Guerlain marketed Chant d’Arômes in 1962 as a fragrance for a woman who wears perfume only for herself. In an interview with Elle Magazine, perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain described his muse Marie-Monique as “a proper, ladylike young woman. I chose spring flowers like honeysuckle and gardenia, embellished them with mandarin and bergamot and added a touch of jasmine and a hint of ylang-ylang.”
Chant d’Arômes is a delicately rendered floral chypre, with a strong accent of peach and sweet orange. The inky richness of oakmoss and the milky sweetness of sandalwood serve as interesting contrasts to the pastel hued heart of honeysuckle and jasmine. It is at once innocent and alluring.
On Reformulation (12.10.2010):
Chant d’Arômes has been reformulated numerous times, and today I like it much better than I did five years ago. It has a fresher, brighter quality than before, more similar to the original. The lack of oakmoss is felt, of course. However, it is overall a lovely retro chypre that should not be overlooked.
Reformulated version (5.1.2005):
My initial impressions are of herbarium, a collection of dried out blossoms carefully stored in heavy paper. A tinge of mustiness pervades the entire composition, and it drowns out its delicacy. On my skin, the eau de toilette does not reveal the dew-drenched florals I expected, and only in the parfum strength are the notes of jasmine, tuberose and honeysuckle obvious.
Guerlain Chant d’Arômes includes notes of peach, bergamot, mandarin, tuberose, ylang ylang, helichrysum, gardenia, honeysuckle, jasmine, orris root, cedarwood, sandalwood, musk, oakmoss, frankincense, vetiver, and tonka bean.
10 Comments
Robin: V, this is one of the Guerlains I have never tried, but the notes sound wonderful. Not a big fan of musty though. Can you smell the incense? May 31, 2005 at 6:25pm
N aka parislondres: I miss the chant d’aromes parfum because the EDT is not at all what I remember. Hope you are well dear V! Hope you had a super weekend cherie.
xoxo May 31, 2005 at 6:22pm
LaureAnne: Chant d’Aromes is lovely. Not a buy for me, but as I have a couple of decants from generous friends, that is not a problem. June 1, 2005 at 10:32am
~clearing: I must be an odd one in this group of fine noses. I do love this fragrance, even for the mustiness, for that old library book quality and the dried blossoms scent. I volunteer to wear it. June 1, 2005 at 11:39pm
N aka parislondres: Dear Clearing! I will happily wear Chant d’Aromes parfum too – it is a really happy fragrance.
N June 2, 2005 at 2:50am
~clearing: N And V, those are sweet comments from two experienced sniffers. Sounds like N and I will wear it then ..and V, you can admire us from a distance. O: Or the other way around.
I would love to try the parfum of this scent and see what difference there is. June 3, 2005 at 8:20am
MoodIndigo1: Thanks for your description of Chant d’Aromes. I only wore it briefly, at age 20, for/with my first love who gave it to me for my birthday. It does recall innocence and the awakenings of one’s sexuality. April 25, 2012 at 4:20pm
JulienFromDijon: I spotted one old bottle on ebay germany (again!).
It smells like orange blossom absolute corsed with the sour sweat of its female wearer.
What comes closer now is “mandarin mandarine” of Serge Lutens (but more unwearable).
Somehow the old CA had its flower feel liquor like (so it must be made with lot of actual essential oil), and it’s true that from nature it switchs to oakmoss abstract formal chypre ending. That’s it, like kissing the cheeks of a gal, but only feeling the lace embroidery of her veil on your lip : alluring, yet a little raspy, warm, but formal more than affecting and soft. July 26, 2012 at 11:41pm
Jill: Loved it as a light floral in the 80’s. Purchased in the 2000’s via mail and new more musky scent was not good on me. What a disappointment! May 1, 2015 at 5:47pm
Victoria: Yes, it’s been altered quite a bit. May 2, 2015 at 10:02am