Etro
Etro
141 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Bitter orange and lemon arrive with brisk, almost herbal energy, their citrus sharpness cutting through with petitgrain's green, slightly resinous edge. Within moments, lavender softens this brightness into something more herbaceous than fruity—you're not drinking citrus, you're standing in a fragrant garden where lemons hang beside purple blooms.
The sandalwood emerges as a creamy, almost powder-soft presence, anchored immediately by cedarwood's linear dryness and Java patchouli's earthy undertone. Lilac floats above this woody foundation like a whispered counterpoint, creating an unexpected green-floral tension where sweetness meets mineral restraint. The accords settle into a balanced triad: wood, spice (from the pepper hidden beneath), and that curious floral-earthy dialogue that makes you want to smell your own skin.
Coumarin brings a soft, almost caramel-tinged sweetness that wraps around the remaining sandalwood, now deepened and slightly darker. Vanilla and musk emerge subtly beneath, creating a skin-scent quality where amber provides the final structural support—warmth without heaviness, lingering as a gentle woody-creamy reminiscence rather than a bold statement.
Sandalo Etro is a fragrance that treats sandalwood not as a supporting player but as the main character in a woody drama, surrounded by a cast of instruments rather than accessories. Released in 1989, it captures that precise moment when minimalism met maximalism in fragrance design—stripped back in structure yet generous in its herbal and spiced declarations.
The opening volley of citrus (lemon, bitter orange, petitgrain) doesn't announce itself with brightness so much as clarity; these notes cut through the composition like a knife through silk, establishing clean geometry before the heart unveils its true intentions. Here, Mysore sandalwood arrives with substance and a faintly creamy texture, immediately companioned by cedarwood's drier, more austere presence. The patchouli from Java—earthier and less animalic than African varieties—tangles with lilac in an unexpected conversation: floral sweetness meeting mineral dirt, creating a green-grey sensuality that feels almost soapy in its refinement.
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3.4/5 (134)