Flora Nymphéa will be the 2010 addition to Guerlain's Aqua Allegoria range. As always, the inspiration is said to be "nature", in this case, more particularly a spring garden.
Flora Nymphéa was developed by Guerlain house perfumer Thierry Wasser; the notes include orange blossom, honey and lilac seringa.
Guerlain Flora Nymphéa will launch in April, and will be available in 125 ml Eau de Toilette. (via aufeminin, osmoz.fr)
Update: see a review of Aqua Allegoria Flora Nymphéa.
Is she wearing white feathers on her head??? or is that hair?
anyway—it’s very cold and windy and depressing here right now so I’m a little wistful staring at the picture above……well, at least until I got to “honey”……I’m afraid honey goes on same list “no-no” list as raspberry and apple. sigh…..why, oh why is January sooo loooong?
February is even worse. It lasts forever.
I know….which is why I’m so bummed that January is dragging so….by the end of February I’m going to be half crazy (or all crazy even)
Daisy, I feel the same way about August. It is hot down here from about March to November, and August is the worst because it is usually triple digits every day and then you still have all of September which is just as hot. And San Antonio is a special kind of hot. Today is cool and rainy with an expected high around 70.
I don’t know about the new Aqua Allegoria. I love Guerlain and went crazy for the classic parfums when I first discovered fine fragrances, but I kind of agree with LT about the AAs. They sound good, but they don’t really do it for me. I’m sure I will give it a try anyway. Maybe this one will be great because Thierry Wasser is behind it?
I’m with you, Julia. Natives of warm-to-hot climates really get sick of summer. Here in northern California, I’ve always found Feb a lovely month. The days are lengthening, we get much-needed rain, and between the storms the sky is beautifully clean and trees are blossoming. All in all, one of my favorite months.
Nooooooo…… it’s basketball season! Feb. and Mar. fly by for me and then it’s over. 🙁
Finally, someone agrees with me that in spite of the calendar, February IS the longest month! Awful. Deep freeze here again, with single digit highs. Ugh.
And you have an extra day this year, Boo.
Not according to my calendar…?
February is going to be extra short this year because I’ve decided to sleep through large portions of it. Today, I start consuming large quatities of dark chocolate in preparation …. right about now, I totally ‘get’ bears….now there’s an animal with the right idea.
It’s not Leap Year? That’s what I get for relying on movie promos for my information.
Daisy, I agree. People should be allowed to hibernate in winter. At least the coldest , deadest, most miserable part of it.
That woman’s hair bothers me. It really does. Well, I should say her *wig* bothers me, since that’s clearly not her hair. Anyway, it’s distracting and I can’t even focus enough to complain about the perfume.
Hi Daisy!
How comes you don’t like honey?
😉
I recall you liking Chanel 31 rue Cambon and Amoureuse… or am I mistaken?
I find these two very honeyed, but I suppose skin chemistry might change things a lot. I was very surprised when AT said there was no honey in his URC: I liked it because of the honey note I was getting!!!
I’m no teddy bear but I’m a sucker for any “complex” fragrance hinting at honey. The funny thing is that I hate honey – to eat I mean…
Ok, I’ll stop talking nonsense…
31 Rue Cambon has HONEY??? no way…..not possible……ok, now I’m going to have to get it out and spray some….I LOVE 31 Rue Cambon! It seems that anything with honey as a prominently listed note turns urinous on me. Which is just a disgusting idea. Amoureuse , I do like that as well, but I don’t recall a honey note in that either…..noses are funny that way. I was just thinking of how Mals is always telling me how “ambery” 31RC is to her and I’m always saying “no, it’s leathery…” now we can have a 3-way argument : leather vs amber vs honey……like rock, paper, scissors…. 😉
And I get something fruity…peach or apricot. LOL!
rock, paper, scissors….lawn mower?
And I get the violet (ionone) note. Loudly!
31 RC is difficult to pinpoint. I do get the (very refined) ambery aspect but to me it just smells all warm and fuzzy 😀
Daisy, what about Botrytis and Field Notes? Frapin 1270 also has a honey note to me, though I don’t know if that is a listed note.
Aside regarding Bortytis: I have some wine snob friends with serious cellars that cost more than my house and I asked them about Botrytis aka the “noble rot.” I then had the pleasure of consuming a very fine Sauterne and then comparing the bouquet of the two. Very nice.
Botrytis is a kind of disease that affects grapes, isn’t it?
Laken, botrytis is a mold that forms on grapes that are left on the vine for a long time. It is referred to as “noble rot.” It can damage crops, but if left to develop on grapes that are starting to dry and turn to raisins on the vines it develops a beautiful rich flavour and those grapes are hand-picked to make Sauternes. The wine is thick and sweet due to the concentrated sugars and almost viscous in texture There are glasses just for botrytised wines that allow a good swirl and then you can see the rich wine slowly dribbling on the inside. It is deelicious. It has a very distinct honey note in the bouquet, as well as a kind of toffee fragrance. Ginestet is a company that produced three perfumes based on wines, supposedly a collaboration between parfumers and enoligists, and they have a fragrance called Botrytis based on the great Sauternes that lists honey, dried fruits, quince, white flowers and amber in the notes. It is quite close to the real thing, but in a perfume way. Fragrantica lists it as an Oriental Vanilla.
