Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice Guerlain for women and men

I was so pleasantly surprised by Winter Delice. Normally, my skin does not tolerate resins or incense; they just come off as pure Comet on me. I think the vanilla/sugar affair in the base softens the harshness for me. Happyme2009 said this fragrance reminds her of Narnia--what a perfect description! WD has a magical quality to it that reminds me of an enchanted, sugar-dusted, Old World forest, yet, it is not at all childish or ultra-feminine. Sophisticated deliciousness!

Smelling this makes me think of a walk in a snowy Pine wood on christmas day after the morning mass!
I smell Pine resin+ frankincense and something "icy" that i have no clue what it could be but it stays only for 10 seconds in the opening! It does lasts for ages and has a very good projection, differently from most other aqua allegorias! How i wish i had a huge bottle of this! :(

It goes on with a not unsubtle resins + amber blast, although it lacks the richness of say, Ambre Noir. Mingled with the resin/amber mix is a hint of musk, a metallic tinge, and something woodsy, and these minor notes help keep the amber from overwhelming me (I am sensitive to amber and it has made me nauseous). It doesn’t project much, although it stays constantly resinous throughout its lifetime, which is at least 12 hours.

I think that my skin must amp amber and resins like crazy, so if you are of a similar skin type, you probably won't get much out of this fragrance.

I am absolutely shocked! From the notes, I expected this would be a favorite for me. I love resins, and this one is chock full. It's amazing how relative fragrance is, and how different everyone's chemistry and noses are. I can see where this was meant to go, and probably DOES go for the majority of you, BUT...
So here it is (it's bad, so feel free to skip this part) - I'm getting intense, acrid, EXTREMELY synthetic musk dryer sheets AND periodontal disease halitosis (I'm a dental assistant, so this is familiar). So bad! I'm holding my face away from my arm until I can wash.
Eeek! Sorry! Either I have some really weird skin or a broken sniffer!
Well, one positive aspect - I won't have to worry about tracking down and affording another discontinued perfume!

This scent had been suggested to me as a "Christmas tree" scent. It doesn't quite live up to that -- there's wood in here, but this scent is not even close to what you'd smell when walking past rows of cut Douglas firs and blue spruces. It definitely smells like conifers, though, and I think I can sense cedar, so maybe this just doesn't match the types of Christmas trees I'm used to. I expected this to be a "cold" scent, but Winter Delice is warm and makes me think of incense (until the drydown). I don't get anything remotely camphorous or earthy. Supposedly there's some gingerbread in here, but I'm not getting any of it either. There's definitely sweetness, but it's not like honey or vanilla. Winter Delice is sweet throughout all of its stages, especially in the opening, but nothing about that sweetness is edible (until the drydown).

The drydown, the drydown... the drydown is bizarre. It's absolutely nothing like the other stages; I have trouble understanding how Winter Delice could have developed like this. Unlike the other stages, the drydown seems a little cold -- not strong like menthol, but enough to be weird. There's no more incense, no more woods. The sweetness is subdued, but I'm getting... cold sparkly grape? Not wine or Concord grapes, but carbonated purple grape juice. It's not unpleasant, but... why??? This isn't a result of my skin chemistry, either -- this happened on both paper and my clothing.

I'm a little disappointed at Winter Delice's weakness. On fabrics, it lasts a long time (I checked just now, and it's still faintly there over 48 hours later), but it's a skin scent from start to finish, and I can't sense it on myself at all 6 hours in. The weird grapey scent doesn't appear on my skin, but Winter Delice appears to die off on me after the heart notes.

In conclusion: As far as top and heart notes go, I like this scent even though it didn't fit my expectations. It's heavy on the woods, sweet but not a gourmand, and the incense isn't offensive to my nose. Winter Delice isn't "cold"-smelling, and while it doesn't match the Christmas feel, it's good for winter and fall. The longevity and sillage are both disappointing... if only it were stronger!

