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zzzzzzzzz – :
Dry, clay-clad spicy flowers in fragrant mingling with pulpless citrus fruits in a water-deprived oasis. Makes me think of the beautiful mexican Talavera pottery art, the convoluted designs of flowers and the vivid polychromatic brushstrokes over dry earthenware, as altar offerings that celebrate abundance of life even in places you’re not suppose to find it, like in a desert. Perfectly counteractive against humid climates.
ozimaj – :
I just acquired Voile d’Ete after positive reviews from some Guerlainophiles. I usually fear blind buys but I am so pleased with this soft and caressing warming scent. The natural spicy note of fresh carnation is the first note I encounter followed by exotic florals with a kiss of mint. Not so sure that it has much to do with the original Terracotta le parfum but that is the way it sometimes goes with Guerlain flankers. Lovely scent that had me immediately planning on buying a back up bottle.
blewgenij – :
This is the smell of those huge lilies with the sticky stigma and golden pollen laden stamens and freckled pink tinged insides. When they are just about to crinkle, wrinkle and wizen, petals falling, falling…spicy, sweet, heady…Penhaligon’s Lily & Spice and Tom Ford’s Shanghai Lily are the blooming, living lilies to the dying, wilting ones in this. I wondered why I kept being drawn to this spicy, sweetness…it was the lily note. I love it!
zgorinich – :
I’ve since swapped this, but I found a root beer note to it that I liked. But it wasn’t for me. Happy to have found it a loving home with Coffee Bee
marusa543 – :
I thought I’d revisit this since Fragrantica just added the bee bottle version to the review library.
I strongly suggest testing it before laying out tons of money based on its being hard to find.
In my original review, I described this as root beer on top of a “clay” note.
Now, several years later, I tried it again, 2 days in a row.
This time, I get bland clove permeated with an overwhelming bitter flatness.
It took me a while to figure out what that bitter note reminds me of.
It’s aspirin. Which makes sense, since the fragrance is advertised with a “solar” note.
Apparently, “solar” in perfume means old school suntan lotion, which used to contain salicylates. Aspirin also contains salicylates.
Rub an uncoated aspirin in your hands and sniff – you’ll get a good dose of what this perfume mostly smells like.
I went ahead and did a full acid test for my Fragrantica buddies and chewed a little aspirin to make sure. Yup (blechhhhhh) that’s the note.
There’s also a flat vanilla clove tinge lurking in the background – nothing to write home about, but it does evoke American root beer.
I get no rose, mint or any of the other official “notes.”. I get no floral at all. I suspect “iris” is included in the advertising notes because it also can smell flat and chalky like aspirin. Sometimes they throw whatever they think might apply onto that list.
In retrospect, it was the flat aspirin bitterness I was originally projecting a perception of “clay” onto, helped by the marketing suggestions.
For me, it’s too flat, synthetic and bitter, and the weak clove just adds to the cloying. It would be interesting to see how “solar” perfumes would fare, saleswise, if they were marketed with an “aspirin” note, though.
Woccuccerve – :
I have the Voile d’Ete.
I live in Florida. Love this one. This is my go to everyday scent. Always want to have this one on hand. Comforting to me.
ijf138intitytek – :
The first note I get from Terracotta Voile de’Ete is nutmeg! Lots and lots of freshly ground nutmeg! As that starts to settle, I get creamy, warm nutmeg… Like a warm mug of milk sprinkled with nutmeg and perhaps a bit of cinnamon. This fragrance is so spicy! At first I was a bit disappointed by this but it’s growing on me so very quickly! It seemed ‘old’ (as in traditional) at first but maybe it’s changed as it’s settled because it seems more unique now whereas initially it just felt old style. I can see myself liking this more and more as I become more accustomed to it… It’s so incredibly comforting!
Allegator – :
Spice, spice, spice! That’s all I get from the original Terracotta perfume. This spiciness, I’m assuming from the carnation flower, dominates the composition to my nose. I can’t detect any other note. Very soft and linear. Not a bad fragrance, it just doesn’t suit my tastes.
For a summery Guerlain fragrance, I recommend Mahora.
bby – :
I”m also agree,that it smells to close to Aqua Allegoria Ylang & Vanille Guerlain .
Perhaps,carnations are more stronger.
sergey68 – :
Ran out of this, would like to have a new one. If anyone know where to buy this on-line. Please let me know. Many thanks, Love, T.
ruildittita – :
We are having a heatwave in LA and it’s near 100 degrees here. My skin tends to project spice, so I am leery of carnation notes or anything spicy. On the first spray, it was loud and I thought maybe I had chosen wrong, but no. This softened down to one of the most gorgeous creamy carnation scents ever! I got a nice opening that smelled like warmed flowers on baked terracotta tiles. The heart was a lily, the same lily in Lys Soleia. The dry down is a gorgeous creamy ylang-ylang and vanilla. It’s similar to the creamy ylang-ylang in Mahora. Wow, this is stunning and it is the perfect scent to wear on a hot day. The spices aren’t overwhelming, they are soothing.
norman – :
All I can say is this perfume’s opening reminds me of dental office. Thanks to the sample I was given by fellow fragrantican, I am not digging a full bottle.
elic – :
Haiku review
Summertime is here
The sun raining down on me
Aglow with floral spice
Наташенька – :
Yum yum… This is sweet summertime in a bottle.
