Posted by Robin
on
1 May 2007
It's May Day, and everyone ought to be wearing lily of the valley (Diorissimo!), but I'm soldiering on with carnation nevertheless. Today's subject: Dianthus, the latest fragrance from the Italian line Etro. It launched last year, and was the first scent from Etro specifically designated for women (although it certainly isn't their first “feminine” fragrance). Dianthus, for you non-gardeners, is the botanical name for the plant genus that includes carnations, and the notes include orange, bourbon geranium, centifolia rose, pink pepper, ginger, carnation, woods, musk, cedar and vanilla.
Like yesterday's Garofano, Dianthus centers on carnation without qualifying as a soliflore…
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Posted by Robin
on
30 April 2007
Carnations have been woefully ignored around here. I’ve said before that I love rose fragrances but don’t reach for them very often, and carnations fall into the same trap: if a soliflore rose has a something of an old-fashioned air, a soliflore carnation verges on fusty. Roses, at least, speak of love, and perhaps luxury; carnations speak of funeral wreaths and ugly prom corsages. It is simply not a hip flower.
It is a shame, because carnations smell nice. Today’s fragrance, Garofano, is not strictly speaking a carnation soliflore, but carnation is certainly the dominant note. It is part of Lorenzo Villoresi’s Classic Collection, and features lavender, floral notes, green leaves, carnation, jasmin, rose, cinnamon, cyclamen, ylang ylang, geranium, pepper, heliotrope, vanilla, musk and cedarwood.
Garofano starts with peppered florals and citrus over pale, slightly bitter green undertones. I would not have guessed lavender, but a surge of sharp herbal notes in the opening should have made its presence obvious…
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