Aurélien by Aurélien Guichard for Carine Roitfeld: Of Opium and orange blossom

You’d swear you’ve always known this fragrance. You’ve got its name on the tip of your tongue… But unless you’ve rubbed shoulders with Carine Roitfeld, who long concocted her own signature scent by layering Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium with Serge Lutens’ Fleur d’Oranger, you haven’t. The blend, once you smell it, makes utter, stylish sense. In Aurélien Guichard’s crucible, the two classics merge. Spice-laced orange blossom lustrous with aldehydes in myrrh’s black mirror, sooty with patchouli and castoreum – a reflection in Roitfeld’s trademark smoky eye. Deflowered. Beneath the wreaths of Opium, the specter of L’Heure bleue, swapping its Belle Époque frou-frous for stilettos and a patent-leather pencil skirt. More than a tribute to its inspiration, the scent whose code name during its development was “Black Panther” is a true olfactory signature.