Néroli Plein Sud

The main reason for buying NPS: with this perfume, it is like you have three, and the 3rd lasts for 8-10 hours or so. This is a lovely perfume with an eternal dry down, but it has a "difficult" start during the first half hour. But you'll learn to love NPS: this one is a real craft, contrary to the undue qualifications of it being "simplistic". It is complex, difficult to some even. I think it is for trained noses. ■ The opening is bluntly overwhelming, and might last half an hour or so. So, if you would typically try this standing up at the busy counter in the department store, without getting a sample to take home, you'd most probably dislike it. That is what happened to me as well. But when someone that didnt like this complex perfume, wanted to get rid of it, and suggested it to me, I looked up a forgotten sample I still had in a drawer, and I was competely mesmerised. I bought the big 200ml bottle from him: the best of 2024. That means: after the overwhelming first half hour. In fact, I have now been wearing it for four days on a row, and I begin to like this challenge of the first half hour. Every time it is different. It doesnt make me sneeze (and I am very asthmatic and allergic), but you dont know what is happening to your nose. It is a kind of bewildering experience, like going in the roller coaster despite dreading it. I have to sneeze and have to grasp for air while smelling Les Extraits by Guerlain (especially the rose and jasmin), not in the case of NPS! Every new day I discover new notes. So, NPS is not for the people that go for the immediate olfactory grafitication: the latter is there only after two hours or so, at least in my case. ■ After half an hour it changes to an extent I have hardly ever noticed a perfume transforming itself. In this middle stage of the wear, you'd smell a bitter neroli, the reason to give it the name, I guess, but after all there is not so much neroli about this perfume. Moreover, it has nothing to do with neroli outrenoir. ■ Then the dry down: it is ambiguous and lovely, and eternal, and in fact the very, very best of this perfume. Buy it for these 8-10 hours after you spray it on. It is always around you, like a shirt, without being obnoxious. Most perfumes have wonderful beginnings, and then quickly fizzle out into oblivion (like my beloved Iris Torrefié), but with NPS it is very, very much the other way around! I typically spray it on the back of my hand while working, and I bring my hand to my nose at least 10 times an hour, and every time I smell something different, which I think is really a craft to realise. I sometimes even tend to smell mint (is it even there, or does this scent alter my perception??) I lived in Morocco, and this perfume is the only one that captures the daily smells of the cook cooking for us, or a walk in the food souk, with spices piled up in conic forms in yellow and ocre tints. In fact, during the dry down (8-10 hours easily in my case), people sitting next to you smell a different perfume every time you move. "Did you put on something different after desert?" Now, that is quite something inexplainable for an alleged simplistic scent, isnt it? Tonight I wore it during a dinner, and it is discrete enough for that purpose. But: when dinner is at 20h, put the perfume on around tea time! Not in the car 15 minutes before you arrive! It is lovely to notice it changing while you change clothes, and it being ready for dinner when you are about to go there... To summarise: I dont recognise the quoted hotel soap notes, or whatsoever... they dry down is, and stays complex and simply enchanting. ■ There is however a dark pattern in three Guerlain perfumes I love(d), and that only lasted four years or so: Rose Nacrée du Désert, I loved it, and pffffuw it was "supprimé". Then Lui, which became Oeillet Pourpre, pfffuw, "supprimé" (not in the UK yet, cause they are more used to carnation scents, my guess is, but since Brexit, the Channel prevents it getting it into my closet). I am afraid a "quicky" awaits me too with NPS. The supprimés had the same complexity, being that there are spices in it most people dislike, like nutmeg, cloves, kurkuma: they are bitter and have a musty, stale, earthy aftertase. Me too, I hate all three of them! I avoid all food containing these spices (the downside of living in Morocco, indeed, or even in Groningen in the North of the Netherlands where I am from, where they put cloves in all thinkable meats and sausages, they even sprinkle nutmeg on haricots verts and cauliflower...) The disliked spices make these perfumes complex however, like the smelly fish sauce in an oriental dish, the trassie in an Indonesian bumbu, and the unpleasant fish stock in the Noilly Prat Sauce with scallops. On the other hand, this very same feature simply seems to make NPS "difficult" for others. NPS is indeed compliqué. I wonder therefore if NPS is gonna be here for more than 3 or 4 years. L'art et la matière is not so nichy after all ... I want a perfume that I can wear for life, like my old mum, that is now 90, and in 1971 chose No. 19 by Chanel, which is still behind her ears, well, hearing devices now. They go into their 54th year together .... I hope my prayers will be heared by Guerlain, but I seem to have a bad track record for a sustainable, long lived relation with one single signature perfume. When the love with a capricious partner is finally there, she disappears like lightning from the shelves... And yeah, EUR 465 for 200 ml is quite something, but... in this case with the long dry down, it is more bearable. Neroli outrenoir lasts 2 or 3 hours or so, and when you want to use it to refresh yourself on sweaty summer days, the quantities of scent you need makes you sweat even more: you see the bottle emptying while the sun climbes to the highest point. Not the case for NPS, but I dont think it is a "cooling", refreshing perfume, despite what it suggests. It is more for the evening, than for a hot afternoon. You can wear it very well during winter too. I wonder if it is suitable for humid climates. For the latter, neroli outrenoir seems the better choice. Lots of perfumes pretend to capture the orient, or at least the Maghreb, and it often ends up in a kitsch pastiche. Not with NPS: this really reminds me of daily life in Morocco, where I loved to live. So, Get a sample. (Guerlain: please make people buy them for EUR 5 or so, and put them on the mail, and prevent them from a degrading descent to the extorting decant usurpers on the web that in fact do your marketing you should have mirobolant and largely sufficient budgets for). Spray it on. Prepare for that first roller coaster half hour (I see that that as a challenge now, as I wrote). Glide into the eternal dry down that uplifts your mood, and that is just enchanting to me. Be patient, good things take time. 10/10 Blind buy: HELL NO!

