Annick Goutal Neroli, eau de toilette

All week long I’ve been reaching for Neroli. It’s a lovely, fresh scent for spring. When I first smelled it, I wrote it off as a one-sided one-note juice that faded too fast. I’ve struggled with Annick Goutal fragrances. To my nose, they all carry a similar thread of something that smells watery and ozonic. I love Eau d’Hadrian when it’s sprayed in the air, or on other people, but not on me. My dad gave me his half-used bottle, and on him it’s all lemon zest; on me it’s all chemical lemon cleaner. I like Violette … but not enough to buy it. Too powdery. Le Chevrefeuille is nice and light, but a little too airy for me, and combined with that weird ozonic note that I keep smelling (am I the only one?), it’s just too much.

As much as the ozonic smell kept turning me away from Annick Goutal, there was something that kept drawing me back, too. I think I fell under the spell of AG’s pretty little bottles and the brand's niche status. My local Nordstrom's AG section is alluring: all those cream boxes and bottles with gauze bows. I nearly smelled all of them, and the only one I liked was Neroli. I debated buying it. I’m glad I did!Wearing it all this week, I’ve discovered that it’s not only green and stemmy-- really perfect for spring, but it’s also a quiet, subtle floral, and not too sweet. It smells like when you hold a ripe, unpeeled orange up to your nose. A little juicy but not orange juice. No Minute Maid here. It’s slightly powdery but very, very soft.

I tend to apply it liberally, almost more like a splash. It has almost no sillage, yet I can still detect it hours later if I bury my nose into my forearm. There are random moments when I get that ozonic odor, and something like bad breath, but those moments fade into the softest orange blossom loveliness. While it’s certainly too expensive to treat like a true splash, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s ok if I actually finish up a bottle of perfume. I’d rather apply liberally and enjoy it than have it go bad. I’d love to try to matching shower gel … but my Cattier orange blossom suits me just fine (and is waaaay less expensive than the AG shower gel!)