Note Pyramid
Aqua Allegoria Herba Fresca
Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Herba Fresca Eau de Toilette is the one everybody knows, the green scent that turns up on recommendation lists every summer, and it has stayed in the range while dozens of its stablemates have come and gone.
Lemon and clover open it. The lemon is clean and sharp, the clover green and faintly hay like, and the pair of them set up the single quality this fragrance is famous for, which is the smell of something freshly cut. Mint is the material that does it. This is not a sweet mint or a toothpaste mint, it is crushed leaf, cool and slightly bitter, and it arrives with a shock of cold that very few fragrances attempt. Green tea sits behind it, dry and astringent and a little smoky, keeping the mint from reading as a confection and giving the middle a papery calm.
Lily of the valley and cyclamen close it, both of them cool, watery, green white florals, and neither adds sweetness. The drydown is soft and clean and almost transparent, which is why the fragrance is often described as smelling of nothing in the best possible way.
It is short lived, three to four hours at most, and that is the trade for a composition this light: the materials that make it work are the first to leave. Carry the bottle and reapply if you want it to see out a working day, which is a fair price for the effect. It reads unisex, it is made for heat, gardens, mornings and offices, and it is one of the few fragrances that genuinely feels cooling to wear. Jean-Paul Guerlain and Mathilde Laurent are both credited with it.
The house was founded in Paris in 1828 and remains there under LVMH ownership, with a catalogue of its own compositions that runs well into four figures.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
Similar Notes
The Scent Vault
Join thousands earning on every order
Earn points as you shop, redeem for money off, and unlock member perks.
Find out more
The Scent Vault Gift Cards
Give the gift of choice
One card, every scent. Let them pick the fragrance that is truly them. Send it instantly by email, or schedule it for a future date with a message of your own.
Shop gift cards