AMBER. Clearly amber in the drydown. Smells like the bottom of Attrape-Coeur.
Where’s that crossed-arms emoticon when you need him?
No honey as a listed note, but my overall impression of Ael-Mat is clover/honey. And no salt at all…so strange.
Daisy: you like that Naked Honey thing, right?
And stop dissing my birth month, you guys! To me it goes too fast, especially as my birthday is at the VERY end (and I mean very). Plus, there’s a perfume gift-receiving opportunity in the middle for those of you inclined to play that card. 😉
Are you a leap baby, or did you just miss? And I refuse to celebrate *that* holiday, as someone who was single for FAR too long and got very tired of having it rubbed in my face every NYE and VD.
We single people can celebrate St. Catherine’s Day. November 25.
Yep, 2/29. I don’t have any bad feelings about them, but VD and NYE don’t mean anything special to me.
Luckily, my husband grew up without valentine’s day, so I pounced on the opportunity to make a pact that we would pretend it didn’t exist.
You’re a leap year baby? See, I said you were special!!! So most years you get cake-of-choice when??
I put the kibosh on V Day because I don’t celebrate holidays that have origins other than Judaism and also because it is such a crass commercial holiday. Seriously, roses go up to $100 a dozen when you can get them the rest of the year for a fraction of that. Plus, I like real roses, not the florist kind. I told my husband never to buy them again way back when we were dating. However, I have changed my policy this year, because it is a very good perfume giving opportunity. And doesn’t Amouage say “I love you” better than some scentless hot-house tea roses?
Cure for “The Februaries” – throw a Beach Party. Invite everyone to wear their beach clothes. Turn the thermostat up to 78 degrees. Give everyone sunscreen (or spritz ’em with Bronze Goddess!). Serve summer cocktails. Do an “indoor” BBQ. Buy a couple of Palm Trees (paper) and other inexpensive beachy-themed things from Oriental Trading – etc, etc – you get the idea. It’s a sure cure for the Feb blues!
When’s the party? I’ll come!!!
I threw a party like this on a Sunday morning (at church: Coppertone to anoint one another in the individual communion cups), replete with a recording of ocean waves, and the Beach Boys, back in ’02, I think. . . . “sand” castles out front made with snow, of course; it may be a few more years before I do it again. . . .
Sounds like a potential variation on the Beige theme. And the orchids in the add seem a rather odd (if pretty) choice, disconnected form the idea for the juice.
But who knows what’s in the juice…I’m sure it’s more than 3 notes.
Selvaine Delacourte posted some time ago that many Guerlain clients surprised her by mentioning orchid as their favorite perfume flower, when orchids do not have a specific smell.
And she also points out that orchid is the flower many people identify with the Guerlain brand, probably because of the skincare line.
So I think the image is just marketing…. 😉
But the 3 notes sound very nice, even if you never know how the juice will smell like…
btw, totally off topic…..my daughter loves to see you comment—because she loves your gravataar….. such an art history buff.
She’ll walk thru while I’m at NST and say “oh! Zazie is here!” 🙂
How nice of your daughter!
Tell her “Hi” from my part!
I hope she confirms you smell a bit honeyed with 31 rue cambon ;)!
I love this painting too.
(Though I look much more like an older Cravaggio’s Saint Catherine…but shhhh!)
At least you don’t look like his “Death of the Virgin.” Ack!
Oh, and some varieties of orchid are amazingly scented; there’s an orchid room in San Francisco’s Conservatory of Flowers and the odor in there is heady and heavenly.
yikes Joe— no one (alive) wants to look like that!!! Note to painters: refrain from using drowned prostitutes as models….
Agreed. Drowned prostitutes should only be used as a model for resuscitation dummies.
Ah, thanks! That’s interesting about orchids, and public’s ideas about their smell. I guess that not many have encountered some of the Bulbophyllum species, for example. Few would want a fragrance based on orchids which smell of “something dead” and “rotten fish” 😀
First Ninfeo Mio, now this…year of the nymph?
It must be!
Ooh, the colours in that ad are exactly what I long for at this time of the year. I’m SO tired of grey, grey, white, grey. But I’m with Daisy on the honey note.. Not for me. Damn. Is there anything good to look forward to? The mystery l’Artisan? The new Guerlain?
This is why I’m happy being a newbie – I still have so many old things left to discover. However, I do find myself occasionally veering into stage 5 rampant cynicism despite the fact that I’ve only been really serious about perfumes for less than a year.
Is it just me, or does honey seem to be showing up a lot lately? I certainly hope it’s not going to become the fashionable note….like melon or apple or pink pepper (which wasn’t offensive, just got boring) Oud is everywhere and now honey….
