FRAGRANCE | Aqua Allegoria Ginger Piccante EDT by Guerlain: Something for ginger lovers to try

The list of fragrances under Guerlain's Aqua Allegoria line just keeps on getting longer by the minute. Last year (2019), Ginger Piccante caught my eye at a sales counter. It was a fairly new release then and the idea of introducing ginger to this line—otherwise known for inoffensive, light and fresh scents—intrigued me. Although it's not a particularly heavy spice, ginger isn't to everyone's taste, so my curiosity was instantly piqued.

The fragrance wastes no time in showcasing its star note. The ginger is lemony, bright, and sparkly. It isn't shy at all, proclaiming itself proudly in the opening. Although the perfumer lets the ginger loose—its natural brand of spiciness on full display—the addition of lemon adds a nice and pleasant dimension to the scent without muting the ginger one bit. After all, lemon and ginger go together naturally. For comparison, the original Dior Homme Sport also does this combination really well.

Moments later, a transparent rose slowly but steadily blooms amid this field of lemons and ginger. It strikes me as pink instead of the deep and heavier profile of its dark red counterpart. It's also far from being jammy. Rather, the rose puts on a spicy character—still fresh and airy but with a mild sharpness to it—obviously due to the interplay with the lemon and ginger. The scent stays mostly like this and remains noticeable for a few hours, its first two being the strongest. There's a light musk with a vanillic sweetness further down the road but I pick it up only when I smell it up close. It's still the spicy rose that wafts in the air.

Ginger Piccante is a fragrance that does its name justice. However, aside from the fact that you must like ginger, you must also be comfortable wearing rose to really enjoy this. It's a huge plus that Ginger Piccante performs better than most of the others in Guerlain's Aqua Allegoria line but it doesn't feel out of place because it still carries a certain freshness and lightness to it. All things said, this is worth trying.