Italica (2021)

Sometimes you just have to smell like you want to be eaten. Well, look no further gourmand enthusiasts. Italica's been served. Yum. I've been waiting to get my hands on a sample for a while now, so I did enter this with a few expectations: 1. This perfume would smell exactly like an actual almond vanilla cake. Check! 2. This perfume would be a perfect Christmas Holiday scent. Check! 3. This perfume will lie close to the skin and will have mild projection. Hm... Actually, no. It projects a bit more than I expected! At least it does on my skin. Now I'm not saying it will be a performance beast or anything, we're still in the first hour, but Italica is actually heavier and headier than I anticipated. At first sprits, the opener straight up smells like an almond vanilla cake, extra milky. It's very sweet. Almost medicinal? Borderline cloying. But then it quickly mellows down and warms up into something I prefer. Twenty minutes in and I can really smell that bourbon pulling through, and the sweet note that was, at first, hard to discern, definitely smells specifically like toffee to me now. I don't smell cherry or any fruity notes. An hour in and we've gone from an almond vanilla cake to spiced egg nog with a splash of bourbon and I ain't mad about it. 4 hours in and the scent has settled down to a skin scent. Still smells like egg nog on me, or rice pudding, especially with the spiciness coming to the front. Must be the saffron and sandalwood working together. All in all a nice gourmand. However, I think I prefer Lira. If I ... layered them... I wonder how badly I'd regret it ...? Only one way to find out... ... Italica: 8 / 10 I'll be grabbing a 30 ML bottle for Christmas but probably won't splurge on a full one. Though the design of Cassamorati's full bottles are pretty worth it alone.

Italica and Lira are the first two Xerjof/ Casamorati fragrances I’ve tried. Italica takes one of my favorite notes, Almond, and makes it the star of the show, combined with the saffron, caramel and vanilla. The sharp opening with bitter almond definitely grabs your attention, and may be a bit too much for some people. Personally I don't get any of the “lactonic”/ milk references, but it does get delightfully creamy towards the dry down. I must say this is a rather unique scent which should not be rejected upon the first try. Unless you seriously hate almond, that is;) As I am going through my sample - at an alarming pace! - I am enjoying it more and more. It has an addictive quality and creates a delectable scent bubble that I now crave. Similar thing happened with Lira, so kudos to Xerjof. All in all, Italica is great for gourmand lovers who are aiming for a more grown up, more sophist scent. It manages to smell of a yummy marzipan but with a grace that prevents it from regressing into purely “edible” cookie territory. It is rich and dense but never gets “cloying”. Or boring. An absolute joy to wear, and I appreciate its longevity. I didn’t see it coming, as I am suspicious of the hype and quite picky with my full bottle choices , but both Italica are going on my gourmand wish list... Especially Italica - because unlike Lira, it is different enough from my FB gourmand I do own- Blianco Latte.

I am a gourmand lover. I swear by perfumes like Bake from Akro or Lait concentré from Chabaud. So of course I had to try the very hyped Italica that is always described as a gourmand lover dream. I hesitated a lot before ordering a sample because I am not a fan of almond extract and I was scared about the fact that most people were mentioning this note as being very prominent. But I',m so gload I finally decided to try it. The opening is a bit strong and very almondy, but on me it doesn't last long and I'm quickly left with the sccrumptious smell of a freshly baked financier. When I passed next to my mother she immediately said "mmmmh you smell like financier!". I don't have any saffron notes, just almond, sugar icing, caramel and some kind of milkiness in the background. It's sweet, fluffy and not as cloying as I was expecting (I wouldn't wear that during summer, but for fall/winter and even early spring it's perfect). It projects quite a lot at first but then it becomes more subtle (without being a skin scent) and you're still surrounded by a nice scent bubble at the end of the day. On clothes the lasting power is phenomenal: I still smell it on my sweater 4 days later ! It's definitely not a safe blind buy but if you enjoy gourmand scents it's worth a try !

Italica is the embodiment of the movie Moonstruck if ever there was one. You smell the warm pastries Ronny pours his broken heart into after losing his bride. When he and Loretta go to his apartment above the bakery, he declares he will make love to her. At first she resists and then says, “leave nothing left for him to marry, nothing but the skin over my bones.” The next evening they attend the opera and Loretta wears a breathtaking deep red dress. If you’ve seen this movie, you know they end up together. Her mother asks if she loves Ronny, “Ma, I love him awful.” This perfume encompasses romance and passion. It is bold and sweet, definitely not for the faint of heart. It shines in cold weather when you are wrapped up in layers during an outing in falling snow. When someone hugs you, they come back for seconds. This scent requires a light touch to avoid becoming overpowering yet it lasts for hours. It subtly reminds me of the sugar cookies I bake and top with icing that has a hint of almond extract. Mouthwateringly good and very realistic. It’s the Italian bakery, the passion filled affair, the red dress at the opera, the enchanting moon, the engagement, and the sugar cubes plopped into glasses of champagne to celebrate. Bellissima!

Italica ist wie eine süße Erinnerung aus der Kindheit, die aus einer samtigen Schachtel entweicht und direkt die Seele berührt. Dieser Duft ist ein sanfter Widerspruch – teuer im Preis, aber ehrlich im Gefühl. Der Auftakt aus Mandel und warmer Milch entführt einen sofort in eine kleine Pasticceria in Neapel, wo der Duft von frischen Mandeln mit heißem Milchschaum verschmilzt. Dann kommt der Karamell und eine weiche, cremige Vanille – nicht schwer oder aufdringlich, sondern wie die zarte Füllung einer Sfogliatella. Darunter liegt eine Basis aus Holz und Moschus, die Tiefe, Struktur und Balance schenkt. Italica ist kein typischer „Gourmand-Duft“. Er ist vielmehr eine Erinnerung an den Geschmack des Lebens – nostalgisch, warm, menschlich. Ein Parfum, das man nicht trägt, um gesehen zu werden, sondern um sich selbst zu spüren.