Ratings

Scent

8.2584 Ratings

Longevity

8.4441 Ratings

Sillage

7.3417 Ratings

Bottle

9.1442 Ratings

Value for money

7.712 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 13.06.2021.

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Reviews

04/01/2021

10
Scent 8
Longevity 8
Sillage 10
Bottle

Guerlinchen

Translated Show original

Guerlinchen

Top Review 20

Of finding, letting go and missing....

This wonderful beauty, the dream of a fragrance was presented to me a few years ago in a noble perfumery. I stood once again with wide eyes and admiring looks in front of the original Shalimar bottle, quasi the mother of Parfum Initial. This bottle has always attracted me magically, but I had not yet melted into the precious contents at that time. I said this to the saleswoman and she said - yes, I think you are a bit too young for that...but wait a minute! Her hand reached past my face and pulled another treasure out of its hiding place. Why don't you try this one? Said, sprayed. There I was, my wrist close to my nose... and I was speechless! Like a very delicate and precious object, I carefully took the bottle from her hand and that sealed it. I was in love with it! This bottle! This fragrance! With me first very briefly fresh, the bergamot is to be perceived. Then it immediately becomes warm and powdery, I feel him directly as full-bodied he has a huge sound body for me.He melts into my skin and is from then on unstoppable. It becomes extremely feminine,sensual,sexy. Oh Yes...A multi-faceted, tightly woven piece of happiness. It came as it could only come, I bought him and gave him a home. Or was it something else?! Did it give me a home?! In any case, this fragrance has found me and not I him, just as it must be when magic is involved.He quickly became my signature.Once I had left after a party only the belt of my cardigan at a friend and he knew immediately - it was mine.On my puzzled question of how he knew that, he said - it smells like you. Exactly. I was happy for a long time and I was happy until that terrible day when I wanted to buy a bigger bottle and I had to hear the words that no one, really no one, who had lost his heart wants to hear. D I S C O N T I N U E D! Shock paralysis! What?! It wasn't so long ago that we found each other. How could that be?! I couldn't and wouldn't believe it. I sat at home and couldn't understand how such a fragrance, such a masterpiece could be so quickly discarded! How heartless. And yes exactly - I was heartless.... You can only understand this storm of emotions if you have experienced something similar. Everyone else says - it's just a perfume! Similar to when an intimate love passes and you hang in deep mourning and missing and you hear from people - other mothers have beautiful sons too. Thank you, but that doesn't help! It was something very special, unique, an encounter, even a connection - it matched. Something like that can't simply be exchanged, or even sprayed over. It is what it is - a drama! To find something special is madness. A great happiness. To let it go, even though it was not yet fully lived, is cruel. To miss something fiercely, knowing that you will never have it again is painful. Sometimes so much so that it weighs heavily on your chest to take your breath away. But as I'm sure we're all aware, that's part of life. I am left with only one comfort - knowing that you have to let go in order to free your hands to receive something new in them again. AND the fact that I was able to buy another large bottle at auction on ebay, so I can still live off it.

Scent: For me a dream, warm, powdery, rich ,noble, feminine, sensual, sexy -toll!

Sillage: Well perceived but not intrusive, if he becomes close to the body, he has even more sex appeal.

Durability: On the skin well, on the hair and clothes very well (clearly still days later to smell).

Flacon: I can not more! So beautiful, classy, feminine and special in my eyes.

Price: Was once reasonable - if today still to find, please have tissues ready (sniff).

More I can not say, I simply lack the words --- WHY?! Guerlain , WHY!

