Tiziana Terenzi
Tiziana Terenzi
261 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The Italian lemon and bergamot burst forth with sharp, zesty clarity, but within seconds the thyme and juniper edge forward, flattening the expected brightness into something herbaceous and austere. You're not reaching for sunscreen; you're reaching for sage and gin.
The ozone settles into a peculiar, almost ethereal quality whilst cardamom warmth emerges, creating an unusual spiced-metallic tension. Sea salt crystallises the composition, and there's a whisper of hyacinth's green, powdery sweetness that floats above rather than integrates, making the heart feel deliberately fractured.
The woody base—sandalwood, oakmoss, Cuban cedar—gradually takes command, becoming increasingly resinous and dry. Patchouli grounds everything into soft earth, but the composition remains lean and architectural, never settling into comfort or familiarity.
Foconero arrives as a paradox—an extrait de parfum that whispers rather than projects, which feels almost deliberately contrary to its ambitious composition. Paolo Terenzi has constructed something genuinely unsettling here: a citrus fragrance that refuses the expected trajectory of brightness and levity. The Italian lemon and bergamot open with Mediterranean clarity, but they're immediately undercut by thyme and juniper's herbaceous bite, creating an almost medicinal tension that prevents this from ever feeling like a simple cologne.
What makes Foconero compelling is how the ozone accord in the heart doesn't brighten the composition—instead, it creates an ionised, metallic quality that hovers above the cardamom and sea salt, as if you're standing on a rocky coastline during an electrical storm rather than enjoying a seaside stroll. The cardamom adds spiced warmth that shouldn't work with ozonic freshness, yet somehow it does, creating an uncanny middle ground between incense and mineral spray.
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4.0/5 (97)