Purple Land

I get why there’s notes of tropical fruits listed here but the execution just isn’t quite bold enough. Frankly I’d have embraced a more juicy guava note, or even an approximation of melon but really it’s just a slightly dull Lilly of the valley, which has now dried down to a really fluffy, fruit tinged frangipani with a bit of vanilla nuance to it. Pleasant but too feminine for me and with no real imagination. Although I could be wrong and Sweet, exotic white floral fans may find this a masterpiece, such is the distance from my frame of reference, I really don’t feel qualified to comment.

A truly beautiful fragrance. But you have to be OK with the Lilly-of-the-Valley (whatever molecule the perfumes were allowed to use at that time) because it opens with a blast of it! So loud it almost went into the "bathroom cleaning agents" territory! Almost wanted to wash it off. Waited for 20 minutes before it started transforming into the most beautiful delicate juicy tropical fruit essence and frangipani but the Lilly-of-the-valley didn't leave the building completely, it stayed sort of giving the frame to the whole fragrance, without it it would be yet another tropical fruity floral. Important note - I tested it in spring when it was about 20C outside, I bet it will be even better in hot climate because those harsh opening notes will disappear quicker. The pyramid to my nose seems to be completely upside down, I have no idea how they did it but the opening is Lilly-of-the-valley with aldehydes and a little bit of musk. Then juicy abstract "tropical fruits" and frangipani. Not sweet, just juicy, fresh, mystical and etherial. Performance is stellar, just as I like it - it's very airy (diffusive) and not thick or cloying, not strong but present and I can smell it on myself for hours and hours which means they don't use any abrasive molecules that make people go nose blind after 20 minutes. The story behind this perfume is very cool too, it's a story of love. Marina and Sebastian (they established this brand) just met and only started dating when Marina had to leave and go to Africa for a long time. She wasn't sure if Sebastian also fell in love with her like she did with him but she was hoping so. One day she got a call from him on her satellite phone and that's when she knew. And he knew. From their press release: The dawn of romance. A phone call of love across the continents, from the Old World to the Tropics by way of a satellite, evoking notes of grapefruit, guava, papaya, ambrox, musk, frangipani, and lily of the valley. It’s winter in Italy, it’s summer in Ethiopia on the shores of Lake Chamo. A sea of purple frangipani is in bloom all around. A Purple Land turns into a Land of Love.

I am a fan of Gianfranco Ferre and this Altaia fragrance brings me back to when I experienced the Ferre fragrance in the 90s. It is less intense but I welcome this softness. A win for me!!