Reviews of Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice (2000)
by Guerlain

This is bright and shiny… morning sun rays bouncing off crystallized snow. The coniferous notes: fir, and pine are cool and invitingly clean and the whole opening sparkles with the light aromatics of cone trees. The tenor of the fragrance is light from top to bottom – even the incense is such a light, translucent note that it does not weigh Aqua Allegoria down one bit. The base’s soft wood and gingerbread note fit in very appropriately with the conifers and incense to form a delightfully smelling winter fragrance that removes itself completely from being the cliché it could easily have been.

One of the best of the Aqua Allegoria line. Completely different from all the others. In one word, magnificent.

A seasonal wonder! This is one time the note pyramid can be trusted...if you imagine (in your olfactory memory) each of the listed notes you will practically know the smell of this fragrance! It is like mikeperez23 has said ~ ...feels like Christmas in a bottle!

A wonderful melange of smells I associate with growing up through Northeast US winters.... the smell of the woods outside and then coming inside to smell a fireplace, cookies baking, and spiced cider. The initial blast of pine and spice (cinnamon and/or nutmeg to my nose) is pretty intense but mellows quickly into a ginger/pine/incense accord. The accord eventually sweetens a touch with a little vanilla, and the entire composition is comfortably musky. Perhaps it's just my association with the spices that are featured, but I could sweat I almost get a rum note reminiscent of a rum spiked cider. The only other fragrance I've smelled that is similar is Winter Woods EdP by Sonoma Scent Studio, which also captures the 'winter spice' vibe perfectly.

As mikeperez says, find this quick before the e-tailers are all out.

The quintessential Christmas fragrance - the fir, pine and spices all add up to give off a dazzling interpretation of the smells of the holidays.

I must admit that I didn't grow up near a forest. But I have Christmas trees in my home during the holidays and I know what a live tree smells like (up close): the resins, the needles, sap. Winter Delice manages to capture that.

It also gives off an almost sour incense resin effect, after a comforting gingerbread accord fades. I think this is what makes it more unisex - and is what I love. But I would not recommend it to someone looking for an incense prominent scent.

To me, Winter Delice is so much more about the wood, the spice and the overall feeling of 'Christmas in a bottle.'

Hurry up and get yourself a bottle - this stuff is discontinued.

I've been searching a long time for the "right" incense scent and FINALLY I found it. L'aP Passage d'enfer left me feeling a little cold, LV Incensi was better and yet something just didn't click, the CdG Incense were very nice and ALMOST there, but when I found this Guerlain, it all fell into place.

The Incense isn't as smokey, dark, or harsh as some of the others and the bits of sweetness (especially the gingerbread note!) give it a wonderful warmth and character. As well, in cold winter months, it also adds a bit of nostalgia for anybody who had gingerbread during the winter/Christmas holidays when growing up.

A beautiful scent, good longevity and sillage, and the 125ml bottle means that you probably will never run out (it's definitely only good for cooler weather). All in all, yet another fun and wonderful creation from Guerlain.

Very much men's cologne. Cold and slightly metallic, it doesn't warm up much, and when it does, just a little, I smell Christmas candle.

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.

This smells exactly like Christmas potpourri to me. I like it, but I would not suggest wearing this. Unless of course you don't mind smelling like a Christmas tree. To me this scent would be better served to be marketed as room spray or linen spray not as a perfume. Because it would be great to freshen up your home during the holidays.

Kind of a cute idea for a fragrance - evergreen trees, sugar cookies, smoky fireplaces - but it's a little too novel for me, along the same lines as those appliqued sweaters that people only wear for Christmas. The pairing of heavy pines with gourmand ingredients is a little jarring and contrived to me, something of a disconnect; each category of notes has its place but together they seem strange. That's what I pretty much think of the scent - it's just a little strange. I like the briskness of the evergreen notes and here they manage to avoid feeling oily and disinfectant-like; they actually have a nice sparkling quality. And I like the base section, which is about sugar and spice - including ginger - and that smokiness from the incense. I think the base notes alone could have carried this sense, actually. It would have worked out fine. I wear it maybe once a year - guess when?! Hint: I put it on before I set out the cookies and milk for you-know-who.

While the top note was engaging - and that got me to buy it - the drydown was musky and smelled like a cheap aftershave (Old Spice?) Ugh.

Yes, it's pine needles up the nose, but I kind of like that. It seems awfully subtle to me, but I've received comments from people who smell it on me when I cannot smell it on myself. This is a nice diversion for the holiday season. For the most awesome, NATURAL fir smell evah, try the new Sandalwood from the Art of Shaving. I don't see it listed on Basenotes, yet, but it is wonderful. Many compliments on that one.

I am a Guerlain freak but this is one I just cannot bear! Made me feel sick. To me it smells like a bad mix of mulled wine pine disinfectant :x

I have been wearing Winter Delice for about a month. I do not find it particularly feminine; it contains no floral notes and the strongest impression seems to be one of spices mixed with frankincense and pine. My only complaint about it is that it doesn't seem to have a whole lot of punch; it would be a lot better if it were a little stronger.