Néroli Outrenoir

Cuir Beluga, Rose Barbare and Angélique Noire thus beautifully opened the ball for these rare and precious scents, each built around a signature raw material. In 2016, Néroli Outrenoir invites us to immerse ourselves in the delights of orange blossom, the favorite ingredient of its creator Thierry Wasser. But the journey may prove even more unexpected than anticipated…

Thierry Wasser's “Black Light” for Guerlain: Néroli Outrenoir

House perfumer for Guerlain since 2005, Thierry Wasser set out in 2016 to expand the fine range of the L'Art et la Matière collection by sublimating his favorite fragrant ingredient, orange blossom.

Although the perfumer composes beautiful fragrances for Guerlain such as the iconic La Petite Robe Noire, he is nonetheless bound to limit his creativity to obvious commercial necessities. Cost constraints that, fortunately, do not apply to the L'Art et la Matière collection; thus each creator can give free rein to his fertile imagination.

Thus, for Néroli Outrenoir, Thierry Wasser sought to showcase neroli in all its facets, from its deep luminosity to its more mysterious, voluptuous accords, using the finest raw materials at his disposal. As a result, Néroli Outrenoir dazzles with its chiaroscuro accords any woman drawn to it. A jewel of creativity, Néroli Outrenoir reveals far more than the facets of orange blossom—it reveals the many faces of Thierry Wasser's creativity!

“[…] While he is drawn to obvious elegance, to unexplained grace, without premeditation, Thierry Wasser thrives on the unexpected turn, the wink, the pirouette, a score he plays to perfection.” Guerlain on Néroli Outrenoir.

Guerlain's Néroli Outrenoir, or the orange blossom and its “dark” lights…

Like the other bottles of the precious Guerlain L'Art et la Matière collection, Néroli Outrenoir comes in the form of an antique book with a golden “binding” presented as a plaque. This lovely bottle nestles within a beautiful case of supremely luxurious leather.

Néroli Outrenoir opens first on a citrus cocktail that brings forth the light. Composed of the finest notes of grapefruit, lemon, mandarin and bergamot, the top notes take flight to release the orange blossom and neroli of the heart, enhanced by a sharp green note. Yet within that same heart, the sun of the sweet flowers becomes tinged with the velvety darkness of a smoky tea. A dark note that carries us toward the nocturnal depths of Néroli Outrenoir. Myrrh and Ambroxan play out their mysterious forces, while benzoin and solar notes let us glimpse once more the warmth of the orange blossom.

“Magnificently balanced, with a very fine development, Néroli Outrenoir seems to reconnect with Guerlain's true tradition of not simply making vanilla-amber notes, but quite simply, perfume.” Olfactorum on Néroli Outrenoir, Guerlain.