Aqua Allegoria Nerolia Bianca

Nerolia Bianca is summer love for me! I spotted a good deal for this and someone wanted to give it to me for an occasion, but I was not sure as many reviews talk about toilet detergent and stinkbugs?? I wrote a review for it years ago and it was a case of lost memory of the smell itself. Could I possibly be so wrong about it in my first review? I never write about perfumes that I didn't try and I generally remember at least the idea of a perfume, but in this rare case it went blank. I decided to trust myself and my own reviews (and the genius of Thierry Wasser!) and got it as a present. I sprayed it as soon as it arrived in the mail and...wow! this is just so beautiful! I was right to myself. This is my perfect fragrance for the hot weather and it will be my new summer memory scent as I cannot wear Mandarine Basilic anymore because of too many memories and Jasminora is discontinued. In this weird summer I wanted a new one to create my own space of secureness and fun! Nerolia Bianca is the perfect companion and it's honestly much more breathable than many other perfumes that go under a label of "light". Nerolia Bianca opens very orangey in a sweet way, but it's absolutely not a sweet scent! That first blast reminds me of some fresh orange juice in a can or the good old Orangina, both the sweet and the bitter type. The sweetness is nothing like "candy" sweet rather a fruity sweetness, but the gentle bitterness put it back to balance. After that I smell a beautiful neroli note, very clean and acute as neroli should be, probably not real neroli but well done IMO. That is where many people smell the detergent part, when it's not sugar-coated or honeyed like in Elie Saab, NR EdT and other sweet neroli, The Couvent des Minimes comes to mind, that is orange blossom water pastry, very nice to eat and not so much to wear. There is an undertone of green leaves that just adds to the blend beautifully. No harshness, no fake wood, no stinkbugs, but it's true that the idea behind this one is the experience of being under orange trees in the warmth. I rarely wear any perfume or lotion if I'm going to a place into the nature. Nerolia Bianca also doesn't clash when you go into a natural set and want to smell the plants, the flowers, the water and get the atmosphere you traveled to find without the disturbance of synthetical or unnatural perfumes. Those are better in the asphalt. I find this one so uplifting, positive, lively and frankly not cloying as most perfumes nowadays. I appreciate a good perfume where I can smell the notes and not just having my nose burnt by sugar and/or weird basenotes. Nerolia Bianca goes straight into my category of the iper-realistics. It's like a good rose perfume that smells like 100 roses even if it contains none. This is not a new one, 2013 is like old for many, as we are pushed to always try the new ones, but this is sort of hidden gem and I hope I will be able to find it again. So far Guerlain has dismissed so many wonderful Aqua Allegoria and keeps only the usual few ones, like Pamplelune that I don't like at all. An orange-based citrus fresh comes as a relief after endless "lemon" and scary "grapefruit", whatever they use to reproduce them. Marked as unisex I feel that it is more on the feminine side. The only minus is that on colder days it doesn't bloom so beautifully and it gets easily lost. Awful A/C makes the same effect. Nerolia is made for the heat, when your nose is not cold and the sun shines! Sprayed of a fan or a hand fan is a very refreshing and poetical experience. I love it! I will be using it till the last drop of summer that I wished never end and then it will be packed in the dark for next summer.

I absolutely love this one, Nerolia Bianca is only for serious neroli/orange blossom/pettigrain lovers! It smells like the whole orange tree, from leaves and green branches to blossoms, from juicy orange flesh to peel. The opening is very strong and green, with pettigrain and almost indolic orange blossom/neroli that almost made me cough at first! The green stays present throughout though, as it dries down, it takes on a juicy but more candied sweetness. It lasts about 5 hours on my skin, creating a delicious scent bubble. Overall, heavenly...! I just ordered a full bottle. I had a really fun time trying Nerolia Bianca alongside some other orange blossom/nerolis that I have (mostly samples). As bodnerrachel points out below, Boucheron Jaipur Bracelet (and probably Dior Pure Poison -- but I didn't actually try it this time) is in the same ballpark as NB, except is a bit less orange-juicy and has a clean laundry musk note up top, where NB has that strong pettigrain green note. However, they both settle into a similar green and candied orange blossom/neroli. The shimmering DS & Durga Crystal Pistil is also more blossomy and less orange juicy than Nerolia Bianca, with an even more transparent clean laundry musk than Jaipur Bracelet. Longevity-wise, I think Jaipur Bracelet and Crystal Pistil performed about on par with Nerolia Bianca. Byredo Sundazed is sweeter and more candy-like but less specifically orangey than Nerolia Bianca and, in contrast, has practically no green. Finally, Aigner Debut has the soapy version of orange blossom (also found in Reem Acra, Elie Saab Le Parfum, and Swiss Arabian Hamsah), versus the candied version that's in NB, Jaipur Bracelet, and Crystal Pistil. Interestingly, NB outlasted Byredo Sundazed -- a more expensive perfume -- but performed about on par with the less expensive Aigner Debut. As an orange blossom/neroli freak, I'm very curious to try Chopard Happy Bigardia, as well as Molinard and Fragonard Fleur d'Oranger. :D

