Guerlain
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The top notes explode with concentrated passion fruit acidity, immediately brightened by the almost effervescent quality of bergamot and lemon. Within the first minute, you're struck by how tart this composition is—more skin than flesh, more acid than sweetness.
As the top notes settle, the grapefruit and aquatic notes emerge to create a crisp, almost ozonic freshness that softens the initial fruit assault. The mandarin adds warmth and subtle sweetness, transforming the fragrance from tart and linear into something with actual dimensionality and pleasure.
Orange blossom and ylang-ylang materialize faintly, offering a creamy, talcum-dusted backdrop rather than a full-bodied floral presence. The passion fruit lingers as a ghost of itself, now less acidic and more honeyed, whilst the citrus fades to a whisper, leaving behind a skin scent that feels more like a subtle second skin than a noticeable fragrance.
Aqua Allegoria Passiflora is Thierry Wasser's love letter to the passiflora fruit—that wrinkled, jewel-toned pod that promises tropical intensity but delivers something far more elegant. The fragrance opens with a tart punch of passion fruit that immediately establishes itself as the lead character, supported by the sharp brightness of Calabrian bergamot and lemon. This isn't the creamy, jammy passiflora you might expect; instead, Wasser treats the fruit as a source of crisp acidity, allowing its tartness to dominate rather than its sweetness.
What makes this composition compelling is how the aquatic heart notes act as both amplifier and moderator. The grapefruit arrives with a bitter-sweet edge that echoes the passion fruit's tartness, whilst the unnamed aquatic accords provide a refreshing counterpoint—imagine the mineral-tinged spray of a fountain cutting through the natural fruit sugars. The mandarin adds a gentler citrus warmth that prevents the fragrance from becoming austere.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
3.5/5 (143)