Aqua Allegoria Ylang & Vanille
Guerlain (1999)

My favorite Aqua Allegoria release to date. A beautiful floral indeed! The top notes are a keen combo. Honey sweet in a way, with a crispness. Vanilla & jasmine wind their way in lending a creaminess to this fragrance. A gentle iris note chimes in a bit later. It all settles down into a dusty, powdery dry scent. Exceptionally feminine.

According to the notes list on Fragrantica, there is carnation in this one, as well as the eponymous ylang & vanille. None of the reviews here on BN mention this, but I find a definite note of carnation competing with the ylang in the initial phase here. The ylang slowly wins through, joined around forty five minutes in by a creamy, smooth & tropical vanilla. The whole effect is like a soft, warm breath of summer on this cold winter's day. There's no further development, & from here it wears very close to the skin, but it's a dreamy, creamy, not-too-sweet floral that I could see myself enjoying during the warmer months.

AA Ylang & Vanille opens with a giant ylang note in almost-all-its-glory, just minus the indoles. It is such an intense note that it borders on smelling like new sneakers. It is joined by a woody vanilla and the sum smells miraculously like a lily. The effect is similar to Hermes' Vanille Galante, only much more lush.

The lily effect eventually morphs back to ylang as a dry medicinal vanilla becomes more apparent. There is some heliotrope, which my nose interprets as chalky up close, but gives a balsamic accent to the sillage. The drydown is a lightly sweetened natural vanilla. The ylang never really gives up the ghost.

Projection and longevity are excellent.

There is nothing groundbreaking in this fragrance, just fine raw materials intelligently structured. It is worth picking up if you love ylang (or pseudo-lilies a la Vanille Galante). No need to pay exorbitant prices, though. If it passes you by you'll survive fine.

For what it is, 4/5 stars

This is a lovely tropical fragrance that always retains its creaminess and never becomes sharp or indolic. The notes are Ylang ylang, jasmine, iris and vanilla.

Ylang ylang has such a meaty density, the surging vivacity of tropical white flowers tempered to something much calmer and slower, without much evidence of the 'dirty' indole but oh so of the flesh nonetheless. I grew to truly love it at the heart of the ravishing Aromatics Elixir and will often scent my room with its essential oil. Its aromatherapy uses include alleviating tension and hyperventilation, and I bet it does – warmth and languor seem like its natural setting. These are hefty molecules that are going nowhere fast, they vibrate with a soothing bass drone.
Looking for a perfume that would showcase ylang without too many other notes, I came across this, and broke through my usual indifference to discontinued fragrances and blind bought it (it's still widely available on the Net at a pretty reasonable price).
Well, it's simple and sophisticated – Guerlain magic. Strangely the opening impression is of lilies which soon morph most naturally into a refined yet utterly true ylang note. A slightly bitter, somewhat smoky and milky vanilla perfects the creation, giving it additional comfort and warmth without extraneous sweetness. I'm home.

There's not a whole lot to write about this. The composition is a lot more 'Ylang' than it is 'Vanille', and I think the fragrance would have been better if the proportions were reversed. Ylang itself is fairly sweet, but the composition itself doesn't go overboard with sweetness... it could be much worse (and I was anticipating worse from the reviews). AAYV is particularly feminine compared to some of the other Aqua Allegorias. It would make a nice casual day fragrance, but it's not nearly as enjoyable as some of the other AAs (like Pampelune or Angelique Lilas).