Really wanted to get Herba Fresca and with it I got the heavily discounted Nerolia Bianca without trying it. I have Limon Verde and love it so I'm really curious about Aqua Allegoria line. Had one week till the package arrive so i read reviews about Nerolia Bianca and wasn't expecting much besides gentle feminine scent. Meanwhile I already started to fantasize about the glorified Pamplelune... My first sniff of NB throwed me in to my grandmother house, this fresh orange blossom scent was ether in her bed room or bathroom, i'm not exactly remember, and yes it was quite feminine to my male nose. Thought to give it to my sister. The day after I wore the perfume. The opening was harsh, reminded me YSL kourous but it quickly developed to this orange blossom neroli scent with slightly bitterness and little bubblegum sweetness- beutiful. Wearing this perfume was a completely different story.. I felt refreshed and sophisticated. I think for women its a day summer scent with kinda old vibe , and for a male it is a very sophisticated summer evening scent. Can be even wore with black suite and white unbutton shirt, really different take on how male can smell. As I wore it i fell in love more and more and in addition i got lots of compliments and got frequently noticed. Even male coworkers complimented me on the scent and it made me wonder about my interpretation for Nerolia Bianca as feminine. Nerolia Bianca is refreshing flowery citrusy bit soapy with 'hi' from grandma smell that captures this spring water clear freshens. Wearing it is like holding a refreshing ice cold slightly sweet fruit drink:). Wearing it as a male i felt in completely different league. Also got myself the wonderful Pamplelune but unexpectedly Nerolia Bianca became my favorite Aqaua Allegoria scent. It has the best silage and longevity from AA line.

Today I finally had a chance to take a sniff of this new masterpiece of Guerlain. Masterpiece is a good word to describe Nerolia Bianca, because of all Aqua Allegoria's out there, this one is truly complex. It starts with a burst of neroli water aroma. To me, it smells exactly like l'Orient Savon Noir Neroli. Bitter, intensive neroli aroma, with no extras. As it settles down it is more toned down, but is still fresh. In the middle it's green and still somewhat watery and harsh. The drydown is what I like the most about this Allegoria. It reminds me of a full orange tree in bloom. Citruses, leaves. Wonderful, calming aroma. And, finally, uplifting! Though I like the end, I don't like that I have to wait quite a long time for the scent to develop on my skin. Well, I wouldn't like to walk around smelling like a Savon Noir Neroli (not that I don't love what this soap does to my skin, pure bliss!). Is it a good perfume? Yes, Thierry Wasser did a good gob with Nerolia Bianca. Is it easy to wear? I don't think so. You have to love every single minute of wearing this fragrance, while I don't. Finally, is it captivating or breathtaking? No. I am more impressed about the simplicity of previous AA's: Mandarine Basilic, Pampelune, or Jour by Hermes. The quality is beyond good, lasts hours and hours, but all AA's have that in common :).

Haha! I'm such a dork! I came back to apologize to my sweet Nerolia Blanca for dissing her just yesterday! Immediately after posting my first review below, I went up and splashed two dots of Ylang and Vanille on my wrists and a spray of Nerolia Bianca on my neck. It is true that I don't like the opening bitter orange, though its growing on me, but given time, this warms into so much more than just orange orange and orange! It's soft and sweet and becomes much more developed within a half hour. I have now decided one splash of Ylang and Vanille is an amazing combo with the BN. And if I'm totally honest, I might even like the NB best now! Sooooooooo, it is with pure joy that I eat my words because now I know I have a true treasure on my hands. The only down side? Now I want all of the AAs! I'm dreaming of all the combos I could create with these gorgeous juices. Meh?? It's ok. Straight up orange orange orange. I have two others- Pamplelune and Ylang and Vanille. I tend to grab for those first if I'm in the mood for sweet or fruity choices. The bottles are beautiful and longevity of Nerolia Bianca is a 7/10 which isn't bad for an EDT. I just wish it had another note to mix things up. Honey maybe? I need a few more tries on my actual skin but it anyone has another of the AA bottles, I'd trade at least some of this for it!