Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice (2000)
by Guerlain

I've tried to like this but I can't weara it at all. I will take the reviewers' advice and try it out as a homespray.

As a Guerlain lover, I was delighted to finally get a bottle of this winter/Christmas fragrance. As I am an incense lover a la Serge Lutens' Ambre Sultan, 10 Corso Como, and Guerlain's Bois d'Armenie, I was happy to add another incense fragrance to my collection. Rather than opening with a blast of pine as some reviewers stated, I got a soft (I mean soft) sweet gingerbread/incense with just a hint of outdoorsiness (more like the smell of a cold winter night--how they captured this, I will always wonder!). The drydown is even better and the scent lasted all day on me. It's a complex little scent, and although I don't like every frag in the Aqua Allegoria line, this is now my most favorite of the line. Lovely on a woman or a man.

I'm ambivalent about this scent. If you are a fan of Aqua Allegorias you might really enjoy it. For myself, while I appreciate many of the AAs (and am a great fan of many of the Guerlain line), I don't tend to find them very wearable.

I liked this when sprayed in the store, and there was but one left, and on sale, so I bought it. When I tried to wear Winter Delice, however, I got a strange metallic note. Not like blood, exactly, and not dirty like some metals nor particularly cold like some others. And yes, there is something reminiscent of Old Spice in Winter Delice. But that isn't a bad thing, and in fact I bought a bottle of Old Spice for myself at one point. (I don't wear it either.)

Since I should appreciate Winter Delice based on notes, reviews, and opinions I respect, I kept at it, and discovered that I needed to spray it on a bit more generously. Dabbing cautiously from a tester vial gave me the metallic odeur, but two spritzes and I could smell spices. In one of the spices I recognize something that becomes metallic when there isn't enough of some of the notes there to balance it.

All said and done, I will eventually pass my bottle on to a better home. I like Winter Delice, but I don't love Winter Delice, and I have too many other fragrances that I do love, and do reach for on the days when Winter Delice might be nice.

Pine Trees! But then, finally, far into the drydown is a wonderful warm, sweet vanilla with a touch of resinous sparkle. I like this better on my husband than on myself, and I'm also fond of it as a room fragrance. One spray in a water-filled simmer pot lasts all day. In other words, it's an enjoyable scent, but not something I want on my person. What *is* this obsession with the Allegorias that I seem to have? It's like a sickness.

I couldn't get past the fir and pine...not something I wanted to wear, but wonderful for towels and sheets and using as a homespray!

Fantastic voyage, this.