L’Heure Bleue is Guerlain’s first major women’s fragrance launch in nearly ten years, following Mon Guerlain in 2017. “We take our time at Guerlain, waiting until we have something truly meaningful to offer the world,” says CEO Gabrielle Saint-Genis. “When you’re a house that has been passionate about fragrance for 200 years, you’re obsessed with innovating. And in this particular case, we wanted to pay tribute to this extraordinary creation by Jacques Guerlain.”

L’Heure Bleue is a new take on a cornerstone of Guerlain’s heritage: a fragrance created by Jacques Guerlain in 1912 that is still sold today and is one of the house’s oldest, though lesser-known, scents. “He created L’Heure Bleue after an immense emotional experience one evening while crossing the Pont Neuf, right there,” Saint-Genis says, speaking from her office, just a stone’s throw from the bridge, with a sweeping view of Paris.

The Pont Neuf bridge at blue hour.
Photo: Courtesy of Guerlain

“He witnessed the blue hour — a suspended moment when the whole atmosphere is bathed in blue, creating a feeling of immense peace. It’s also a moment when plants and flowers release their most beautiful fragrances,” she continues. “He was fascinated by the beauty of the scene. Afterward, he spent two years trying to recreate it. Jacques was an artist, and perfume was his way of expressing himself — capturing through fragrance this extraordinary moment he had experienced.”

As for the new L’Heure Bleue by Delphine Jelk, Guerlain’s director of perfume creation? “Delphine started with a question: if Jacques Guerlain were here today, with access to the full olfactory palette now available to perfumers, how would he create what we call the ‘fragrance of the sky’?” Saint-Genis says. Jelk’s creation has “a slightly marine, salty, ozonic character created through Cascalone,” according to the CEO. Jelk also introduced a world first: an iris tincture, resulting in an iris “that feels luminous, light, and crystalline.”

Jacques Guerlain, the legendary perfumer behind some of the house’s most iconic fragrances.
Photo: Getty Images

The new L’Heure Bleue launches globally on Friday, following its earlier release in China this month. The two fragrances are going to coexist. “We’re going to cherish [the first L’Heure Bleue] like a treasure. The only difference is that it will be called L’Heure Bleue 1912, which is Jacques Guerlain’s creation, and the new L’Heure Bleue, which is Delphine Jelk’s creation,” Saint-Genis explains. “Rather than inventing perfumes from scratch, we find it interesting to look back at our heritage. I think we’re living in an era where there’s a certain need to hold on to something solid.”

L’Heure Bleue marks Guerlain’s first major women’s fragrance launch in nearly a decade.
Photo: Courtesy of Guerlain

The new L’Heure Bleue is priced at €169 for 100ml, €122 for 50ml, and €86 for 30ml. “We wanted — and needed — a global flagship [fragrance] that would be ‘accessible’. That’s why it comes in 30ml at less than €100,” Saint-Genis says. (L’Heure Bleue 1912 eau de parfum is priced at €147 for 75ml.)

She continues: “Fragrance can go very far at Guerlain when it comes to sophistication. That said, our vision — and my vision, in particular — is that Guerlain is not a house of elitist exclusivity. What we wanted to do was really offer the exceptional quality of Guerlain at those prices.”

The venerable French perfume house was founded by Jacques’s grandfather, Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain, in 1828. In 1994, the Guerlain family sold a majority stake to LVMH. LVMH doesn’t break out sales for each house in its perfumes and cosmetics division, which generated €8.2 billion in 2025, but Guerlain contributes betweenBetween €1.2 billion and €1.5 billion, according to Bernstein estimates, while HSBC estimates that Parfums Christian Dior accounts for roughly €3.9 billion. The rest likely comes from the division’s other brands, such as Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Acqua di Parma, Parfums Givenchy, Kenzo Parfums, Loewe Perfumes, Make Up For Ever, and Benefit. Sales in this division fell 1% in the second quarter of 2026, which LVMH CFO Cécile Cabanis blamed on a focus on selective distribution and struggles in travel retail. In its Q2 earnings report, LVMH noted that Guerlain saw strong growth.

