Monday, February 4, 2013

Guerlain Nerolia Bianca: new fragrance

The latest in the Aqua Allegoria line of Guerlain fragrances is Nerolia Bianca, a fresh take on the whole orange blossom tree, composed by in-house perfumer Thierry Wasser.



With a release date at the end of March 2013, this new Aqua is the annual addition to the "introductory Guerlains" as the Aqua Allegorias are known among perfumephiles. Nerolia Bianca contains extracts of orange, bitter orange, neroli, eau de brouts, orange blossom and petit-grain (if you don't know what some of these notes mean, please click on the link for their origin and differences), aiming to give an olfactory impression of the entirety of the bitter orange tree. The concept isn't new (several niche brands have ventured into the bigaradier tree -i.e. citrus aurantium- transliteration), but Guerlain might be trusted to offer the completist one, judging by the very lovely latest Aqua Allegoria fragrances, namely Jasminora and Lys Soleia. The upcoming fragrance reminds me of the much lamented discontinuation of a previous Guerlain take on neroli which was Flora Nerolia, a delightful white floral with fresh accents, built on the freshness of neroli essence on a bed of jasmine and a smidgen of incense. Let's hope that the substitute is no less beautiful than the predecessor.

Nerolia Bianca will be offered in the standard 75ml bottles with gold honeycomb of the Aqua Allegoria range. May I remind you that from the original line-up of Aqua Allegorias, only Herba Fresca and Pamplune remain, the rest being ephemeral editions.

18 comments:

  1. Prince Barry15:25

    Thank you for the heads up on this one. Will be interesting to sniff it on my skin. Floris Special 127 has a lot of neroli in it, and it smells lovely on my skin, but sometimes, I can wear a neroli based scent and it turns quite sour.

    I guess this will quench the Guerlain cravings until the Champs Elysee boutique exclusive comes out in August and the new men's scent in 2014.

    ReplyDelete
  2. solanace15:58

    I Love this image!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Prince Barry16:07

    Agree with solanace. It makes the juice in the bottle look like liquid sunshine.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous20:49

    Well!
    This is cheerful news on a snowy monday. I really enjoy the AA line of Guerlain. I can still find Jasminora and Flora Nymphea. These are both limited production items? Lys Solis disappeared as soon as it arrived-i am so glad I have one bottle of it!

    Sincerely,
    Carole

    ReplyDelete
  5. Miss Heliotrope00:02

    It does seem it could be lovely & sunshiney, but it always confuses me that orangey-type scents are summery, when oranges are at their best in winter.

    It's like the sunshine that we have when not having sunshine, so to speak, but it actually works, whereas I find some things one finds summery in winter are never as good in summer.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 30 Roses12:05

    Now this is delightful news!

    ReplyDelete
  7. B,

    neroli and all the citrus-derived essences CAN turn sour, you're not the only one.
    Guerlain is issuing a lot of things and they sometimes need to slow down (though this is a regular annual issue). Better few and stellar than lots and...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Solanace,

    it's like a grotto of delight!

    ReplyDelete
  9. B,

    love your description!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Carole,

    they phase these out regardless of sales, it seems (though it appeared that sales were determining the ephemeron of the collection, since Pamplue and HF are mainstays); I know Lys Soleia was selling well, for instance (which you confirm by its being out of stock so soon). Jasminora was good and Flora Nympea not bad at all (though not my personal cup of tea).

    But according to one shop-owner I talked to, there is an initial enthusiasm on Guerlain by consumers and then it soon deflates, as opposed to other brands with a steadier sales flow, which led him not to stock the brand in his store :/

    [Guerlain PR and Sylvaine, please hear this out!]

    ReplyDelete
  11. C,

    good observation!!

    It's not really orange the fruit, but (bitter) orange tree (in its entirety). Since the bitter orange tree blooms in spring, it's more spring-like than anything else. Both orange blossom absolute and neroli are derived by the blossoms, petit-grain by the twigs and young leaves, as is eau de brouts. (refer to my linked article).

    I think we associate orange as a scent with winter not only due to oranges being in season in winter (logical since it takes months from blossom to fruit), but because of pomanders around Christmas and because of so many wintertime fragrances (for instance spicy orientals) featuring resinous-citric orange rind essence. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. 30 Roses,

    as I said elsewhere, if it's half as good as Flora Nerolia, I'm sold :-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Merlin16:13

    Lys Soleia never even got to South Africa! Herba Fresca, however, is one of my summer favourites and I am hoping to add Pampelune eventually, since it is the only grapefruit fragrance I adore.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Prince Barry16:26

    Thank you for mentioning me in your Tweet E :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  16. M,

    really??? I wonder. It should be a best-seller, especially in Oz, since it utilizes familiar and well-loved elements.

    Hmmm!

    I too love Herba Fresca for the summer, so fresh, but not boring.

    ReplyDelete
  17. B,

    you're most welcome. Credit where credit is due.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Spam is not allowed. Each and every comment with spam will be diligently deleted.
    If you want to advertise do it openly and pay a fee.

    ReplyDelete

Type your comment in the box, choose the Profile option you prefer from the drop down menu, below text box (Anonymous is fine too!) and hit Publish.
And you're set!

This Month's Popular Posts on Perfume Shrine