Bruno Banani
Bruno Banani
111 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The aniseed erupts first, sharp and licorice-like, immediately at odds with the bright bergamot and mandarin struggling to assert citrus freshness. Within the first five minutes, the spicy note dominates, creating an almost unsettling aromatic liqueur quality that's either intriguing or off-putting depending on your tolerance for culinary fragrances.
As the aniseed mellows into the background, cedar and sandalwood emerge with a dry, woody warmth, whilst the jasmine appears as little more than a whisper beneath increasingly noticeable synthetic sweetness. The benzoin adds a candied resinousness that briefly elevates the composition, though the cyclamen's promised peppery dryness remains elusive and barely detectable.
The base settles into a flat, soapy amber-musk-sandalwood combination that feels generic and progressively fatiguing. Vetiver attempts one final flourish of dry earthiness, but the fragrance has largely surrendered to its synthetic underbelly, becoming an indistinct skin scent that communicates nothing beyond its own absence.
Bruno Banani Pure Man arrives as a fractured attempt at freshness—bright and discordant, like someone's scattered a spice rack across wet citrus. The aniseed opening is the fragrance's most distinctive moment, lending a peculiar liquorice-tinged sharpness to the bergamot and mandarin that follows. It's an unusual choice, this licorice-meets-citrus combination, and it works just enough to make you pause before dismissing it entirely. The composition then pivots toward woody warmth as cedar and sandalwood emerge, anchored by that sweet, resinous benzoin that smells faintly of boiled sweets left in the sun.
The jasmine here plays a strange role—not the heady, indolic florality you might expect, but rather a thin, wispy presence that fails to add roundness to the heart. Instead, there's a synthetic quality that becomes increasingly apparent as the citrus fades, a chemical sweetness that suggests more budget-conscious perfumery than masterful composition. The cyclamen adds a faint peppery dryness, but it's overwhelmed by that persistent amber-musk-sandalwood base that feels generic and slightly soapy.
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2.8/5 (119)