15 Replies

12/31/2020

10
Scent 8
Longevity 7
Sillage

FioreMarina

Translated Show original

FioreMarina

Top Review 28

Pricesse Tam Tam

So - that I may still experience this, I would not have believed. I am actually overwhelmed.
But I have to get out, so that you understand why.
The thing is, I used to have a clear career goal - I mean, I used to have a clear career goal. I would become a princess. The job description (being fabulously beautiful / being threatened with death by begrudging relatives / playing with golden balls / being bedded on roses (and by no means on peas!)) was familiar to me in its basic outlines, and the way to get there was perfectly clear: marry a prince. What else?
So far it was all clear and in a sense almost in dry pink fluffy cloths (with glitter braid), only I did not reckon with my mother, this feminist buzzkill with her barbaric 68er ideology.
She held me namely, asked for possible princes for advice, the likeness of the then still just so youthful Prince Charles under the nose. Tenor of the educational measure: "From such a one you want to be kissed awake? Seriously, girl - better get up yourself."
What can I tell you? It was outrageously cruel, of course, but it served its purpose. Anyway, the prince option was off the table until further notice.
Not so the career goal. There had to be, there just had to be another path, any path. I didn't find one and became something else, because you can't wait forever for your girlhood dreams to come true, and the years went by and I became a lot of things, just not a princess.
And now, having all but given up hope, I suddenly know how. Hence, my overwhelming.
How to do it, become a princess?
You have to squeeze a sprinkler head.
And in an instant, you find yourself in a fairy tale, in a rushing ball night. It opens with a tart, unripe, almost bitter orange note, and I swear Thierry Wasser worked the hard, aromatic leaves of the orange right in: a dark, velvety green, seconds before bergamot floats through the room like the ghost of or, heck, why not, the fairy Shalimar, sparkling a little Thousand and One Nights out of the scent. Fifteen minutes later, we have every reason to let the fanfares sound, the choirs sing and fireworks go off, as the curtain rises and a fabulously beautiful, utterly perfect iris appears. Nothing about her is cool, nothing is synthetic. She fills the room with her radiance, bows her crowned head and lets a smile of courage sparkle under lowered lids. She wears a gossamer veil of patchouli and soft roses bloom on her cheeks, all just a suggestion, they are only there to enhance her beauty. This iris is the queen of the ball night from the first moment of her appearance and she remains so until dawn, not growing paler, only softer, and sweeter, when, after a few hours, delicious caramel gradually evolves from the fragrance, a cotton-soft subtly perceptible musk note and, again, the fairy Shalimar, this time in her utterly unique, unmistakable vanilla note.
What can I say? This fragrance is so glamorous, so beautiful and perfect that its wearer can't help but glow from the inside out. It needs an occasion. Not necessarily a prom night, but a day that you want to put a shine on. I also wear it sometimes when I'm just walking the dogs through the woods. Then I don't trudge - I stride through the snow. I bow my head lovingly to my naughty pooches, and for a moment I rise above the noise of the world. And thank my mother, the old feminist buzzkill, for putting princes out of my mind back in the day. Being a princess is just fine without them.
On that note, I wish you a glorious end to the year today. A happy and healthy new year with as many fairy tales as will fit.
And thanks for reading.

19 Replies

07/18/2019

8.5
Scent 8
Sillage 10
Bottle

Marilyn25

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Marilyn25

Very helpful Review 11

Orient and Occident

A good friend says about me I have two weaknesses: Howard and perfume. And so it is. I can philosophize and rave about Howard for hours, as well as about perfume. I've only been at Parfumo for a few days, but I'm already busy trading and testing.

Today I received a letter from the perfume flaconesse with bottlings of Acqua di Gioia and Shalimar Initial. Of course, I had to test it right away. When spraying Shalimar Initial, I was immediately greeted by a fragrant aromatic scent, fine, round, warm and harmonious. Just at that moment, I have this scent on my arm. I can make out orange as well as jasmine and iris. Some caramel and vanilla in the background make the fragrance nice and cuddly. I'm in love! I'm in love! And so it is certain: tomorrow I will wear Shalimar Initial. We need a bottle! It's urgent! How I love this fragrance! He smells very noble and simply "classy", he has style like Chanel No. 19. This fragrance suits an elegant lady, perhaps with twinset and pearl necklace and Chanel ballerinas. I cannot say anything about the durability yet, I describe my immediate impression here.

Shalimar Initial is an all around successful fragrance, which is well suited for going out. My respects!

3 Replies

08/28/2018

8
Scent 8
Longevity 8
Sillage 8
Bottle

pudelbonzo

Translated Show original

pudelbonzo

Top Review 26

surprise gift

In junk, I have my regular dealer, whom I faithfully visit every month.
We look forward to each other.

As a regular customer, I am allowed to browse through the "Kruschtelkiste", a crispy box in which opened treasures are hidden.
For a friendship price they then come into my possession.

And so Initial fell into my searching hands - still half full, says the optimist.

The lid was missing, and the tassel was tousled, but the scent receives me fully oriental and intact.
It reminds me of the classic Shalimar, but it's less sweet, but creamier with a touch of perfume oil.
This oil note reminds me of my mini bottles, which I bought in the India Shop at that time.
Patchoulie and Jasmin were my favorites.
And these notes reappear in Initial - powdered by Iris , and earthier by Vetiver.
Tonka rounds off the interesting Oriental, and vanilla and caramel appear soft but unsweet.

