Aqua Allegoria Flora Nerolia (2000)
by Guerlain

What a sting you get right after first spray!..
I like it, the way I like most floral orange-y scents: it may not be used very often, but I consider it a Musthave in my wardrobe.

A very close sister of Lutens Fleurs d'Oranger, but this is even more a 'one of a kind' type of perfume. It has a vibe of very old times, of simple white cotton dresses (when, if ever, will I start wearing those?) and of rural surroundings, even stables, which is GOOD in my book.

Quick, sweet burst, at first. It becomes sour and woody, greenish. Dirty jasmine takes over. Delicate orange blossom seems to hover. These notes also seem to fight each other, for attention. Dark incense vibe on the bottom. One of the more creative A.A. offerings; it has an almost liquor or narcotic quality to it.

This is my favorite of the Aqua Allegorias. It seems like more of a traditional Eau de Cologne style than the Aqua Allegoria style, which can be loud and synthetic.

Neroli, orange flower and jasmin. That sounds like a lovely combination of flowers, and it could be... But this is no 'hello birds, hello sky, what a beautiful day' kind of scent. The delicate neroli and petitgrain head has barely time to settle in when it's brutally assaulted by an indolic orange flower and, I would guess, jasmin sambac with their dominating crunchy dry undercurrents.

The heart of white flowers turns what could be a gentle orange cologne into a perfumey onslaught of indole, its rotting blast of tooth decay sharpened by tiny pricks of incense; these are flowers with attitude, and they bite!

Flora Nerolia is crude, yes; direct in its simplicity, undoubtedly; and it's daring, it couldn't give a damn about the rules. It overturns the structure of the floral by boosting up what is normally a polite modifier (which adds a little smoothness, or in larger quantities backbone to a pretty floral composition) until in the end the indole takes over and dominatinates like a thug.

Flora Nerolia brutally mashes up the gender codes and demands that we ignore them. You can't wear something as challenging as this and remain a perfume innocent for long, you're obliged to abandon easy gender conventions and cross into unknown territory. See it as a virago cologne, or as an old fashioned dandified floral from the pre-gendered age (if you prefer), but you won't find it easy to wear this as an ordinary cologne; that it is not.

It is extraordinary though, to find something as radical as this coming from a perfumer like Jean-Paul Guerlain - who struck me as a conservative, even establishment figure. It seems his inherent sense of rigour went completely over the top this time, leading him to produce a work that's closer in spirit to the iconoclastic oeuvre of Germain Cellier than his grandfather Jacques' romanticism.

Hardly surprising to see that something this difficult should have been culled since Jean-Paul left the helm, and that's a shame. It would make a natural jumping off point from the spiky woods if it were still around, and if a young buck were to dare...

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I never knew of the existence of the Aqua Allegoria line until long after Flora Nerolia had been discontinued. My curiosity overcame my reluctance to buy blind, and I snagged a tester on eBay. Since then it has been a yearly favorite for cool weather. I find it too heavy for summer use but in winter it is heavenly. The jasmine and orange blossom play off each other beautifully. I don't normally like soapy or indolic fragrances and this is both, yet I love it. The shower cream is also delightful to use.