Aqua Allegoria Forte Rosa Palissandro

While I love Guerlain's take on "Rosa Palissandro" this Aqua Allegoria is not going to be for everyone. It's not an easy fragrance. It's quite unique, which is why I love it. Okay so what it smells like. The predominant accords are of green and woods. Green and herbal, in fact, and I am not talking about like essence herbals, I mean like cut kitchen herbs. Coriander is the seed and spice part of the cilantro plant, and Rosa Palissandro smells like the metallic tang of cilantro releasing its essential oils when cut with a knife. It is also very lemony, which bleeds into the geranium and the fragrance smells like cilantro mixed with a lemon geranium plant. Quite earthy, herbal, and I think the aldehydes make the green practically shimmer. The green halo lasts a long time, through the lemon peel geranium, and through the rose that eventually peaks out. It's not a jammy rose, but rather a soft sanded demure rose. I know that the word rose is in the name of the fragrance but the rose isn't dominant. It's there but it's not the star. The rose actually seems to be finally emanating from the palissander rosewood, it's that discreet. The green halo still exists but it's surrounding a soft wooded rose, the sligtly powdered rosewood, a leaf or two of patchouli to mainain the greenery, and a nice smooth sandalwood. I do not detect any harsh woody ambers or woody aromachemicals thank goodness, the woody dry down is soft and slightly floral and nice to wear. This perfume is green, herbal, earthy, woody, with an aldehydic halo effect, and has demure rose peeking though as it wears down. I REALLY like this. It's different and I enjoy the green herb/lemon/geranium. The rosewood is soft and such a nice departure from the harsh woody chemicals that are cutting through so many compositions these days. Nice job Guerlain, and I think I'll even get a backup for this.

This is multifaceted and fascinating. Forte Rosa Palissandro holds my interest like I'm hosting someone from a very different culture and I'm continually guessing what s/he will do next. First, the very top smells off to me: like mint flavored fish oil for the first ten minutes. Then the fish oil starts to morph into something pleasant, and after a couple of hours this is... an airy lavender scent to me! And then it reminds me of the akigalawood in Quentin Bisch's Bois Imperial. Bois Imperial is more otherworldly supernatural, but they share the same clear, ghostlike presence. The violet maybe a player in both of these allusions (both other fragrance sites list violet as a note), but I wonder if they've included actual akigalawood? Or is it all due to the real palisander rosewood used here? Apparently I hadn't smelled the real stuff, since it's become very rare, but Guerlain has managed to get hold of some now. From what I've read, palisander rosewood is quite a special kind of wood with fresh and spicy nuances - including of the lavender type. The base indeed shares an accord with Santal Pao Rosa from their premium line, although these are very different perfumes. SPR is a charred meat oriental, Palissandro is an airy, all occasion, all seasons signature scent. In the very drydown (7+ hours later) I get pepper and patchouli which again remind me of akigalawood. I didn't get any rose until my second full wear. It's there, a bit sweet. I'm glad I got a sample instead of just sniffing a blotter and moving on. Forte Rosa Palissandro needs more attention. Unisex but the bottle is very feminine.

This is to Guerlain Santal Royal what PDM Greenley is to Layton. The citric/sour/woody back amped to 1000% without the other decorative herbal/oud-y components. It is reminiscent of Santal 33 uber-green, dill-pickle accord, heavy coriander-geranium opening that lasts over an hour and a half. The palissandro/santal is so concentrated it comes off as lipsmacking, nose-melting sour and pungent. Think of breaking a rosewood branch and smelling it immediately, but times a thousand. The rose sometimes shines through the dense, fresh forest wood cuttings, green, and smoky. I have honestly never seen a rose accord be treated this way (except for Santal Royal, but it's masked with the rest of the notes). It's an interesting wear, for sure. If you're into sweet scents, this is not the place for you. To my nose, this is dry and very masculine despite the pink juice and box. One thing to note: I had been given a sample of this when I purchased another Guerlain fragrance; My sample seemed to have a deep, fleshy-yet-green, dewy rose emanating from it that my full bottle does seem to have. The 2ml sample had clearly matured, as samples do, I wonder if all my bottle needs is some air to breathe. I could smell the palissandro through the cellophane before unboxing it; it's so strong. I'll come back to this in a year should my bottle change with time. It's a "I respect you" for now.

I love this. Personally I think it smells like a contemporary woody rose (more soft wood than it is rose) with depth that is somehow wearable in the summer. It's rich but not too heavy, has depth but is not trying too hard, and I would find this equally appealing on anybody else regardless of gender as I do on myself. I wore it night before last and felt honestly very sexy and sophisticated. I did receive compliments on it but I was already loving it before the commentary. I think this would also be great in the fall and winter so to me this could be an all seasons option which I don't find for myself often. It lasts for hours and hours and the sillage is about arms length. It will be my next full bottle purchase.

I can not get this out of my head. This, on me, is such an interesting scent. Like a gothic rosy fragrance and its a very hard thing to find! Usually dark leaning rose fragrances are heavyy on the patchouli, smell old or musty. But this is such a clean yet dark, velvet like red roses, also does not invoke rose water. It is not screechy which is also a rare thing because with rose scents there is usually a lemony scent to invoke freshness and this turns the fragrance too vibrant and harsh on the nose. This scent is dark, gothic, round and clean, alive, its unique and very well done. I need to get a big bottle of this as soon as possible, I need this beauty.