Light yet sweet, hot with the occasional fresh breeze.
Tanned, wearing elegant sandals and the perfect white beach dress, covered by a grand hat and diva sunglasses… She rules the seas. Or at least the beaches.
rossin – :
The “clay” note is nice, but I just can’t get past the root beer spilled all over it. Wish I could detect carnation.
vladimirtka – :
Carnation meets vanilla ice-cream ! Creamy and scrumptious!
VPogorelov – :
I am wearing this today for the first time and it is 70 degrees outside. I decided to give you a weather update in this review, because many say it is a scent for cooler weather. I found that it is absolutely beautiful. I love spice notes and these are detectable to my nose. I do detect some carnation and the vanilla, but after a few minutes what is left is a sweet spicey smell. I sprayed it over a perfume fixative that is suppose to increase a perfume’s longevity and I have been wearing it for four hours and the sillage is moderate. I can’t credit that to the perfume or to the fixative, since I used both, but it hasn’t faded away yet.
I too love the bottle design, it matches a few of my Shalimar bottles and I like consistency and uniformity. Overall, I would probably re buy this if I ever ran out.
maksimusss – :
i have a dry oil version and adore it!didnt even know it was limited?!
deestAlidge – :
Bug spray, really?! Voile d’Ete is a lovely scent. It reminds me so much of summertime and the beach – wish I were there now! It’s a bit harsh at first, but after 10 minutes or so – lovely! I’m not a big carnation fan, but I really love it in this perfume. And a big bonus – a fabulous bottle. I think I won’t ever be without a bottle of this in my collection.
ПАА – :
Tried this and loved it initially…the only problem with it was that after about one hour, I could no longer smell it on my skin. Very, very light…takes a lot to notice it…
zakon – :
It’s a little harsh and medicinal straight from the bottle but let it sit on your skin for a few minutes and it transforms into a beautiful warm, kind of earthy scent. One of the few orientals suitable for summer. I was really pissed yesterday when someone I know commented that she smells some perfume that is like bug spray ( obviously it was me wearing Terracota). But i try not to be self conscious about stuff like that especially if it comes from somebody who is raving about Love Spell and Bombshell by VS.
To anyone who encounters that kind of “compliments”: from my obsevation they generally come from ignorant and devoid of class and manners people, and therefore should be ignored and not taken personally.
sergosiia – :
Carnation. This gives off the aroma of flowers baking in the sun, like a garden in the summer. Very floral but IMO unisex. Unfortunately, for as wonderful as Terracotta Voile d’Ete smells, it does not last very long.
lumbar – :
Terracotta recreates the arid beauty of pure red sand
sunbaked under a turqouise sky spicy texture of cinnamon adds to the dry earth Red carnation blooms
in the vastness of a barren dessert the warm dry air
blows across the horrizon reveals a scent of powdery sweet nuances iris turns terracotta sharp with a cold
metallic tinge it conjours a image of ancient pottery found in dark caves of the Southwest colorful Markings of a long forgotten tribute to some Maiden, Creator or earth goddess from a mysterious Civilization Nocturnal Jasmine grows out of tiny
creavasse of rock blooms an intoxicating green menthol scent, Rose opens the heart with an velvety
texture Warm Red Roses that hangs like vines of adobe
houses basking in the sunset Airy and powdery smell
of Vanilla steeps though the senses sweet and delectable, diluted white lily subtle and yet i noticed Her scent of sweet spiciness trying to come
though but it’s drowned out by the more domineering
notes of Cinnamon Vanilla and Iris, Green mint brings freshness to Terracotta briefly relaxing but it doe’snt last long it flees quickly off my skin
sometimes i don’t agree with the note cards some scents i can detect some scents is like finding a needle in a haystack and pear is one of them,
Terracotta maybe the first Fragrance to recreate the scent of nature without any synthtic artiface when it comes to Perfumery it does’nt use any plastic synthictics it smells like they choose the finest
ingrients to recreate the essence of Terracotta
Guerlain makes the Best of the Best.
HChuong – :
Voile is a smooth, light fragrance, with a mid-weight warmth & low, caramel sweetness in its heart. A gentle Guerlain, well-mixed, well-bred, polite.
The overall impression I find is of warmth & dryness, the colour of the juice is perfectly matched. Sunbaked terracotta pots in a parched garden where you catch a warm waft of fragrant flowers…parched, peppered carnations swaying in a butterscotch heat-haze.
I never thought I liked carnations in fragrances until I realised that I disliked them in high, sweet “white” florals & green frags. Amid the dry-vanilla they do not shout & instead produce a beautiful spiciness – I am a convert!
