V Canto
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Saffron detonates immediately, its dusty spice coating your nostrils with an almost aggressive vibrancy, whilst jasmine and orchid struggle to establish themselves beneath it. Carnation arrives as sharp green pepper, sharpening the already peppery topnote into something that smells less like a traditional floral opening and more like spiced botanicals.
The ambergris emerges as a warm, slightly resinous blanket settling over the florals, softening them but rendering them somehow more sinister. Musk rose and vanilla arrive, but the amber's animalic weight keeps them earthbound—they never soar, instead developing an almost spiced-honey character that's creamy but distinctly non-linear.
Ebony and oakmoss dominate, the patchouli developing a leathery undertone as the composition settles into something genuinely dusky. Musk and vanilla create a base that's both creamy and deeply woody, lasting several hours but with the quiet persistence of something you feel on your skin rather than project into the room.
Stramonio arrives as a deliberate contradiction—a fragrance that refuses to whisper. Paolo Terenzi constructs something genuinely unsettling here, which is precisely its appeal. The saffron doesn't play nice with the jasmine and orchid; instead, these florals adopt an almost medicinal quality, their sweetness undercut by saffron's peppery, slightly metallic edge. There's something almost botanical-pharmaceutical about it, as though you've wandered into an apothecary where the herbs have gone slightly feral.
The real tension emerges between the heart's ambergris and musk rose—that amber note sits heavy and animalic, casting shadow across what should be a delicate floral section. The rose refuses to be delicate, though. It turns spiced, almost carnation-like in its clove-tinged sharpness, wrestling with vanilla that's been rendered almost savoury by the amber's presence. This is not a comforting vanilla; it's textured, slightly smoky.
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3.6/5 (97)