Alcina
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Citrus leaf pierces through first, sharp and grassy, immediately joined by that peculiar cabbage-like greenness that feels more vegetable garden than fragrance counter. The aldehydic synthetic base gives everything a slightly metallic sheen, as though you're smelling something filtered through clean linen.
The lavender emerges cautiously, softening the edges without transforming the overall character—this remains determinedly green and fresh rather than becoming a traditional lavender fragrance. Hints of spice and that isolated gardenia note create strange, fleeting moments that don't quite layer coherently, maintaining the fragrance's fundamental cool distance.
Musk and sandalwood provide increasingly anodyne warmth, though neither develops significantly; the gaiac wood adds faint woodsmoke rather than structural support. By this point, the fragrance has faded considerably, leaving only a whisper of soft green musk against skin.
Alcina Men Alcina arrives as a peculiar artefact of late-80s minimalism—a fragrance that commits fully to its green, aldehydic sensibility without apology. Alberto Morillas has crafted something deliberately spare here: the citrus leaf and grass accord creates an almost herbal vegetality that feels less like a conventional cologne and more like the sharp green snap of crushed foliage. There's an unexpected quality to the opening that borders on the savoury; that cabbage note (which sounds unpromising on paper) lends an almost bracing, almost slightly resinous quality that keeps this from becoming merely citric.
The lavender-spice heart attempts to soften this austere character, introducing a whisper of traditional masculinity, but it never quite dominates the composition. Instead, it seems to exist in perpetual negotiation with the green freshness, creating a tense, somewhat uncomfortable beauty. The gardenia introduction feels strangely isolated, a floral moment that doesn't quite meld with its surroundings—it's a fragrance that resists cohesion, actually.
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3.9/5 (206)