I’m waiting for Honey Oud (probably by Kilian) ….medicinal pee…..great, I can hardly wait. 🙁
I don’t wear honey well either. Last summer I spent an hour in a hot train wearing a sample of a honey body cream from L’occitane (I was stupid and thought I’d challenge my prejudice against honey). I’m surprised no one complained to the conductor, I was close to passing out myself. You are so right, pee is what “honey” really stands for.
oh, I’m so sorry (even if I am laughing like mad) …but I bet you had plenty of room to sit….all by yourself….lol . 😀
If only that train hadn’t been packed… poor people 😀
Hmm . . . I think I like honey. The L’occitane honey lotion IS strong. I like the EDT though and it is actually my scent of choice these days. I don’t know how it would be in the summer, tough.
that’s though, not tough
WHOA! Medicinal pee = Pregnancy flashback!
The new Hermès!
Exactly! My choice too.
Funny to me! We’re acting like we’re gonna be in for a long, hard season of perfume deprivation or something. 😉
long hard season of perfume deprivation….is that like when I go ALL WEEK without a padded envelope in my mailbox? it makes me a little shaky….
LOL! Ridiculously true.
I’d forgotten that one! And the PG Papyrus de Chene, and VC&A Oriens. Ah, not so bad then.
I think I see too many of the Guerlain aqua allegoria series.
I do think it’s wise that they’re doing only 1 this year instead of the usual 2.
I’ve yet to actually purchase a bottle of any of the Aqua Allegorias. I love the bottles and a few were worth a sniff, but I simply haven’t been able to buy into this on going trend.
All of the ones I’ve sniffed tend to be very one dimensional.
Me too.
The only thing I enjoyed was the Herba Fresca shower gel: as a body product I appreciated the “one dimension” and it brought spring in the shower each time I used it (without competing with my real perfumes afterwards).
I loved it and of course it was discontinued.
I think the aqua allegorias were all more enjoyable as simple body products than as relatively bland scented waters…but it seems the body line didn’t do well, so Kaput!
I have two: Anisia Bella & Orange Magnifica. And will buy Laurier Reglisse whenever I come across it for 19.99.
I rather like the ad. Her hair is a little poorly done (it looks flat, at least this small) but otherwise, it’s quite pretty.
The fragrance sounds nice too but if Guerlain doesn’t use the best stuff, it sounds very close to slipping into cheap.
I like that they’re only doing one this year.
It seemed silly to do 2 every year when usually one 1 was good enough to wear.
With how brutally they ax these, I thought they were just chucking anything at us (the consumer) and seeing what sticks. Maybe they’re shifting more seriously.
Also seems to me the first one by Thierry Wasser. Checked past entries and they made no mention of him. Do you know?
I don’t know for sure, but I would guess this is his first.
I wore the Tiara Mimosa last summer, but I’m not that into it anymore. It was pleasant but not that complex. I predict I will be into citrus scents this summer.
🙂
Ah good. I’m not losing it. I thought there were usually two AAs that came out each year… I’m a pretty big fan of honey (though I don’t really love eating it unless I’ve made baklava or put some in my tea), so that and the florals seem like they’ll work well together. Since I haven’t tried an AA yet, this looks like a good place to start. Pamplelune looks good, but I’ve read lots of comparrisons to sweat/armpit with that one so I’m a wee bit scared. Lilac, orange blossom and honey sound pretty inoffensive.
Don’t buy Pamplelune unsniffed.
That is the one the Guide likes best, but I don’t really like it. I get a much better grapefruit from Figue-Iris.
I really love AA Angelique Lilas.
The other AAs I’ve sniffed seem to be either ok but forgettable or else really overpoweringly odd.
I wanted to smell the Lilia Bella because I’m a LOTV nut, but I can’t find it at the moment. Oh well. The odds are it’s not worth it anyway.
Lilia Bella might be gone, not sure.
None of the AAs did impress me. But I will give it a try.
I like lots of them.
Maybe I tried the wrong ones, they are hard to find here.
Cute ad. But is she twelve??
This may be too floral/frilly for me, though I enjoy a breath of spring flowers as much as anyone now and then. Also, I know these are light, but I wish they were still doing them in smaller sizes. I’m pretty sure my Herba Fresca is 50ml or less, and that’s perfect. Also, are they really only doing one this year? Seems two has been the pattern (though one is probably enough).
I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to mention that I discovered Winter Delices a couple months ago and that one really is (was) great.
Most years there’s at least one unisex-ish one. Not this year, from the sounds of it.
Well, either they’re only doing one, or they’re only announcing one. Guerlain doesn’t tell me much 🙂
Or they’re wisely pacing themselves and releasing 6 months apart? No, you’re right….too much to ask.
The name makes me expect waterlilies in the fragrance. I would have loved that! I see there’s now a bee on the box. Lilia Bella is definitely worth trying if you can find it. Originally the bottles came in 125 ml and 75 ml. I think now they’re just sold in the 75 ml size. while the EDT has the tenacity of an EDP, the Aquas are just meant to be a light body spray, not an extrait with a lot more character.
Apparently this one will be in the 125 ml as well.
I see on the Guerlain website that some of the Aquas come in both sizes and some only in the smaller size. Here in Western Canada they are only sold in 75 ml, so far! Some Aqua Allegorias will be discontinued; some will be “relaunched”.
I’ve seen both sizes here. Since their main outlet in the US seems to be Sephora, surprised they’re not doing something even smaller than 75 ml.