The pine, fir and resins in this fragrance smell like a cool mix of lavender on my skin which I'm not too keen on...In fact, it reminds me of the vintage Aqua Velva for men!

Towards the drydown, the opoponax and sugar melt into each other so warmly & sweetly...

I was sure hoping this fragrance made friends with my skin, but alas, they are at odds with each other...It's just not feminine enough for me...As beautiful as this fragrance is, I'll pass...

Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice

Does Winter Delice remind me of Christmas?
Personally, no. It lacks of that bright, fresh, and frosty factors. Winter Delices is a little too dark, and smoky of a scent to be Christmassy.

The perfume is definitely herbaceous. It smells like a cold & damp pine forest, which I found to be very interesting and distinctive.

When I test Winter Delice I can imagine myself sitting on the damp forest floor underneath an oversized pine tree, getting whiffs and whiffs of that sweet pine tree bark, needles, and its oozing zap. The cold ground—carpeted with moist and decomposed leaves—adds earthiness, mustiness, and smokiness to the herbaceous resinous aroma in the air.

It’s uniquely calm and soothing. I’d rather secretly enjoy my Winter Delices at home alone—in front of the toasty fire place & all wrapped up in a cozy throw—in the middle of cruel Kansas winter.

Just found my third bottle on eBay - thank goodness there are people selling it out there!

Anyway, I can't add much to the descriptions below - this is just the perfect Christmas week fragrance and I tend to use it exclusively the week before, during and after - especially when it snows. It's quite light, even with the heavyweight notes in the composition - but it's perfectly persistent, present and never overbearing. It brings joy to my heart and really brings back early childhood memories of a warmly spiced kitchen, a fragrant fir tree, the crisp snowy air and the midnight mass.

A very emotional perfume - I hope to be lucky enough to keep findining enough bottles to ensure at least a couple decades more of this "bottled memory."

This EdT, part of the Aqua Allegoria series and now discontinued, starts out as a mildly spicy, incensey, smoky, composition, then quickly a fir balsam note becomes the primary one. It’s not at all a “Christmas” scent, it’s more the smell of fresh resin and old incense.

Even though the sillage is light, I would characterize this as dark and brooding, like walking into an abandoned, haunted chapel in the middle of an evergreen forest and finding that it still smells like the incense that was once burned there. As the evergreen notes die down, a light gingerbread note appears, breaking the spell, but the incense still remains in the background. After a few hours it dries down to a gingerbread, vanilla and musk skin scent.

Overall, this is fairly long-lasting for an EdT, at least 4-5 hours. I love the opening, and like the rest of it. Too bad Guerlain stopped making this.

I got my bottle out to do some decanting today and oh! I had forgotten how truly magic this is. It is totally unlike anything else in the Aqua Allegoria range. I would not classify it as a woody floral musk, to me it is a true gourmand, with notes of spices and orange and orris (like one of those clove-studded oranges we used to make, but with no clove note). I managed to spill a bit while decanting so now I will have to wear this t-shirt for days until the scent dies down; I can't bear to wash it off just yet! A truly warm, resinous and comforting perfume & they should not have discontinued it....sigh.

Winter Delice is magic in a bottle. Have you ever seen the movie Narnia? This is exactly what I imagine the magical land of Narnia to smell like... full of snow and weird creatures, magic, dreams, ice, purity of children and values to be reached.
It does smell like winter, not the slushy gray ones in the big cities, but like quiet, frozen ones in places where technology, has not arrived yet... where burning wood is still the only method of heating, and the night sky is lighted only by the moon and the stars, and horses pull the sleights through mountains of snow, and bread and cookies are baking in a primitive stove.
This is what I recall when wearing Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice. The name suits the scent very well.
It's smoky, enveloping, warm, mysterious and primal, good silage and good lasting power. It does have some similarity with Shalimar. But this is definitely woodier. I don't understand the rationality of discontinuing this truly outstanding perfume.

oh i would sooooooooooooooooooo love to be able to track down another bottle{or 10} of this sensational sexy great at christmas-time perfume.
alas it has gone ,gone ,gone away forever.

