Since its earliest beginnings, the art of Perfumery has been driven by a quest for the most beautiful raw materials. As scent explorers, the Guerlain Perfumers travel the world over in search of these exceptional ingredients, true treasures of nature that they exalt in their creations. Like all great voyagers, they, too, have adventure in their blood and a love for the limitless horizon.
Today, this sense of wanderlust is embodied in a new opus of the L’Art & La Matière collection: Néroli Plein Sud, inspired by the adventurous spirit of The Little Prince author Antoine de Saint Exupéry, and by his first major novel, published in 1929 and entitled Southern Mail. Born out of a collaboration with the Antoine de Saint Exupéry Youth Foundation, this pivotal creation continues the story between Guerlain and the great novelist-aviator, that first began in 1933 with the fragrance Vol de Nuit. That masterpiece was composed in homage to Saint Exupéry’s novel of the same name, published two years previously and translated as Night Flight.
NÉROLI PLEIN SUD NEROLI HEADS SOUTH
With Néroli Plein Sud, neroli soars along the trail of Antoine de Saint Exupéry and his novel, Southern Mail.
The book recounts the tales and travels of a Latécoère Airlines pilot who crosses Europe and heads south for Morocco, just as the author once did. During the novelist’s time as an aviator, navigation systems were not as refined as they are today. Pilots found their way “by sight” alone, using visual clues likes the scenic details and positions of landmarks below. This made the profession exceptionally hazardous. Aviators had to love taking risks, pushing their limits and flying in the face of danger. They made every crossing a new adventure from which they emerged more mature and stronger.
Ready for a dizzying flight, neroli takes off towards an extraordinary freshness, revealing a unique energy. It is the energy of its homeland, Morocco, a sun-drenched land between sea and desert, as Antoine de Saint Exupéry writes.
Tinted with this vibrant intensity, it takes on another dimension, revealing itself in a new light that is both feminine and masculine, transcending its reputation as a white flower of delicate, refined allure.
THE TRAIL OF NÉROLI PLEIN SUD
Composed by Guerlain Perfumer Delphine Jelk, the trail sets its sights southward, towards Morocco, its homeland.
Under the clear Moroccan sky, hundreds of orange trees burst into view, forming a palette of azure and green flecked with flashes of white. There, shaded by the branches and foliage, thousands of delicate, snow-white flowers are aglow with freshness. At dawn, when all is calm and the air is not yet been touched by the burning sun, their fragrance is sharp yet soothing, infinitely elegant. It is this fresh, luminous and floral vitality that characterises the soaring composition.
“Néroli Plein Sud is the pure freshness of Moroccan orange blossom uplifted by the sensuality of spices: turmeric, cinnamon, ginger...
Like a fresh breeze blowing over the hot sand of the Sahara.” - Delphine Jelk, Guerlain Perfumer
NÉROLI PLEIN SUD: THE SAINT EXUPÉRY EDITION
For Néroli Plein Sud, Guerlain has sparked a celebration with a Saint Exupéry edition to elevate the entire Maison.
Designed along with the Antoine de Saint Exupéry Youth Foundation, the new creation reveals original illustrations by the great aviator, available in only 1,000 pieces.
In homage to the great aviator, the box that houses the bottle and the plate that tops it are enveloped by a vast twilit sky, colourfully evoking the crossing undertaken by Guerlain neroli. It is a play of synaesthesia, rich in contrasts between freshness and warmth; between floral vitality and the power of spice.
“90 years after the creation of the fragrance Vol de Nuit, a collaboration between Guerlain and Saint Exupéry seemed only natural. What followed was the prestigious pairing of a historic French house of fragrance and the Antoine de Saint Exupéry Youth Foundation, which upholds the memory, works and values of the writer-aviator, as we approach the 80th anniversary of his disappearance. More than a fragrance, Néroli Plein Sud is a genuine homage to the Sahara that Saint Exupéry experienced, a terrain that left an indelible mark on him and which he depicted in his writings, from Southern Mail to The Little Prince. On a deeper level, it is also a tribute to the humanist message passed on by his work, a resolutely current message that resonates now more than ever with younger generations the world over.” - Olivier D’agay, Great-Nephew Of Antoine De Saint Exupéry
