Desnuda

I know this sounds crazy, but I find Desnuda to be so gorgeous, so sexy, so well made, and so wonderful that it hurts my soul that it sells for pennies on the dollar! Isn't that insane? But I'm like offended on Desnuda's behalf that 100 mls of this perfume can be had for less than $25, or if you're not picky, less than $15 for a tester without a cap. Especially with all the crap perfume out there that sells for literally, LITERALLY 10x the price...It is just a sin and shows how great perfume doesn't have to cost a fortune. What it does: Desnuda has tremendous longevity, moderate sillage, and follows a classical perfume period in progression. She is beautiful and interesting the entire time. She's not just some linear thing that fades out as the day goes on. Plus she just...acts a certain way, like you can smell her great with a few generous sprays, and yes those around you will detect your scent as well, but in a subtle, tantalizing way--more "come hither" and less "My perfume precedes me into the room." And my God this is a sexy as hell perfume. A spicy, woody floral filled with fruit and musks. The top is fairly woody--a gorgeous blend of cardamom, cinnamon, and vanilla incense blended with peach--a rich ripe peach, more Mitsouko in nature, ripe peaches stewed in cinnamon and cardamom. The spices aren't overwhelming, they are rather sanded down in tone. The bouquet of flowers arrives after the spices and incense: Lots of sweet mimosa, rose, iris and cyclamen. The flowers are on the sweeter side, and lean "white" in tone...they kind of weave in and out, at first I can smell the rose more, than with time I can smell the iris more. Desnuda has a beautifully blended bouquet of flowers for sure. Behind the flowers is this creamy musk, that later dries down into sandalwood heaven, still flanked by white flowers, musk, and a hint of peach. I love the cooler toned unlit vanilla incense note combined with the cardamom and cinnamon... Seriously this is like "Take me to bed right now" perfume--something about the peach note, the sweet creamy flowers, and the soft spices. And the drydown is heavenly! I love wearing this after I shower before bed, I enjoy the top and middle notes a ton, and when I wake up, I get to bask in the powdery, creamy sandalwood. I just have to laugh because I've smelled $300 perfumes that don't perform like this does, or have terrible synthetic copout drydowns...Desnuda was definitely love at first sniff, and I can't recommend this enough, especially for the ridiculously low price.

I want to address the issue of vintage vs modern formula that some mention here. I have a vintage mini with the brush and the newer spray bottle. To my nose, and by comparison testing, they are exactly the same. I am not getting any difference in scent, longevity, or silage. This was never a beast mode fragrance in the first place, always laying close to the skin. What it does give is this delicious aura that you can smell all day. The key to getting it to last and getting a nice silage is to spray heavily. Very heavily. (I do sides of neck, décolletage, wrists, and a light misting on clothes.) Have no fear, this is not the type of perfume that will knock anyone out. Instead, you will just smell a soft fragrance surrounding you all day, only noticeable to those who come within your space. As to the scent itself, after the peppery bergamot opening, I'm getting a woody, not creamy, sandalwood, which is throughout the fragrance from beginning to end; mandarin; cardamom; a dry, almost powdery vanilla; a smidgen of cinnamon; a little sweetness from the tonka; a little fruitiness from the peach and plum notes; and a soft, slightly powdery musk. Unlike other scents with incense, this doesn't hit you over the head with that note. It's extremely subtle. The floral notes weave in and out. All the notes compliment and work very well together in this scent. Before I owned both, I imagined this was how Dolce Vita would smell from that perfume's note profile. It doesn't. Though they share a lot of notes, I actually prefer Desnuda over Dolce Vita. It doesn't have that distracting, sweaty armpits, cumin note to deal with. Best yet, you can usually pick up a bottle for under $20 bucks. If Desnuda were no longer in production I wouldn't hesitate to get a back-up. That's how much I love this scent. I hope they never stop making it.

I always strive to get unique perfumes and I think that this is one of them. Of course, it reminded me of other perfumes - Dune, Pure Poison, Dior Addict, Bulgari Pour Femme, Rose Esential, Rochas Femme, Eternity, Contradiction - but not to the point where I could say it was a dead ringer, or even remotely close to any of them. When I first smelt Desnuda, I got a blast of rose (Bulgari style), fruits (peach was most noticeable) and spices (I detected cardamon and pepper). Shortly after this arrives the musk, in all its glory. Then comes tonka bean, sandalwood and vanilla. The base is what reminded me of some heavier perfumes, in particular Dior Addict and Pure Poison. Overall the scent is soft, warm and complex. It has a weak sillage, and the lasting power's not that great - but you either accept it as a skin scent, or load so much of it on that people are forced to notice. There is great complexity with this scent, which I think revolves around a "power struggle" between the main accords: 1.) uplifting scents (rose and peach), 2.) spicy scents, and 3.) heavy scents (particularly musk). I could also swear there is something salty included. It is due to this bizarre love triangle that I am reminded of Dior's Dune. There is the same playful tugging of different accords. Though I am not a Dune fan, I find Desnuda more accessible. Finally, I would like to say that wearing Desnuda is a very pleasurable experience. Despite the lower price and lack of conspicuous advertising, I consider the quality of the composition to be close to, or equal that of Dior's best...

Desnuda is a great "skin" scent. It's warm and soft, starts off spicy and then ends up sweet. It's got only moderate sillage in the first 30 minutes or so. After that if you want someone to notice you, you're gonna have to hug them, or maybe get them to bite your neck! It stays so close to the skin, even you will have to sniff yourself closely to even smell it. I love it, but I find the "zero" sillage to be a little annoying. I want to smell it, and while I don't want to knock others out, I want them to smell it, too! I added a little Rochas Tocade to Desnuda in a sample vial in an effort to copy my beloved Sotto Voce by Laura Biagotti. I see a similarity, but it's not really working for me. I will say that Desnuda by itself is reminiscent of Sotto Voce, though not a "smell-alike" by any means. And that is a BIG compliment!! Edited to add: Sometimes, you don't need to stand out and make everyone around you smell your perfume. Sometimes, you need to sit and bask in your own sweet cloud, knowing that you smell awesome, and that's enough. I've grown to really love Desnuda. It's quiet but so comfortable and pretty. It's quite alright that the only compliment I've gotten was when I had someone standing directly over me in my cubicle. I always appreciate that, "Man, you smell good" compliment, especially coming from the opposite sex.

This was a successful blind buy, naturally owed to Fragrantica. I'd never heard of this perfume, and just happened to stumble across it in one of those accidentally hours-long treks through If-you-like-this-you'll-like-this...and this, and this, and that... And 26 this-and-thats later, I was picking up a mini of this on ebay to test. I got the one with the little nail polish brush, and loved it so much I went back in for a large bottle. I'm scared the spray might smell different, but I'm holding out hope. This is a beautiful soft, feminine fragrance on me. It's not cloying, not heavy, not too powdery; it's fresh, clean, but not what I'd call light. This one is hard to describe, it's just...nice. My first sample application held on for hours, but I'll admit that it may be due to the vintage. Older perfumes tend to get a little thick and sticky, giving them better staying power than their younger counterparts. The spritz bottle may prove more fleeting, as remains to be seen. A bit light for winter, this little mini-gem will take its place among my favorite spring and fall scents. Edit: I take it back. The cinnamon and warmth in this worked just fine in winter weather. After several wears, I think it's actually better suited to fall and winter--warm, cozy, intimate. A new favorite.