Guerlain – Aqua Allegoria Ylang & Vanille

For the most part, the Aqua Allegoria series by Guerlain feel like watercolor impressions of fruit and floral bouquets. The various Eau de Toilettes generally have a light character, making them perfect summertime fragraces when one is fresh out of the shower with clean scrubbed hair. The exception to the original series released in 1999 is Ylang & Vanille, a heavier, fairly opulent floral oriental, more in the style of traditional Guerlain scents.

True to its name, the fragrance largely focuses on the interplay of the exotic Ylang Ylang and luscious vanilla notes. The fragrance opening highlights the sharper, greener aspects of the flower, but quickly softens into a sumptuous floral veil that feels like a thick, plush robe. While there are subtle notes of jasmine and carnation, they are barely discernable and act more to highlight the lush Ylang Ylang. The flower’s distinctive fragrance reminds me of balmy days in humid tropical islands and its deep, voluptuous scent can add heft to a perfume. In Ylang & Vanille, Guerlain does nothing to downplay the slightly odd scent of this beautiful flower, instead adding vanilla to enhance the dense, heady quality.

The vanilla, once it appears, is quite different from the traditional Guerlain vanilla we experience in Shalimar and Jicky. Ylang & Vanille’s vanilla feels closer to a vanilla bean or extract, rich and pungent, but lacking in sweetness. While the Ylang Ylang feels sumptuous enough to hang in the air like a billowy cloud, the lack of sweetness in the fragrance keeps it from becoming too cloying, or worse, yet another sickly sweet gourmand. The fragrance displays considerable potency for an Eau de Toilette, and this is one of the few Aqua Allegorias which would be overwhelming in a more potent concentration. Similar to several of its sisters in the original 1999 series penned by Mathilde Laurent, this one has been discontinued.

Floral Oriental

Notes: Ylang Ylang, jasmine, carnation and vanilla