Etro
Etro
131 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The bourbon geranium and citrus explode with unexpected savouriness, the Florida orange cutting through with brightness whilst the geranium's peppery, slightly green undertones immediately signal that this won't be a conventional floral. Within minutes, the ginger appears—spicy, almost gritty—creating an herbal complexity that feels almost culinary.
By the second hour, the carnation finally dominates, but it's been transformed by the ginger and pink pepper into something powdery and spiced rather than clove-sweet. The rose absolute adds a creamy, slightly dusty sophistication, and the composition settles into a warm, slightly woody embrace that's both comforting and subtly sharp.
The musk and atlas cedar emerge as the spice fades, leaving a soft, vanilla-tinged woody base with lingering powdery-floral traces. It becomes quieter, more intimate—a gentle, slightly creamy woodiness with phantom hints of geranium and carnation that feel like memories rather than presences.
Dianthus arrives as a deliberately unsentimental floral—one that refuses the saccharine sweetness most carnation fragrances peddle. Etro's 2006 interpretation treats the carnation as a spicy architectural element rather than a romantic whisper. The bourbon geranium and Florida orange create an oddly savoury opening that makes you second-guess whether you're smelling a fragrance or a particularly refined herbal tisane. There's genuine ginger heat threading through the composition, which prevents the rose absolute from cloying; instead, the rose becomes a supporting player that adds warmth and a powdery rouge-like quality to the spice.
What emerges is a fragrance for the quietly confident wearer—someone who gravitates toward Hermès rather than Lancôme, who finds conventional florals exhausting. The pink pepper adds a peppery bite that feels almost peppercorn-adjacent, creating an effect that's simultaneously aromatic and vaguely culinary. This is not a fragrance that broadcasts itself; it's intimate, slightly peppery, with a creamy musk-and-vanilla base that grounds the floral-spice conversation without dominating it.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
3.8/5 (342)