Tiziana Terenzi
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
That saffron hits with an almost searing intensity, immediately tempered by bay leaf's herbal medicine cabinet sharpness and an accord that genuinely reads as white leather—smooth, slightly acrid, unmistakably skin-like. The black pepper provides crackle whilst tolu balsam weaves an unexpected thread of balsamic sweetness through the spice assault, with lemon barely registering beyond a momentary brightness before the heavier elements subsume it entirely.
Frankincense emerges as the fragrance's spine, its resinous pine-smoke character allowing the florals to unfurl—black magnolia's rubber-dark richness wrestling with carnation's hot clove spice, whilst honey adds an animalic sweetness that borders on unsettling. The red pepper builds heat without going full chilli, and iris lends a rooty, almost carrot-like earthiness that grounds the composition's more volatile elements into something oddly wearable.
What remains is a triumph of resinous craft: copaiba balsam's peppery-sweet depth merging with labdanum's ambery warmth and benzoin's vanilla-inflected richness, all underscored by a leathery tobacco accord that's been stained by smoke and time. The caramel manifests as burnt sugar bitterness rather than dessert, whilst cashmere wood and patchouli provide a woody-musky foundation that keeps the entire construction from collapsing into pure orientalism.
Chimaera announces itself with the ferocity its mythological namesake demands—a head-spinning collision of saffron's metallic warmth and bay leaf's medicinal sharpness, all wrapped in an accord that reads as white leather dressed in black pepper. Paolo Terenzi has orchestrated something genuinely confrontational here, threading tolu balsam's vanilla-tinged sweetness through the opening spice to prevent total olfactory warfare. The composition pivots on frankincense, which acts as both mediator and amplifier, its pine-resin brightness allowing the peculiar marriage of red pepper and honey to make perfect sense whilst anchoring the floral elements—black magnolia's rubber-tinged darkness, carnation's clove-inflected spice—into a cohesive whole. This isn't a fragrance that whispers; it's built for those who relish complexity and aren't afraid of smoke signals. The base reveals Terenzi's true intention: copaiba balsam and benzoin create a resinous backbone that's simultaneously sweet and austere, whilst the oud remains surprisingly polite, its barnyard tendencies tempered by pine's clean sharpness and cashmere wood's musky softness. Caramel threatens to tip things gourmand but instead reads as burnt sugar, bitter at the edges. The leather never leaves, developing from that initial white brightness into something more worn, tobacco-stained, lived-in. This is for the fragrance obsessive who's exhausted the obvious spicy orientals and wants something with teeth—an evening scent that demands attention, worn by someone who treats fragrance as statement rather than accessory.
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4.1/5 (193)