I am fascinated and ask for the price - but my dealer waves off.
This is a gift, he laughs, and adds mischievously, so he is when he is in love.
This dear gesture evaluates the smell for me again on !

Despite his supple fullness and extravagant statement, he still does not outstrip my Classic Shalimar.

But who knows what Initial and I will experience together?
Anyway, the beginning was promising

5 Replies

11/20/2017

9
Scent

Exciter76
34 Reviews

Exciter76

Helpful Review 5

Not your average candied patchouli

Once upon a time I hated this perfume. Sugary patchoulis like Shalimar Parfum Initial seemed ubiquitous; in bars, in offices, at the mall, along sidewalks—it was everywhere and I loathed it. Worse still, SPI smelled foul upon first sniff of the tester nozzles at Sephora and Ulta. As far as I was concerned SPI had absolutely no redeeming qualities. It was at Ulta that I had my first (accidental) skin contact with SPI. From that day on, I understood SPI’s appeal.

When other people wear perfumes, even perfumes we enjoy, the perfumes go through a sort of transmutation. I have a friend who wears one of my favorite perfumes. I hate smelling it on her—it becomes a musky, sweaty, burly beast of white florals and sugar and I simply want to scream. So I have to accept that perfumes change from one person to the next. That minor epiphany had not come to me yet when I was swearing off SPI. It was sugar and filthy patchouli as far as I could smell. I could not fathom how anyone would want to smell like this.

On my skin, it’s not saccharine and dirty patchouli. It is several layers of gauzy sweetness, powdery florals, and a rich patchouli that was meant to add density at the center of all the diaphanous goodness. The timeless Guerlainade is ever-present throughout, adding another beautiful layer to this scent. It’s deceptively simple until it’s fully worn. Unless you are smelling every delicate layer reveal itself—and it is a slow striptease that goes on for several hours—SPI cannot be fully appreciated.

I’m glad I came around before this gem was discontinued. And why the heck was it discontinued? I’ll never understand it. It has a cult following and the potential to become as iconic as Shalimar, Mitsouko, or L’Heure Bleue. Whatever, I have a stockpile of bottles to satisfy me for at least a few years. Maybe in that time SPI will be brought back to the masses? Just because there is an oversaturation of fruitchoulies and sugar bombs on the market doesn’t mean there isn’t room for SPI.

3 Replies

09/01/2014

Platinum1
59 Reviews

Platinum1

Very helpful Review 8

~ Softer Shades of Shalimar ~

~ My initial impression of "Initial" is what a lovely soft velvety powdery perfume this would make for the right women! Definitely a daily Signature scent worthy Guerlain. In a sea of "fruitchouli" Chanel and Dior's this would make something a touch unique and traditional as it is reminiscent of the original Shalimar in a softer more modern way. The vanilla and caramel make this very appealing and easy on the nose the powder keeps it feminine and classic with it's notes of patchouli and iris. A modern lighter interpretation of a classic that is sophisticated, sexy and soft! As a gent and just based on a small sample and minimal wearings this leaves even me wanting more....

Kind Regards, Plat ~

2 Replies

02/04/2014

8
Scent 7.5
Longevity 7.5
Sillage 8
Bottle

Fanny
66 Reviews

Fanny

Top Review 6

Skin coloured velvet

For a long long time I have been strolling in the woods, adoring them in the company of spices, amber, incense, benzoin, etc.

Recently I have been gifted a decant of SPI and I find myself in grave danger of becoming ladylike at last.
Soft, intoxicating, alluring and very sweet.
Not too sweet, just adorable.

Along the day it reminded me of Le Bain de Joop!... SPI is more refined of course: no cedar, no sandalwood, no aldehydes.
Matching notes are: vanille, tonka, patchouli, rose, musk, bergamot and jasmin.
Iris, caramel, vetiver, orange, and green notes round this baby up.
The drydown gives soft wafts of vanille and beautiful iris.

I love it.

04/09/2013

8
Scent 7.5
Longevity 7.5
Sillage 10
Bottle

LadyRogue
166 Reviews

LadyRogue

Top Review 13

Shalimar?

For reasons even unknown to myself I have always resisted to even test a flanker of my beloved Shalimar. Until I was in a perfume shop last week and I found myself standing in front of the Guerlain display with "Shalimar Parfum Initial" on prominent display, looking at the familiar shaped bottle I got overcome with a sudden curiosity to smell how badly they imitated a true classic. *Hmmm*

Looking at the above listed notes I am somewhat amazed that SI is on my skin all topsy turvy! I get very little top notes save the jasmine and the iris...on my skin its all middle and base notes. And its divine in its powdery yumminess!

