At the current stage of my perfume “obsession,” I rarely buy perfume. (Most of my time, and skin, is reserved for new fragrance samples, and I really don’t need any perfume until I use up some of what I already own.) When I first became a perfume-maniac, I bought, often unsniffed, everything in sight. If I liked a fragrance house, I’d work my way through all their masculine offerings. Sometimes, a beautiful ad in a magazine or the sighting of an interesting perfume bottle was all it took to “make” me head to the store and buy a fragrance — and hope for the best. Long, long ago that’s how I came to know Guerlain Héritage: I loved Guerlain and the Héritage bottle* so I bought it!

Héritage, created by perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain, was released in 1992; it includes notes of lemon, bergamot, lavender, coriander, pink pepper, patchouli, cedar, vanilla and tonka bean. Héritage opens with lots of bergamot and lavender, a creamy, not astringent, blend. As the scent dries on skin, lavender becomes more noticeable and herbal. Pepper and coriander notes are subdued but add a “gleam” to the perfume. Héritage’s heart and base are almost ‘one’; after its opening, Héritage heads directly to its destination: a shimmering, “golden” amber composed of balmy cedar, a touch of musk, patchouli and vanilla (with some lingering lavender). Héritage is a well-gauged/low-impact scent — there is no startling “blast-off” and there is no bumpy landing…

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