Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Flora Nerolia

When Gueralin released Aqua Allegoria Flora Nerolia in 2000, the ad campaign said something about "The New Emotion". Someone who's only familiar with the newer part of the Aqua Allegoria line would probably raise an eyebrow, as very few of these perfumes seem to have any emotion going on, let alone a new one. But Flora Nerolia, a Mathilde Laurent creation (later attributed to Jean Paul Guerlain), has enough personality and, yes, even emotion to offer.

Flora Nerolia opens with a nice and rich neroli note. It's not quite as thick and sweet as the legendary one from L'Occitane, but enough to be both sunny, honeyed and satisfying. But soon things change in unexpected directions. Full bodied (and then some) jasmine, heady and more than a little indolic. It's a heat of the night kind of thing; quite voluptuous. However, if you think you know where Flora Nerolia is going, think again. There's a bunch of ideas going on there all at once- from honeysuckle and vintage French soap to incense, cold and churchy. All that, while there's still a lot of naughty jasmine playing its game on warm skin.

So, what is the new emotion promised by Guerlain (and am I the only one who wonders if they took this line from Here Comes The Rain Again by Eurythmics)? Actually, I'm not sure if the emotion is so new. The playful battle between sacred and profane, pure and filthy was not invented by Guerlain perfumers. But they did give it a fun and wearable interpretation, that was sadly discontinued by the Powers That Be several years ago.

For another review of Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Flora Nerolia see Perfume Shrine.

Photos of Madonna from her Like A Virgin video, found somewhere on the web. The Eurythmycs clip is from a 2007 live show. I think its phenomenal . The original that rocked my 13 year old world is here.