At first spray a shy jasmine holding an iris that is dusting herself with a yummy vanilla note is the first whiff of yum that reaches my nose. Then musk, patchouli and a sultry tonka-bean come out to play and make it even more soft and warm. I get no citric notes and am strangely glad that its nothing like Shalimar; now I get to own two beautifully bottled beauties.

"Shalimar Initial" is a soft and very feminine scent and nothing like her intense namesake. It's a scent that is perfect for office, dates where one is *close* and cuddle time at home. It's a pretty powdery cloud that invites you to inhale and enjoy!

Silage is: a warm and beautiful aura -- Longevity is: 6+ hours (especially on clothes where it lasts and lasts). If you think Shalimar Initial is in any way similar to Shalimar, I can only conclude that you can perish any thoughts that this is a flanker...Instead, accept the notions that this is a beauty all in her own right. Who knew? *note to self...don't dismiss all flankers!*

03/11/2013

6
Scent 5
Longevity 5
Sillage 7.5
Bottle

Miaw2
339 Reviews

Miaw2

Very helpful Review 6

DHI for women?

Smells much like Dior Homme Intense. I find it unisex as well.

Great take on vanilla and iris. Smells wonderful. It just could last more.

Projection is gentle and soft - skin scent.

Updated January 2014

11/14/2012

4
Scent 7.5
Longevity 7.5
Sillage

Sherapop
1239 Reviews

Sherapop

Very helpful Review 7

Vanilla-scented Hairspray

Post-Y2K Guerlain and I simply do not get along. Sad to say, as I was the most enthusiastic of Guerlain devotees before The Fall. We're really batting zero at this point. In the post-Guerlain Guerlain period, the Aqua Allegorias have become abstract and synthetic rather than a reflection of beauty and simplicity in nature. The polymeric INSOLENCE induced in me such revulsion that I had to swap my big bottle away because every time I removed the cap contemplating a spritz, I'd hurriedly replace it after taking a short sniff of the nozzle. Actually, come to think of it, Guerlain seems to be following the same downwardly spiraling trajectory as Ann Taylor. Under new management, these businesses are riding for now on their names, but the output bears no resemblance to the good old days.

Habits die hard, and despite my vow not to make any more blind buys of Guerlain without first testing the composition--or reformulation--in question, I have toyed with the idea of picking up a bottle of SHALIMAR PARFUM INITIAL in recent times. It's been quite a while since I bought anything from Guerlain, so occasionally those memories fade a bit, and I start to forget about the series of post-Y2K debacles and begin yearning nostalgically for the classics again. When I see ever-plummeting prices on these Guerlain perfumes at the discounters, I need to stop myself, since I already made THAT mistake once: I picked up a big bottle of Aqua Allegoria CHERRY BLOSSOM which I'm never going to wear. It cost about $30. I was also quite disappointed by my purchase of COLOGNE IMPERIALE (clearly reformulated...), which I see can now be had for a mere $36 (I paid about $60). Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

So I stopped myself from adding a bottle of this perfume to my shopping cart recently and instead opted to request a sample at Sephora as I was in the neighborhood anyway. What I found initially was that SHALIMAR INITIAL did not smell too much like SHALIMAR, which seemed interesting in and of itself. Why make it a flanker, if it's an entirely new perfume? Well, for the the same reason that a perfume put out by the house formerly known as Guerlain today, under the helm of LVMH and no longer a family jewel, will garner tons of supporters simply because it is "Guerlain" or has "Shalimar" in its name.

Alas, I was right not to buy a bottle of SHALIMAR PARFUM INITIAL. It smells to me rather like vanilla-scented hairspray. There is something harsh and forbidding, the dreaded short-circuited appliance aura, in this composition--every bit as unpleasant as INSOLENCE's plastic--which makes this creation an uncomfortable wear for me. Perfume should feel and smell good, and neither of those criteria are satisfied in my case by SHALIMAR PARFUM INITIAL. As far as the composition is concerned, there is a bit of an overlap with Lolita Lempicka, but it's as though the synthetic part has been amped up and the sweetness cut with nothing added in to compensate for the latter loss or to mask the former excess.

It's time for me to face the fact: I am no a fan of Thierry Wasser.

1 Replies

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