Bee Garden c2023

Bee Garden was launched in 2023 as part of Guerlain’s celebration of the 170th anniversary of the iconic “Abeilles” (Bee) bottle, originally created in 1853 for Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III. The choice of name—Bee Garden—is no accident. The bee has been an enduring emblem of Guerlain ever since the house became perfumer to Napoleon, for whom the bee symbolized immortality and resurrection. To invoke a “garden of bees” in fragrance form is to weave together Guerlain’s heritage with its deep ties to nature, beauty, and artistry.

The name itself is evocative. A bee garden conjures visions of sunlit meadows, buzzing with golden-winged bees darting among blossoms heavy with nectar. It suggests harmony between humans, flowers, and nature’s most industrious creatures. Emotionally, it speaks of joy, vibrancy, and renewal, while also resonating with Guerlain’s history of environmental consciousness and devotion to bees, whose survival is tied to global ecological health.

Launched in the early 2020s, Bee Garden appeared in a cultural moment defined by sustainability, wellness, and a return to nature. This era—often referred to as the post-pandemic period—saw consumers increasingly drawn to authenticity, natural ingredients, and products that connect them to the earth. Fashion was marked by an interplay of nostalgia and modern minimalism, while perfumery leaned toward transparency, lightness, and clean floral or fruity accords. Against this backdrop, Guerlain’s Bee Garden resonated both as a tribute to history and a response to contemporary desires for fragrances that feel fresh, optimistic, and grounded in nature.

For women of this time, a perfume named Bee Garden would have carried both romantic and ecological connotations. It would suggest a light, uplifting scent designed for everyday wear, but also an invitation to celebrate the natural world and Guerlain’s own commitment to bee preservation. Interpreted in olfactory terms, Bee Garden paints its picture with juicy, zesty rhubarb and bergamot, followed by a floral heart of neroli, jasmine, and rose, evoking blossoms alive with pollinators. The base—cedar, black tea, and sandalwood—grounds the fragrance, suggesting the earth and quietude beneath the garden’s surface hum.

In the wider landscape of perfumery in 2023, Bee Garden was not a radical departure, but rather an elegant alignment with prevailing trends. Fruity-floral compositions, transparent florals, and tea-inspired nuances were all popular in the 2020s, reflecting consumers’ preferences for lighter, more versatile scents. What made Guerlain’s creation unique, however, was the way it anchored these contemporary trends in heritage, tying the narrative of bees and gardens back to the maison’s nearly two centuries of artistry. This blend of history and modernity ensured that Bee Garden stood out not only as a fragrance, but as a symbolic statement of Guerlain’s ongoing identity.

Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like? Bee Garden by Guerlain is classified as a fruity floral fragrance for women. 

• Top notes: rhubarb and bergamot
• Middle notes: neroli, jasmine and rose
• Base notes:black tea, cedar and sandalwood

 

Scent Profile:

Smelling Bee Garden for the first time feels like stepping into a luminous orchard at dawn, where every note unfurls like a petal in sunlight. The fragrance begins with the startling freshness of rhubarb, its sharp, tangy bite carrying both a green crispness and a juicy, tart sweetness. In perfumery, rhubarb often owes its sparkle to molecules like rhubafuran and aldehydes, which accentuate its vivid, mouthwatering brightness. Here, it creates a lively jolt, like breaking a rhubarb stalk and releasing its dew-soaked freshness into the air. 

Alongside it, bergamot from Calabria softens the sharpness with citrus elegance. This bergamot—renowned as the finest in the world thanks to Calabria’s fertile soil and Mediterranean climate—brings its nuanced balance of floral, fruity, and slightly herbal tones. Molecules such as linalyl acetate and limonene give it effervescence, while subtle bitter facets tether it to the earth. Together, rhubarb and bergamot open Bee Garden with a dance of tart vitality and radiant citrus light, a reminder of fruit and blossom existing in perfect harmony.

