Violette à Deux Sous by Guerlain, launched in 1890, is one of those perfumes whose very name tells a story. In French, Violette à Deux Sous (pronounced roughly “vee-oh-LET ah duh soo”) translates to “Two-Penny Violet.” The name itself was inspired by a type of postage stamp, an everyday object that carried connotations of charm, accessibility, and sentiment. To the modern ear, the phrase evokes a playful mix of refinement and simplicity—something delicate yet within reach, a floral treasure that spoke both of romance and familiarity. The imagery of violets paired with something as ordinary as a small coin suggests the perfume was meant to appeal not only to elegance and fashion but also to the intimacy of daily life.
The period in which the fragrance was introduced—1890—was a fascinating time in France and Europe. This was the Belle Époque, a cultural high point marked by optimism, artistic innovation, and prosperity. Paris was the undisputed capital of style and taste, where fashion, art, and perfumery intertwined to shape modern luxury. Women of the time embraced tightly cinched waists, long gowns adorned with lace and velvet, and elaborate hats, often trimmed with flowers. Trends leaned toward the romantic and feminine, and fragrance was an essential accessory in a woman’s toilette. Violet perfumes, in particular, were fashionable throughout the 19th century, symbolizing innocence, modesty, and a certain coquettish charm. To wear a perfume named Violette à Deux Sous would have felt both stylish and relatable, tying into the floral trends of the era while offering a poetic, slightly whimsical association.
As a perfume, Violette à Deux Sous was a delicate soliflore centered around the violet, with a grounding vetiver base to give the fragrance depth and persistence. Guerlain’s interpretation highlighted the powdery sweetness of violet—a note that at the time was often crafted through tinctures and natural extracts. Yet the late 19th century also marked the rise of synthetic aromachemicals. Compounds such as ionones and irones, which beautifully replicated and even amplified the scent of violet blossoms, became a cornerstone of violet perfumery. They allowed perfumers greater consistency and intensity in their compositions, reducing reliance on costly or difficult-to-obtain natural extracts. Guerlain’s version thus reflected both tradition and modernity: rooted in natural accords yet elevated through the precision of new chemistry.
Though violet perfumes were ubiquitous in the 19th century—nearly every perfumer had their own version—Guerlain distinguished Violette à Deux Sous through refinement and artistry. Recipes for violet fragrances circulated widely in formularies of the day, with small tweaks or additions giving each house its signature. Guerlain’s artistry lay in capturing not only the floral sweetness of violets but also their delicacy, tempering it with earthier, elegant touches like vetiver. This lent the fragrance both sophistication and originality within a well-established trend. Its enduring appeal is evident in Jacques Guerlain’s decision to reintroduce and reformulate it in 1936, updating the composition for a new generation while keeping its essential charm intact.
In scent, the name Violette à Deux Sous can be interpreted as both poetic and playful. It conjures images of freshly gathered violets tucked into a ribboned bouquet, carrying whispers of innocence, romance, and nostalgia. For women of the Belle Époque, it was the perfect blend of fashionable floral refinement and approachable everyday charm—an olfactory emblem of its time.
Parfums Préparés par Condensation:
Violette à Deux Sous held a particularly notable place within Guerlain’s “Parfums Préparés par Condensation” series, a collection that epitomized both technical innovation and artistic refinement. The phrase itself, literally meaning “Perfumes Prepared by Condensation”, referred to the advanced process of steam distillation—a technique that allowed perfumers to extract the purest essence from flowers, leaves, and spices. By exposing plant material to steam, volatile aromatic molecules were released, carried into vapor, then cooled and condensed back into liquid form, yielding a concentrated essential oil. Unlike older methods such as enfleurage or maceration, which captured fragrance through fats or alcohol, steam distillation revealed a fragrance in its most complete and nuanced state, preserving delicate top notes and extending the perfume’s longevity. For Guerlain, presenting perfumes under this label was a declaration of mastery: these were not ordinary compositions, but creations that stood at the forefront of 19th-century perfumery science and artistry.
Within this series, each perfume was carefully distinguished by its personality and character. Le Jardin de Mon Curé was described as flowery, persistent, and original, evoking pastoral simplicity elevated by technical finesse. Belle France shone with freshness and persistence, while Bouquet Mademoiselle was suave—smooth, polished, and charming in its refined elegance. Some, like Cyprisine and Tsao-Ko, were defined by being accentué, their notes sharpened and heightened to leave a bold, unmistakable impression. Others, such as Dix Pétales de Roses or Paris Nouveau, offered flowery, sweet, or suave tones that appealed to romantic and fashionable tastes of the time. Grande Maréchale and Gavotte showcased originality and lasting depth, while Rodomel blended sweetness and suave warmth. Young Princess concluded the collection with a soft, sweet sophistication.
Within this framework, Violette à Deux Sous was celebrated as sweet, persistent, and suave—a violet soliflore elevated beyond the ordinary through Guerlain’s artistry. Its sweetness aligned it with the tender charm and modest grace of violets themselves, while its persistence ensured it lingered gracefully on the skin far longer than most soliflores of the period. The descriptor suave underscored its polish: this was no rustic violet plucked from the hedgerow, but an elegant, urbane interpretation designed to appeal to refined women of the Belle Époque. By situating Violette à Deux Sous within the “Parfums Préparés par Condensation” series, Guerlain presented it not simply as one violet fragrance among many, but as a technically advanced and artistically distinctive composition—one that married natural delicacy with enduring sophistication.
Fragrance Composition:
So what does it smell like? Violette à Deux Sous is classified as a delicate violet soliflore fragrance with a vetiver base.