The new L’Heure Bleue is priced at €169 for 100ml, €122 for 50ml, and €86 for 30ml.
Photo: Courtesy of Guerlain

Drawing on Guerlain’s heritage is also a way to strengthen its fragrance expertise and credibility at a time when competition is heating up. “The fragrance market is tending to split between accessible prestige and very high-priced, ultra-premium collections,” says Pierre Tegnér, equity analyst at financial firm Oddo BHF. “Launching a mainstream fragrance can help respond to this trend while also testing the brand’s legitimacy at this price point.” The accessible prestige segment is highly competitive, especially with brands in the L’Oréal Luxe portfolio like Lancôme, Valentino, Prada, and Yves Saint Laurent.

Guerlain is already very strong in the ultra-high-end segment: L’Art & La Matière, its fastest-growing fragrance collection, is priced at €335 for 100ml, going up to €550 for 50ml in its Les Extraits line.

Fragrance is Guerlain’s growth category, expanding at double-digit rates, according to Saint-Genis, who previously worked at Parfums Christian Dior and served as CEO of Make Up For Ever before taking over at Guerlain in 2023. (Skincare remains the largest category, but she says it will soon be on par with fragrance in terms of size.) The house has fewer than 100 boutiques and around 50 spas worldwide, but Saint-Genis says the company is in no “frantic race” to open more. “Guerlain is a very high-end house. I think we need to convey a sense of rarity.”

The Guerlain spa on the Orient Express Corinthian.
Photo: Courtesy of Guerlain

In terms of global growth, the US stands out as a major opportunity as the house’s reliance on Asia decreases. Saint-Genis says that four years ago, Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Asian travel retail accounted for more than half of the business; that’s now closer to a third.

While the fragrance industry has been driven by new formats like body mists, Saint-Genis says the house doesn’t need to rush in that direction with L’Heure Bleue. But she sees the growing consumer trend of fragrance layering as an opportunity. “But you can’t layer just anything. For example, if you layer L’Heure Bleue with Mitsouko, it doesn’t work. On the other hand, Les Extraits are excellent for layering. Typically, in store, if you like L’Heure Bleue, our sales advisors can explain that pairing it with the Vanille Planifolia Extrait 21 extract, or the Iris Pallida Extrait 6 extract, is absolutely beautiful.”

Mostly, Guerlain is choosing to rely instead on its nearly two centuries of heritage to reinvent itself and stay relevant.

“When you manage to turn tradition into modernity, it really resonates with what young people are looking for right now,” says Saint-Genis. “It’s an obvious point of difference. Who else has 200 years of history in fragrance? So yes, looking at what has been extraordinary in our 200 years of history — there are a lot of people who are going to be interested in that.”

Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about Guerlains new version of LHeure Bleue written in a natural and informative tone

General Questions

Q Wait is Guerlain discontinuing the original LHeure Bleue
A No the original LHeure Bleue is a legendary classic and isnt being discontinued Guerlain is introducing a new interpretation or flanker of it which means they are creating a new scent inspired by the original not replacing it

Q So what exactly is this new version called
A While the specific name can vary by region its essentially a reimagining The key point is that its a new composition that plays with the originals themes rather than a simple repackaging

Q Why is Guerlain doing this now
A Guerlain often revisits its heritage perfumes to introduce them to a new generation This new version is likely a way to modernize the scents profile using contemporary ingredients and techniques to make the classic blue hour feeling more accessible to modern tastes while celebrating the houses history

Q Ive never smelled the original What does the blue hour actually mean
A The Blue Hour refers to that magical time between day and night just after sunset when the sky turns a deep ethereal blue The original perfume was created in 1912 to capture that dreamy melancholic and beautiful moment

The Scent Composition

Q How does the new version smell compared to the original
A The original LHeure Bleue is a rich powdery and intensely romantic floral with notes of iris violet anise and heliotrope The new version is expected to be a bit lighter and airier Think of it as the same mood but with a more transparent modern feelperhaps with brighter citrus top notes and a softer less heavy base

Q Is it a complete reformulation or just a new flanker