[6] He was educated in England, in keeping with family tradition,[7] and then in Paris at the École Monge[8] where he studied history, English, German, Greek and Latin.

[12] He experimented widely in both cosmetics and fragrance, perfecting a method for perfuming ink[13] while publishing with Justin Dupont on the subject of various essential oils.

[16] The grimly named Fleur Qui Meurt (1901) was a novel experiment with violet (created in perfumery via synthesis),[17] a common accord in Guerlain's oeuvre.

This perfume, translated as "After the Rains" and described at its release as "melancholy" by La Liberté,[21] was a continuation in Guerlain's experiments with notes of heliotrope and violet.

[22] Due to affordable synthetics, this accord was popular in mainstream perfumery, though Guerlain's treatment, incorporating anisic aldehyde, eugenol and large quantities of orris root,[23] was considered exemplary by many, including perfumer Ernest Beaux.

[27] An aesthete of diverse tastes, Guerlain purchased Nevers faience,[28] and from Rouen[29] manufactories alongside furniture by André Charles Boulle[30] and Bernard II van Risamburgh[31] (since acquired by the Louvre), paintings by Francisco Goya,[32] Édouard Manet[33] and Claude Monet (including The Magpie)[34] and antique books.

[35] Guerlain's passion for Impressionism and its distinctive effets de soir are thought to have influenced L’Heure Bleue (1912), meaning "The Blue Hour".

[44] Mitsouko, an imposing chypre, has also been interpreted as representing the new post-war woman, contrasted against her pre-war past as rendered in L’Heure Bleue, an essentially soft, ambery floral.

Liú (1929), named after the Tartar slave girl of Puccini’s opera Turandot, reflected Guerlain's admiration for the composer, and was his first aldehydic floral.

[54] In the years following appeared Sous le Vent (1934), referencing the Leeward Islands and created for Josephine Baker, followed by Coque d’Or (1937), inspired by Diaghilev’s staging of Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel, set in the Caucasus.

[55] At the outbreak of World War II, Jacques Guerlain’s youngest son, Pierre, then 21 years old, was mobilized and fatally wounded in Baron along the River Oise.

[63] His final creations include Fleur de Feu (1948), a cool aldehydic, and, four years later, the unusually coarse Atuana (a variant spelling of Atuona), named after the last resting place of painter Paul Gauguin.

[65] In 1956 Guerlain reluctantly agreed to be photographed in his laboratory and country home by Willy Ronis for a special in Air France Revue.

Paul Gauguin is referenced in his work, as are authors Claude Farrère and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, composers Giacomo Puccini and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and various celebrities including Josephine Baker, Sarah Bernhardt, Sergei Diaghilev and Marius Petipa.

[99] Turin continues: Certain materials are ubiquitous in Guerlain’s work: high quality citruses (bergamot, citron, mandarin, sweet and bitter orange), coumarin, floral absolutes (cassie, jasmine, rose, orange blossom), green notes (galbanum), violet-smelling ionones and fine qualities of orris, vanilla and ylang-ylang.

He had a fondness for aromatic spices (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, croton, nutmeg) and certain herbes de Provence (absinthe, angelica, basil, bay leaf, caraway, coriander, cumin, tarragon).

[101] He was a specialist on aromatic resins (benzoin, labdanum); indeed he used opoponax in most of his formulae, sometimes in mere trace quantities - imperceptible in and of itself though lending to the overall texture of the perfume.

[102] As to ambergris, according to a supplier, Guerlain would say, "You sell this product at a shameful price; it smells of almost nothing, but my clients stop liking my perfumes when I put none in.

[115] His creative process varied greatly according to the work in question; certain of his formulae are relatively short, including that of Mitsouko (1919) which lists a mere twelve materials.

[117] While generally methodical, Guerlain could sometimes prove impulsive; a popular rumour suggests that he emptied a sample of ethylvanillin, provided by Justin Dupont, into a flask of his uncle's Jicky (1889), thereby striking upon the initial concept for Shalimar.

[123] Marcel Billot, founding president of the French Society of Perfumers, aptly described Guerlain as "a genius who knew to be of his time while living nonetheless in keeping with tradition.

In this sense, perfumes such as Vol de Nuit (1933) and Sous le Vent (1933) may be considered precursory of bolder works including Paul Vacher’s Miss Dior (1947).

[129] Among the many perfumes composed by Guerlain, it is perhaps natural that some are easily mistakable; these are frequently subtle variations of the house's signature 'Guerlinade' rapidly devised for a specific event or celebrity.