Néroli Plein Sud is a divine and long lasting neroli - it’s sunny, soft, powdery, luxuriously soapy, clean and oily. It’s unisex, as both myself and my boyfriend enjoy wearing it together. The longevity is insane (which is rare for a fresh, citric smelling fragrance) and it stays on clothes for days. This is due to there being no bergamot nor any kind of citrus, but replaced with fresh juicy root ginger and turmeric with the combination of vetiver. This gives it that zen-like lemongrass zesty juicy brightness but it’s also aromatic and softy fuzzy like the white towel at a spa. I love this Japanese bamboo woody lemongrass style neroli, it’s like a luxury lathered-up soap. As the tang of the ginger fades, the neroli and Tunisian orange blossom comes through more and the entire fragrance becomes more soapy-powdery-soft with almost Chanel-style DNA. This stage now reminds me of the baby product that my mum used on me in Spain called Agua de Colonia by Nenuco. I’m not sure if I’m ready to smell like a clean Spanish baby again. Another way to think about it, it has that traditional barbershop scent. Luckily I don’t particularly detect the cinnamon, so it’s balanced in the base for grounding with the gentlest amount of golden warmth. As a side note, Guerlain has 2 other neroli’s, so let’s quickly compare; Néroli Outrenoir is slightly more tea-leaf green which makes it both sharper, bitter and greener in comparison. Nerolia Vetiver on the other hand is the most similar but it’s even more greener, like freshly cut flower stems and is subsequently lighter, more watery and with much weaker longevity. I’m summery; Néroli Plein Sud is hugely expensive yes, but it has the quality, luxury and longevity to warrant it. If you’re looking for a soapy-freshie that lasts and would be perfect on your Riviera/Azores/Balearic summer holiday then this is it. It’s so fresh and clean but translucent and airy - it captures the sunshine-filled fresh air of the warmly dry herbaceous Mediterranean coast. My favourite all time neroli will always be the one from Profumum Roma but Néroli Plein Sud comes a close second.

I love neroli and orange blossom, but I find fragrances with these notes to be too sweet for me to wear. Here, the brilliance is the ginger that takes these heady flowers and grounds them. It doesn’t scream “ginger,” but it does feel very earthy. (I don’t think anyone around me would think, “Oh, ginger,” but if you dislike dry ginger powder, you might have a problem until it dries down.) I like ginger in fragrance and this is by far the best I have come aross. The turmeric sounded kind of weird, but I can’t isolate it. If cinnamon is here, it isn’t what I typically would think of. It’s dry, and I can’t really isolate it, either. This is such a great balance—a match made in heaven. I love these floral notes, and I’m thrilled that I finally found a way I can wear them without a dizzying headache. Hooray! Note that it performs well, as it should. My husband complemented me after a 12 hour wear. (I couldn’t smell it at that point.) I also have Neroli Outrenoir and they are NOT redundant. (I love that one, too. Baked tea.) Neroli Plein Sud is spicy, earthy and grounded while still being floral and “grapey” orange blossom. Yes, I spent an obscene amount, but Guerlain’s quality just can’t be denied. **Note: Gert.keen has done a beautiful, accurate deep dive review. Do read it. She is spot on and more knowledgeable. Also, I highly agree with her that this is NOT a blind buy, and must be tried on skin. It isn’t a designer, mass appealing scent. It might require a little time before the obsession kicks in.

So immediately upon smelling this fragrance I can tell it's a superior neroli/white floral/edc type fragrance. This is not your average 4711 type thing, although in essence it kinda is but elevated to the best it can be. Also clever in that the citrus is subbed for that ginger/turmeric which to me although not overt, adds a lot to this fragrance. I don't know if there's something more substantial under there in a jasmine? (not listed here) Very good natural neroli/orange blossom materials? or just a skillfully created accord? Superior base materials? perhaps all of the above? I don't know but it's fantastic, from start to finish and it's powerful as anything!! For those after that EDC freshness, with a spicy, juicy edge and a soaring, smooth, gorgeous white floral perfume which is not too green or waxy it smells sweet and enduring but finally which lasts and evolves on skin, look no further. I've not really been tempted to buy anything new and certainly didn't think it would be a nuevo Guerlain white floral cologne but this is one of the best I can recall smelling. Superb!

Lasts all day long! It has such a strong scent that it can cover a room in an hour from the first spray. It opens with a spicy ginger and turmeric that awakens all the senses, gradually it turns into a gentle and elegant soapy scent. Some people say it should not be in the L'Art & La Matière collection because of its pleasantness but I think it is completely worthy because the type of soap it brings is not something any brand or Master perfumer can do. I love it, simply because I like sophistication. Fresh, pleasant but with highlights and the spicy ginger, turmeric reminds me a lot of the dishes my mother used to cook when I was a child. 10 out of 10! I will upgrade to the 200ml size after I finish this lovely 100ml version. If Delphine Jelk could see this review, please send my thanks for her!