The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
A fan once asked Pierre Guillaume to make a sandalwood-hazelnut fragrance, with one condition: nothing sweet. The year was 2009, during one of those in-store conversations between creator and collector that small perfume houses can pull off and larger houses simply cannot. Guillaume's response was a challenge accepted. The result was 18.1, a number in a series, a formula that pushed against the grain of what a nut fragrance was supposed to smell like. Released as a limited edition in 2011, it sold out within days and spent the next decade as a collector's item changing hands at inflated prices. The demand never stopped. So in 2023, Pierre Guillaume Paris brought it back. Not as a reissue. As a permanent addition. The dare, finally answered for good.
Hazelnut is a tricky material. In perfumery, it tends toward confectionery sweetness, the smell of nougat and praline treats rather than the roasted nut itself. The challenge was to find the nut without the sugar. The solution lives in the base: fleur de sel, the sea salt, which cuts through any temptation toward sweetness and anchors the composition in something mineral, almost savory. Heliotrope provides the powdery lift that makes the sandalwood feel larger than it might otherwise, giving the heart volume without adding weight. Cedarwood adds verticality, a woody spine that holds everything upright. The result is a fragrance where nuttiness and woodiness coexist without either one collapsing into sweetness.
The evolution
The opening is hazelnut and nothing else. Roasted, dark, slightly bitter. No apology for not being sweet. Fleur de sel arrives quickly, reminding you this isn't dessert. Heliotrope emerges in the heart phase, bringing a powdery softness that expands the sandalwood without softening it. The wood becomes more present as the nut recedes, not replacing it but making room. By the drydown, the cedar has stiffened the sandalwood into something vertical, almost architectural, and the salt has drifted into the wood itself, giving it the character of driftwood rather than a perfumery accord. This is where it stays. Intimate. Mineral. Close. The projection is moderate throughout, never shouting, always present. Six to eight hours on most skin types, settling into something quieter rather than disappearing.
Cultural impact
Praliné de Santal 18.1 occupies an unusual position in the landscape of nutty fragrances. Most hazelnut compositions lean into sweetness, the olfactory equivalent of a confectionery display. This one refuses that direction entirely. The salt, the sandalwood, the cedar, the absence of any vanilla or tonka that might round things into comfort. It appeals to a specific kind of wearer: someone who wants the richness of a gourmand without the sugar, who finds typical praline fragrances too sweet and too obvious. The reintroduction in 2023 after over a decade of collector demand suggests there are more of those wearers than the market had been serving.
