Little Italy

I’ve found myself infatuated with this fragrance. It’s one of my new Summer favorites. It’s so bright and one of the most refreshing and realistic citrus scents I’ve encountered thus far. Now let’s address the elephant in the room: the lofty cilantro ghost note. I won’t lie and pretend that it goes unnoticed but I assure you the cilantro’s cameo does not last long enough to deter me from this perfume’s beauty. On my skin, the cilantro doesn’t even last a full 30 minutes. I wouldn’t call it a reason to throw in the towel for this fragrance. On the note of skin, this is one of the most magnificent skin scents, especially if you’ll be outdoors. I find that it blends well with my body’s natural “ism”, if you will, throughout the day. It compliments a bit of sweat and heat on the body. Along with the spray, I sourced a perfume oil dupe (that actually outperforms the original in intensity and longevity) and added it to an unscented body butter. That combination reaffirmed my belief that Little Italy is a spectacular skin scent. In terms of longevity, it is one of the weakest in my collection but I believe that’s due to the nature of its resemblance to my own natural scent. Personally, I don’t care for white florals but the neroli note is entirely inoffensive and, dare I say, very attractive in this fragrance. It’s balanced and very well done, the sharp and sometimes sour quality of the white floral is almost entirely avoided. All of that being said, it is ridiculously overpriced. Get yourself an affordable dupe or buy Nest’s Seville Orange for a more reasonable price point. Little Italy is one of the most beautiful and realistic citrus fragrances on the market. 10/10 if you just love the smell of CITRUS!

This opens up with a FRESH NON-artifical orange scent. It literally smells like someone cut into a fresh ripe orange... peel and all. Then it warms up, the orange is still prevalent, BUT there is a creamy sweetness that I am trying to determine. After doing some research elsewhere on the internet, I discovered that unknown creaminess was coming from Neroli and JASMINE that is mixed into the middle notes. Then everything settles down and the musk really holds it in place. All the smells mixed together remind me of a summer boozy salty, tequila, orange, and cilantro drink that the Hispanics use to mix-up when I lived in a primary hispanic immigrated town. It was back when I was just discovering drinking ;) lol .... Cilantro Cooler.... yummmm.... I LOVE IT!!!!! Personally i think this fragrance needs to be called "Little Mexico" vs. Little Italy.... I have never known Italy to use cilantro or very much citrus in their cuisine. Mexico or anywhere in the Caribbean, LOVE oranges and cilantro in everyday life and is very prevalent in their cooking. I personally love this!!!! I also do agree with earlier reviews that it is very dependent upon the weather and temperature in which you are smelling this. I also noticed that the largest amounts of negative reviews for this fragrance were written in the colder winter months. I smelled this back in December and was like "YUCK, orange cleaner". However, now that I am ready to be beach bound and craving warm weather, it is SO DELICIOUS! I'm thinking... eating at a Mexican restaurant and watching the sunset on the Gulf of Mexico!

This has a lot of dislikes - I really do not understand why... I received a decanted sample of this a few months ago. It was hot and muggy here and this just SANG to me. I always thought that my only true perfume loves were the orientals, but this last year has proved me wrong. I have experimented outside my normal comfort zone and am so happy that I have found some extraordinarily good fragrances which truly elevate my mood. I have been extremely fortunate to receive a FB of Little Italy in a swap (thank you, rednut!) and have just sprayed it on my arms and chest. My skin is dry and typically doesn't hold on to perfumes for very long, so I tend not to comment on longevity as I don't think my experience is a fair reflection of a perfume's performance. In the case of Little Italy though, I will make an exception. This LASTS on me! It's extraordinary, because citrus perfumes are renowned for their poor longevity. I can see a slightly oily residue on my skin, which suggests a high concentration of essential oils. The initial spray just bursts with orange - it is THE most juicy and realistic I have ever smelled in a perfume. I don't really pick up on neroli. Initially the sillage is moderate, but this quiets down to a persistent, slightly sweet, musky and sensuous skin scent within 30 minutes or so. Just lovely in hot weather - so not ideal for early autumn - but I am enjoying this happy scent today, nonetheless. It makes me smile.

Just received my 3.3oz full flacon of LITTLE ITALY; I had located a slightly used tester which brought the price down a good bit. The BOND line is very expensive, some would say too overpriced for what you get. I love the "day-glo" orange color of the flacon. There are no deep subtleties or dark layers to LITTLE ITALY at all... It is pretty much a solinote mandarin orange scent, smelling very true to the fruit. Bright, tangy and tart. It does have a somewhat "candy orange" quality as it dries down, reminding me of an orange Popsicle or those old-fashioned candy orange jelly wedges. Sometimes I almost get little whiffs of St. Joseph baby aspirin, haha. It has a lasting power longer than I would've expected for a citrus scent. After sitting on your skin for a bit, a surprising musk note develops... more animalic than one might suspect for a scent like this... a kind of costus root/dirty hair quality (some have said it's almost semen-like, and they're not entirely wrong). Many have claimed to smell cilantro in this scent, but I'm not really picking up on that. Basically LITTLE ITALY is a very expensive mandarin solinote. But it smells luscious and I am glad I sprang for a full flacon. Easily unisex, of course, and a great daytime scent. Perfect as a summer refresher.

What in the world is wrong with the noses of some people these days ? Or maybe with my nose ? As hard as I try I cannot smell any cilantro here, that dreadful thing some reviewers mention ! I believe some people may have purchased expired, fake or turned perfumes... I bought mine at Hudson Bay, and it's fantastic . If you were to take a tangerine and purposely rub the skin and juice on yourself you would probably get the Little Italy for much cheaper. But why should one agree that it's worth paying lots of money for a good Ambre or Insense for example, but not for a good Tangeirne ? as a perfume it works impeccably . It's quite similar to IL Profvmo Mandarine. Delicious, juicy, fresh, tangerines ans clementines ! I was craving citrus but not ordinary lemon or lime ... I was debating between Hermes Pamplemousse Rose, Hermes Mandarine Ambre, Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine, Il Profumo Mandarine... And I ended up with this, beautiful tangerine . I find it rather feminine and very pretty . Silage and lasting power are both average to low, not good actually, but true citrus scents never last . The drydown is lsoft, clean, orange blossom, I cannot sense any musc, luckily. Lovely in every possible way, even though it's pricey . I will keep it.