Guerlain Les Parisiennes Mon Précieux Nectar Eau de Parfum

Do you consider yourself a Guerlain makeup fan? Someone who wouldn't miss one the latest Guerlain makeup collections? If you haven't been paying attention to Guerlain's fragrance introductions, you may have missed the company's "new" fragrance, and it's every bit as exciting as that makeup we love!

Les Parisiennes Mon Précieux Nectar Eau de Parfum ($270) is Guerlain's latest entry in its fragrance line. Actually, it's not really new, but more on that below.

A mouth-watering and addictive fragrance, whose exotic notes will make you travel far away. Its timeless fragrance trail recalls creations that were milestones in the history of perfumery. Vacillating between delicacy and voluptuousness, it reveals its true personality. At times it is dry and soft, at others enveloping or deliciously tender, one can only marvel at such olfactory complexity.

Mon Précieux Nectar  opens with top notes of petit grain and "bitter" almond powder. The heart is composed with orange blossom and jasmine. The base notes are sandalwood, gaïac wood, vanilla, white musk, and barely detectible incense.

It smells like a flaky almond pastry spiked with a dash of Grand Gala or Grand Marnier, true cognacs with the distilled essence of bitter orange, in the vanilla cream. There are two "bitter" words used in the description here, yet Mon Précieux Nectar is smooth and edible. Every time I apply it, I spray some on my arm, creating a mini-feast for my senses. It almost makes my mouth water.

Mon Précieux Nectar was first introduced in 2009, a fragrance in perfume concentration of orange blossom, jasmine, bitter almond, wood, vanilla, and musk. It was sold in a one-liter crystal bottle (shown above) that was named La Fontaine Impériale. The Baccarat "fountain" was accompanied with a small vaporizer placed in a black leather box. There were only 100 numbered bottles (some sources say 62) available worldwide. They were priced at about $9,000. Thirty-five of them sold immediately!

Now, Guerlain is making this highly exclusive treat (sorry about all the food references, but you'll see when you get a whiff) available to "the masses" - us. Guerlain's house perfumer, Thierry Wasser, reworked the original limited edition into an Eau De Parfum concentration that joins the La Parisiennes Collection and is offered in Guerlain's beautiful bee bottle. It looks very classy on my dresser.

This floral gourmand fragrance is unlike any other fragrance I own - or have worn. Want someone to nibble on your neck? Mon Précieux Nectar could do it for you. Guerlain makeup lovers? You haven't lived until you try it.

Saks has an exclusive on Les Parisiennes Mon Précieux Nectar Eau de Parfum (Guerlain boutiques and Bergdorf Goodman have it too) until June, when other Guerlain sources will offer this gorgeous new Eau de Parfum.

Photos courtesy of Saks Firth Avenue, Vanity Fair, savertheworld.net, and askmissa.com