Angélique Noire

Guerlain speaks of a pas de deux between a lively, bitter angelica flower and an enveloping vanilla accord. A plant that is hard to dose, angelica keeps its vegetal greenness here, which the vanilla softens without erasing, down to a trail where bitter and sweet unite.

A pink pepper accord and a cedar accord accompany the duo. The formula brings together two angelica essences produced in France, one drawn from the seeds, the other from the roots, and the current version adds a pear note.

Reviews from 2005 described a different build: bergamot answered vanilla there, in the manner of the great Guerlains, over a base of milky almond. Jasmine sambac also featured in the original formula.

The caraway often attributed to the fragrance appears neither in the house’s descriptions nor in the launch reviews.

What the label declares

The list published by Guerlain names, after alcohol, fragrance and water, a woody molecule, tetramethyl acetyloctahydronaphthalenes, ahead of linalool and bergamot oil: the bergamot of the first reviews is still there.

It also includes linalyl acetate, citronellol, geranyl acetate and geraniol, anise-toned anethole, several terpenes, rose ketones and a bitter orange peel oil. Two ultraviolet filters protect the juice, and three colorants, red, yellow and blue, tint it.