Annick Goutal Neroli: A Review

Annick Goutal Neroli (2003, Camille Goutal) is the most gorgeous neroli fragrance I have ever smelt. I also love L’Artisan Fleurs d’Oranger, Serge Lutens Fleurs d’Oranger and Le Labo Fleur d’Oranger 27, but Annick Goutal’s Neroli is the most beautiful.

To me, Camille Goutal captures the simplicity and freshness of orange blossoms most perfectly. I’ve always loved the smell of orange blossom from the first time I smelt the real thing, when I was a little girl visiting Walt Disney World in Florida. The scent of orange blossoms wafting through the humid Floridian air is intoxicating. My mother reminds me that I asked if she could plant some of these trees in our yard. Sadly, orange trees don’t do so well in the northeast.

Annick Goutal created a series of soliflore fragrances (Le Jasmin, Le Muguet, La Violette and Le Chevrefeuille) and they are all beautiful. Someone I met online asked me for perfume recommendations for her wedding day. AG Neroli was in my top five suggestions for a summer wedding and she ended up falling in love with it and choosing it for the big day.

Annick Goutal created Neroli as a soliflore, so it’s meant to smell like real orange blossoms, in nature; there is nothing strange or sweet or woodsy added as an unusual twist, it’s just simple, ethereal neroli. There’s a fresh green coolness to AG Neroli, which is easily worn in the hot summer. I would recommend AG Neroli to anyone who finds most floral perfumes overwhelming or too sweet. If my calculations are accurate, I’ve used six bottles of AG Neroli in my lifetime….one every summer since 2003. My 2008 bottle of AG Neroli is about 50% full so it will last me until the cooler fall weather arrives.