- Top notes: bergamot, lemon, neroli, orange peel, cassie, bitter almond
- Middle notes: jasmine, rose, tuberose, ylang ylang, violet, ionone, orris
- Base notes: vanilla, benzoin, musk, oakmoss, ambrette, ambergris, tolu balsam, vetiver, sandalwood
Scent Profile:
Violette à Deux Sous unfolds like a soft watercolor, its notes blooming one by one as if painted in translucent layers. At first sniff, the fragrance opens with a sparkling burst of bergamot and lemon, bright and zesty, their citral molecules delivering a sunlit sharpness that immediately lifts the composition. This brightness is softened by neroli from Tunisian orange blossoms, whose honeyed floral tones, enriched with naturally occurring linalool and nerolidol, provide both freshness and depth.
The addition of orange peel contributes a slightly bitter candied edge, evoking marmalade’s contrast between sweet and sharp. Nestled within this citrus opening, cassie (Acacia farnesiana) lends its warm, powdery mimosa-like note, rich in ionones and heliotropin, which already begins to whisper of violets. A touch of bitter almond adds a subtle marzipan warmth through benzaldehyde, foreshadowing the gourmand undercurrent to come.
The heart of the perfume reveals its true character. Violet steps forward with its delicate, powdery sweetness—an effect largely due to ionones, aroma molecules that mimic the ephemeral scent of violet blossoms, which naturally yield little essence. Here, ionone not only recreates the flower’s airy, nostalgic charm but also bridges seamlessly with orris root, whose buttery, powdery-ironic texture deepens the violet theme and adds a vintage elegance.
Jasmine and tuberose, abundant in indoles, enrich the heart with sensuality, while ylang-ylang from the Comoros brings a creamy, banana-like nuance, smoothing the floral bouquet. Rose, with its geraniol and citronellol facets, adds brightness and romance, tying the florals into a lush garland where violet remains the star, delicately cushioned by the surrounding blooms.
The base anchors the fragrance with warmth and depth, transforming the fragile violet into something enduring. Vanilla and benzoin wrap the composition in soft sweetness, their vanillin and cinnamic resins offering a balsamic glow. Tolu balsam, with its warm, ambery spiciness, and ambergris, prized for its salty-skin undertone, lend a subtle radiance that keeps the sweetness from becoming cloying.
Musk and ambrette seed give a clean yet animalic softness, the ambrette’s natural muscone adding refinement and a vegetal warmth. Oakmoss, earthy and slightly leathery, anchors the floral delicacy in a chypre-like depth, while vetiver provides a cool, woody-grassy dryness, tempering the sweetness and extending the violet’s powdery elegance. Finally, sandalwood, with its creamy, lactonic notes, lends a lingering softness, making the fragrance feel rounded and intimate.
Smelling Violette à Deux Sous is like tracing the journey of violet through every possible light: sparkling citrus and green freshness at dawn, powdery floral sweetness by afternoon, and finally, an enveloping warmth as evening falls. The clever interplay of naturals and synthetics—especially ionones with orris and violet—ensures that this delicate flower, so fleeting in reality, lingers with tenderness and quiet grace on the skin.
Bottles:
Violette à Deux Sous was originally presented in two of Guerlain’s most characteristic 19th-century bottles, the Carré flacon and the Flacon Plat, both used for extrait de parfum. The Carré flacon, with its simple, squared form, reflected the restrained elegance of early Guerlain packaging—functional yet dignified, designed to emphasize the precious liquid within rather than the container itself. The Flacon Plat, or “flat bottle,” was another signature of the period, favored for its slim, easily portable profile and its ability to display colorful paper labels. In both formats, the perfume carried the air of refinement that marked Guerlain’s earliest presentations, aligning perfectly with the soliflore delicacy of violet, a note long associated with grace, modesty, and feminine charm.
By 1902, Guerlain introduced Violette à Deux Sous in the Louis XVI flacon, a bottle whose neoclassical styling reflected the era’s revivalist tastes. This flacon, often decorated with gilded accents and intricate details, spoke to the Belle Époque fascination with opulence and historicism. Its form suggested stability and grandeur, connecting the perfume not only to contemporary luxury but also to a sense of timeless French elegance. The shift from the more modest Carré and Flacon Plat to the Louis XVI presentation marked Guerlain’s growing emphasis on packaging artistry as a means of elevating their perfumes beyond mere commodities into coveted objets d’art. In this bottle, Violette à Deux Sous became more than a fragrance; it was a statement of refinement, situating the delicate violet soliflore within the enduring lineage of French decorative tradition.
Fate of the Fragrance:
Violette à Deux Sous remained on Guerlain’s shelves long after its 1890 debut, a testament to the enduring appeal of violet perfumes during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Records confirm that it was still being sold in 1938, nearly half a century after its launch, which underscores both its popularity and the house’s confidence in its timeless charm. The fragrance bridged eras—beginning in the Belle Époque, with its fondness for soliflore perfumes and genteel romanticism, and extending into the interwar years, when perfumery was shifting toward bolder, more abstract compositions. Yet, Guerlain continued to offer Violette à Deux Sous to its clientele, suggesting that the fragrance had become a comforting classic, a familiar name that evoked nostalgia and stability in changing times.
The exact date of discontinuation remains unknown, which adds to its air of mystery. Its longevity in Guerlain’s catalog demonstrates the house’s understanding of its customers: violet was not simply a fashionable note, but one deeply tied to cultural memory, sentimentality, and refinement. For some women, Violette à Deux Sous may have represented the elegance of their youth, while for younger generations it carried the charm of something delicately old-fashioned yet undeniably graceful. Its presence in the 1930s also shows how Guerlain balanced innovation with tradition, offering daring new creations alongside beloved staples from decades earlier. In this way, Violette à Deux Sous lived on as both a fragrance and a relic of Guerlain’s heritage until it eventually disappeared, quietly, its discontinuation unmarked by a specific date but remembered through its long presence.