As the brightness mellows, the heart reveals its opulent floral trio. First comes neroli, distilled from the blossoms of the bitter orange tree, traditionally sourced from Tunisia or Morocco where the dry, sun-soaked climate produces flowers of exquisite intensity. Neroli radiates a luminous freshness, its character both citrusy and floral, airy yet honeyed, enhanced by natural molecules like linalool and nerolidol that lend sparkle and green nuances. Woven into this is jasmine, likely the precious jasmine sambac or grandiflorum, cultivated in regions such as India or Grasse. Jasmine here is voluptuous and creamy, its heady white floral depth tinged with animalic warmth from indole, which heightens sensuality and complexity. 

Balanced against this richness is rose, the eternal symbol of Guerlain’s romantic signature. Whether May rose from Grasse with its honeyed softness or Turkish damask with its deeper, spiced facets, rose contributes petal-sheen clarity, with aroma chemicals such as citronellol and geraniol amplifying its dewy, fruity freshness. Together, this heart feels like wandering through a garden in full bloom—sunlight filtering through blossoms alive with bees, each flower distinct yet bound together in harmonious chorus.

The base provides grounding warmth, deepening the garden into something more meditative and enduring. Black tea lends a dry, tannic nuance, its smoky-leathery facets evoking leaves steeped in shadow and sun, touched with the faint bitterness of dried herbs. Aroma molecules such as theaflavins or recreated accords add a textured, almost leathery warmth that enhances the florals by contrast. This is intertwined with cedarwood, often Virginian or Atlas cedar, with its pencil-sharp crispness and resinous dryness. Cedrol and thujopsene in cedar amplify its woody elegance, creating the clean, linear backbone that steadies the more effervescent notes. Finally, sandalwood, perhaps the sustainably cultivated variety from Australia or India, imparts its creamy, velvety richness. With santalol molecules contributing both soft sweetness and subtle smokiness, sandalwood lingers like warm skin, smoothing every edge of the composition.

Smelled as a whole, Bee Garden is not simply a fruity floral but a carefully orchestrated fragrance in which natural materials are heightened by synthetics that draw out their most luminous facets. The tart greenness of rhubarb becomes more vivid, the floral bouquet more expansive, the woods and tea more resonant—all amplified by careful molecular interplay. It feels at once modern and timeless: bright and playful in its opening, elegant and romantic in its floral heart, contemplative and grounded in its base. Like bees moving from blossom to blossom, it carries the essence of a garden alive with color, scent, and quiet wonder.

 

Bottle:

Guerlain introduces Bee Garden in a remarkable pairing with an exceptional limited-edition flacon, conceived as both a perfume and a work of art. To celebrate this launch, the House entrusted French artist Céline Cléron, whose acclaimed work La Régente demonstrates her sensitivity to natural forms and poetic detail. Cléron was invited to reinterpret the legendary “Abeilles” bottle through a contemporary lens, creating an object that bridges Guerlain’s heritage with modern artistry.

The result is a whimsical porcelain biscuit garden, a miniature tableau that feels at once enchanting and timeless. In this reimagined world, flora and fauna coexist in harmony, evoking the delicate balance that bees—Guerlain’s eternal emblem—symbolize. Bees and butterflies dance across the surface, their wings seemingly caught mid-flight, while 24-carat gold flowers punctuate the porcelain landscape with glimmers of radiant light. These golden blossoms are not mere decoration; they exude a subtle fragrance, as though the garden itself were alive and breathing with perfume.

By combining porcelain’s refined matte finish with luminous gilding, Cléron has created an object of tactile and visual delight. The design suggests both a secret garden and a shrine to nature’s fragile beauty, encapsulating Guerlain’s philosophy of honoring heritage, craftsmanship, and the living world. This exceptional edition elevates Bee Garden beyond the realm of fragrance, transforming it into a collector’s treasure, a poetic fusion of artistry and olfactive imagination.