With Love c2003

With Love by Guerlain, launched in 2003, was a limited edition fragrance that embodied tenderness, intimacy, and emotion — a poetic gesture from the house that has long been synonymous with romance and refinement. The name With Love was chosen with simplicity and universality in mind — a phrase that transcends language barriers, carrying a personal touch, as if the perfume itself were a handwritten note, sealed with affection. To say something is given “with love” transforms it from a mere object into a token of feeling; it becomes both a gift and an expression of connection. Guerlain’s intent was to create a fragrance that felt like a moment shared — intimate, radiant, and softly sensual — the kind of scent one might wear not just to be noticed, but to be remembered.

The fragrance was conceived by Sylvaine Delacourte and Christine Nagel, two creative forces who captured the delicate balance between emotion and elegance that defines Guerlain’s feminine perfumes. Classified as a floral fragrance for women, With Love blends the brightness of citrus, the freshness of flowers, and the warmth of woods and musk to evoke the emotional landscape of love itself — from its first spark to its lasting comfort. Guerlain described it as a fragrance “where feelings blossom in a floral swirl against a background of musk and amber,” suggesting that beneath its soft romanticism lies a deeper sensuality — the meeting of tenderness and passion, of body and soul.

 

The early 2000s marked a period in perfumery where modern femininity was being redefined. The minimalist, fresh accords of the 1990s were giving way to more emotional, warmer compositions that balanced purity with sensual depth. Fragrances like Dior’s J’Adore (1999) and Chanel’s Chance (2003) reflected this shift — luminous, floral, yet grounded by musky and ambered bases. With Love aligned with this trend but offered Guerlain’s distinctive interpretation — refined, poetic, and understated rather than overtly seductive. It was also the first in a series of annual travel retail exclusives themed around love and romance, aimed at international travelers seeking a fragrance that symbolized affection and emotional connection. Its presentation — elegant yet approachable — was designed to appeal to women who valued both luxury and sentimentality.

The name With Love itself evokes an array of emotions and images: handwritten letters sealed with perfume, quiet moments between lovers, the lingering warmth of a shared embrace. It conjures both nostalgia and sincerity — the universal language of affection expressed through scent. In olfactory terms, this translates to a composition that opens with the sparkling optimism of mandarin orange and lemon, blooms into the tender grace of lily and freesia, and settles into the soft sensuality of sandalwood, amber, musk, and cedar. Together, these notes form a fragrance that feels both intimate and radiant — the scent of affection made tangible.

For the women of the early 2000s, With Love would have represented modern romance — confident, emotional, and elegant without excess. It was not a grand, dramatic statement of passion, but rather a whispered declaration — a scent that lives close to the skin, meant to be discovered rather than announced. Through its name and composition, Guerlain succeeded in capturing the timeless essence of love itself: tender yet enduring, radiant yet personal — a fragrance created, quite literally, with love.

Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like? With Love is classified as a floral fragrance for women.

• Top notes: mandarin orange and lemon
• Middle notes: lily and freesia
• Base notes: sandalwood, amber, musk and cedar

Scent Profile:

With Love by Guerlain opens with a radiant burst of mandarin orange and lemon, immediately setting the tone for a fragrance that feels both tender and alive. The mandarin, most likely from Italy or Sicily where the fruit ripens under golden Mediterranean light, carries a sweetness that is more sunlit and velvety than sharp. Its essential oil is rich in limonene and gamma-terpinene, molecules that create that distinctive juicy, honeyed sparkle — a note that feels like laughter caught on a warm breeze. The lemon, possibly sourced from Calabria, adds an effervescent brilliance to this citrus overture. High in citral, lemon brings a clean and crystalline brightness, cutting through the sweetness of mandarin with a refreshing sharpness, like the first inhale of morning air through open windows. Together, they awaken the senses, evoking the flutter of anticipation that comes with love’s first blush.

As the top notes settle, lily and freesia unfold gracefully, forming the heart of the composition. The lily, with its cool, waxen petals and gently spicy undertone, introduces a serene purity — the scent of white silk and dew-covered blossoms at dawn. Depending on the extraction, lily’s aroma is often reconstructed through molecules such as hydroxycitronellal and lilyal, which capture its ethereal, green, and subtly soapy nuances. These synthetics lend a sense of realism and transparency, enhancing the natural effect while ensuring stability — the impression of a living flower in perpetual bloom. 

The freesia, a flower long prized in perfumery for its soft, peppery freshness, complements the lily beautifully. Freesia’s scent is delicate yet vibrant, a blend of green citrus facets and creamy petals supported by ionones — aroma molecules also found in violets. These ionones give it a powdery, slightly fruity radiance that enhances the airy, romantic quality of the bouquet.

Beneath this luminous floral heart lies the foundation that gives With Love its sensual warmth and emotional depth. Sandalwood, most likely Indian or Australian, forms the core of this base. The prized Mysore sandalwood — rich in santalols — imparts a creamy, almost milky woodiness that is both grounding and comforting. Its modern replacements, sustainably sourced Australian sandalwoods and synthetic sandalwood molecules like javanol or polysantol, recreate the smooth, velvety texture with a slightly cleaner tone. This note feels like a caress — skin warmed by touch, love expressed in closeness rather than words.

Amber adds its golden warmth, built through accords combining resins, labdanum, and vanillic nuances. It brings an almost honeyed, sun-drenched glow that bridges the floral heart with the sensual base. Musk then envelops the composition like soft fabric — clean, slightly powdery, and intimately skin-like. Modern synthetic musks such as galaxolide or muscenone replace the natural animalic variety, bringing a soft-focus sensuality that makes the scent linger close to the skin, like a whispered secret. Finally, cedar, most likely Virginian, contributes a dry, woody elegance. Its naturally occurring cedrol gives it a smooth pencil-shaving facet, lending structure and refinement — the quiet strength beneath the perfume’s tender heart.

Together, these elements form a fragrance that feels like the memory of an embrace — citrus brightness fading into floral warmth, anchored by woods and musk that linger like affection itself. With Love is not loud, but it resonates; it captures the tenderness of connection and the emotional quiet that follows the rush of romance. Each note feels intentional — from the sunny optimism of its opening to the sensual warmth of its base — a delicate harmony of emotion and elegance that could only come from Guerlain.

Bottle:

Presented in a modified form of the Bouchon Coeur flacon, the word 'Love' is written in different languages in pink script all over the bottle.

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Fate of the Fragrance:

Likely discontinued around 2006