I was the weird kid who would eat the drops of resin from the bark of the pine tree. Yes, I know: it's a miracle I survived to adulthood; nonetheless, those small, golden, sparkling drops that weren't quite solid and weren't quite liquid either, totally fascinated me. And I suppose they still do. Winter Delice doesn't suggest Christmas to me -- that would require the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg and eggnog; instead, it's the scent of snow and winter moonlight.

Winter Delice suggests the chill and excitement of cross-country skiing by the light of a full moon many years ago in Chama, New Mexico. The snow sparkled and the only sound in the insulated, muffled quiet I remember was the swish, swish, swishing of well-waxed skis. The stars were too numerous to count, the air cold and crisp, the moon shadows danced and the Ponderosa pines perfumed the air with the same sharp resin I smell on my skin now from Winter Delice. Fabulous.

Quite possibly my favorite fragrance of all-time. So comforting. I remember that my mom's vintage Christmas ornaments smelled just like this and I always looked forward to taking them out of storage boxes and giving them a whiff. Now I can smell this glorious scent year-round.

Like a men's cologne at first (fougere? similar to Elixir des Merveilles), then the fir, pine, and sweet-spice (cinnamon-like) notes emerge and settle. I think opoponax in the dry-down gives it magic. And, I find that it actually lasts a long time (>6 hrs). I want to wear it year-round, but definitely best in the Fall and Winter.

Out of all the fragrances in the Aqua Allegoria series, I'll be saving up for full sizes of this (if I can still find it) and of Pamplelune.

I think of this as a funny perfume, it makes me happy and kind of girly. I have no clue why. Also it makes me think of the fir I planted when I was about 4-5 years old. Now it has become a big fir and I feel happiness every time I visit my parents cottage and se my old dear fir tree. This perfumes smells exactly like "Burre" (That´s the name of my fir) at Christmas Time... How can I do anything else than love it?

No, not really love, but it´s a nice, comfy and quirky kind of perfume. A must try if you like spicy, woody, recinous kind of perfumes.

A pleasant christmas tree scent laced with incense that smell of happy masses and glowing fireplaces. It doesn't last and it's an okay adittion on Aqua Allegoria, a funny touching scent , best not to expect to last more than 30 min.

Smells like English Leather Men's cologne and Pine-sol. I wanted to love this, but it doesn't perform as advertised. Not remotely.

On my skin this fragrance releases the smell of camphor-can't stand it, even though top notes a really pleasant. It reminds me the scent of just cut christmas tree, to be more pricise, the scent of fir-tree when you bring it home before Christmas.Warm, woody and spicy top notes turn into something very annoying on my skin :(

you really should...i don't know what it is with it, but it reminded me of my grandmother's second husband..and that is not a good thing. i find that i have really weird chemistry sometimes, so maybe that was the problem. if i can find the sample, i'll send it to you. let me know by private message if you want me to send it to you, i'd be glad to hear an opinion from someone who obviously loves perfumes as much as i do!

ah, it must be the frankincense...i would not be surprised! frankincense is pretty hardcore..at least for me! i definetly have to be careful with some incense smells. have you ever tried le baiser du dragon by cartier? it has the same kind of smell, but in that case it is COMPLETELY overpowering.
still,this is a gorgeous perfume. do you find the perfume lasts a long time on clothing? i only dabbed my wrists and inner arms.

ok, so i just realized that opoponax (sp?) is actually listed as being in one of my favourite perfumes (coco mademoiselle) so i guess that is not what throws me off...hmm...i wonder if it is a resin that i dislike....interesting

A Victorian Christmas Eve in a bottle -- glowing fireplace, silver trays filled with little spice cakes, towering pyramids of fruit, presents under the tree, aromatic candles lit all around the room, velvet ribbons festooning the boiserie. Complex at first, with sweet spices and many types of woods. The drydown on me is very sweet, almost like Dr Pepper (vanilla and cinnamon).