À cœur perdu. L.B.

French for ‘lost at heart’, this is a fragrance of longing a forbidden love, like that of the love between Count d’Orsay and Lady Blessington. Between the first glance and the moment star-crossed lovers can lay together, there is an interval that seems to last an eternity.

This fragrance hides its truth from the undiscerning, opening with orange blossom, iris, and freshly cleaned sheets. It rushes into a heated base of ambroxan, moss and cashmeran. Each drop is a guilty pleasure, conveniently above all suspicions.

Lady Blessington

À cœur perdu. L.B. is a contemporary version of the original fragrance created by Alfred d’Orsay in 1830 for Lady Blessington, the love of his life.

From the Perfumer

“’À cœur perdu. L.B.’ is a fragrance of absolution, reminding us of those sheets that we hung in the sun, with a breeze of prohibition mixed with orange blossom. A fragrance that starts off like a smile with its notes of citrus fruits and iris, turns into love with orange blossom and becomes carnal with ambroxan.”

— Fanny Bal

History

D’Orsay imagines special fragrances, evoking the universality of the state of love and exploring its many facets: caring love, free, paradoxical, ardent, adventurous, tender, striking, impulsive, sincere, spiritual, secret, tactile, unwavering… D’Orsay perfumes are designed for couples, echoing the first historic fragrance designed in 1830 by Alfred d’Orsay for him and his forbidden lover, Lady Marguerite Blessington. Each creation is named after an index sentence, signed with the initials of a personality whose identity is left to the imagination of each.

MEET THE BRAND

Name: D’Orsay À cœur perdu. L.B. 10ml
Brand: D’Orsay
SKU: 19448
Price: 38.00 GBP
Availability: InStock

D’Orsay

Maison d’Orsay was originally founded in Paris in 1830 by Count Alfred d’Orsay. D’Orsay was known at the time to have been passionate, artistic, and flamboyant. He was an influential icon of the nineteenth century. He sought pleasure at all cost, which resulted in large debts and romantic affairs.

The fragrance house published nearly fifty perfumes that were distributed across the globe, in boutiques in Paris, London, and New York. At the time, the D’Orsay fragrances were highly artistic and forward-thinking, as they were inspired by love and desire, and were designed to be shared by couples. Alfred d’Orsay’s very first fragrance was an ode to his forbidden love of Lady Marguerite Blessington – a love story of illicit desire and intimacy.

In 2015, Amélie Huynh gave Maison d’Orsay a new lease of life, redesigning an olfactory line to honour the brand’s heritage. The fragrances are based on Alfred d’Orsay’s original line-up, reimagined by prestigious perfumers such as Olivia Giacobetti, Mark Buxton, Karine Chevalier, Bertrand Duchaufour, Fanny Bal, and Vincent Ricord.

”Everything we do references the romantic sensibility of Count d’Orsay – from the illicit affair to the sense of carnal desire.”
— Amélie Huynh, CEO & founder

Each fragrance is composed as a declaration of love, exploring its many facets. They are genderless and can be worn by couples, just as the originals by Alfred d’Orsday. Each scent explores duality in some sense, which is a concept echoed throughout the brand. In homage to the lost correspondences between Alfred and Marguerite, each perfume name is composed like a love letter and signed with initials – these initials referring to a secret identity that will never be revealed.

D’Orsay have two boutiques in Paris and one in Tokyo. Each boutique has been meticulously designed to capture the sense of mystique, passion, and eloquence of Count d’Orsay, with sleek woods and brass fittings, with cabinets of multiple drawers in which secret scents are carefully locked away like hidden treasures.

All of the production takes place in France, with fragrances made between Paris and Provencal perfume capital, Grasse. The bottles, caps, and spray mechanisms are also produced in France.

View D’Orsay Collection