There is a faint copper-coin tang in this perfume, that is suprisingly pleasant. For me it fuses the old, baked earth & the modern metallic world. It straddles time effortlessly, being neither an old or young perfume. For me, this is where its design lets me down: it fails to make a clear statement remaining uncommitted & ambiguous, too lazy to be sure of its direction….to some it verges on pot pourri, to others it is a relaxed urban-earth scent.
Definitely not a fragrance I would have expected myself to like, but it is commendable as a soft, laid-back affair that manages to ride out the heat without resorting to lemon, water or fizz.
Markus-Evgeniy – :
I guess Guerlain knew well it was a flop, that’s why it was sold so cheap and then discontinued. Yes, it is kind of spicy and you can detect something like carnation and ylang ylang in it, and the blend is done according to all the rules, but…. the overall impression I get is of something totally artificial and flat. Luckily, it stays close to the skin, so I do not drag the scent around me.
VLOVVJOLL – :
Guerlain’s VOILE D’ETE, like METEORITES, appears to have been a fragrance launched after it had been used successfully to scent a cosmetics line. This floral-amber (if that’s not a category, it should be!) edt opens as very, very floral, but in an intriguing way. Ylang ylang makes the dominant carnation a bit darker than it would otherwise be, so this smells nothing like the floats at a parade.
In fact, VOILE D’ETE evolves into an entirely different, amber skin scent, with carnations always detectably present, but vanilla inching in to moderate the ylang ylang. This is not, contrary to the listed notes, a linear perfume. Nor is it possible to believe that amber and vanilla are not present in significant proportions! My associative memory of TOCADE with VOILE D’ETE was of their drydowns: both are amber vanilla, with the vanilla much more prominent in TOCADE than in VOILE.
Compared to Fendi’s THEOREMA, VOILE D’ETE is not at all spicy, although next to TOCADE it seems somewhat more so because of the carnation/ylang ylang opening.
All in all, I’d say that VOILE D’ETE is aptly named. The image here, however, is more that of a walk down the oceanfront at Cannes. Or perhaps this is Saint Tropez? Yes, I believe that is it: the woman with huge tortoise shell sunglasses and a big floppy hat lying on a lounge chair next to the water in her gold ring embellished white mesh bikini, her skin shimmering brown-orange from Bain de Soleil!
DoZZeR – :
After many years I received this scent just today. It’s as pleasant as I rember. Slightly spicy and warm. For me this is definitely summer fragrance, tanned skin, summer, beach…Lovely!
mashalikk – :
My next Guerlain just arrived (another one on its way :P)and what a surprise! I expected a light floral summer fragrance and instead I get a big dose of spices like freshly crushed pepper with a bit of cardamon and they are not listed here! This only shows what a beginner I am in the world of perfumes.
Do they squeeze carnations so hard that they produce pepper 😀
I guess it takes a master to blend the above components so that one can smell pepper 🙂
No kidding, lots of it and for a long while.
After an hour it becomes more delicate but the spices are still there.
Very nice scent, love it, but for me Voile d’Ete will work best evenings or cooler weather due to the long developing stage. Finally I get the gentle floral wave but till then in the hot and humid air I could die of pepper overdose if used Voile d’Ete around noon 😀
Mr_Dmitriy – :
On my skin, Voile d’Ete is very light — a “summer veil” indeed. This is, from the first moment, definitively a Guerlain, with whatever-it-is that makes Guerlains – from Apres’ l’Ondee to Attrape-Coeur to Mitsouko – smell like part of the same family. The carnation is lightly spiced, and the iris is a cool background. Dries down to a warm, slightly salty, skin scent. I’m looking forward to wearing this in the summer, when it’s hot and sticky and I only want a light floral.
андрей 1234 – :
Sweet carnations. I agree with barbiot — I will probably only wear it in the fall. If you like CdG’s carnation scent, you’ll probably like this one as well.
xft208Diobtetty – :
Tender carnation, delicate iris – a discrete parfum for every day. Not my favourite Guerlain, but a good one. Very happy to have it!
shah30 – :
Mellow, warm and soft fragrance.Scent reminds me a lot the way good quality make-up powder smell. You could throw a whole bottle of this light liquid on youself, and even then it woud be not owerpowering…So light, that even it’s nice, I don’t see many reasons to wear it.
dubki – :
not my favorite, a bit generic for me, or maybe it just smells a little like a grandmother to me. Not my favorite for sure.
buddecor – :
It’s a little spicy for me…
I think it’s good only for cool/cold days unlike its name..
elenapushhina – :
i test this parfum this winter , first i felt worm cinnamon and vanilia after carnations,i think it is very nice discreet and diferent parfum,for all seasons
ahj185speagoessenda – :
I just discovered it smells SO good in rainy weather! Very sweet and fresh.
panikos – :
Voile d’Ete smells like nothing but carnations and jasmine on me! Very beautiful at first, not strong, but definitely not light. I would call it a lightly spiced floral, as it’s a bit spicy at first. The dry down turns into an unfortunate metallic smell on my skin, and that’s the only problem I have with it. This perfume is not my stile, but it’s nice. Great for spring weather and to wear during the day!