Fiore di Bellagio

I really found this to be a beautiful perfume, very reminiscent of some vintages, yet not powdery at all, which I appreciate, as many vintage perfumes tend to be overly powdery to my taste. Starts off with a quick burst of green and citrus notes, and then the clove for the carnation really takes over, mixed with the sandalwood and rosewood. The wood notes on this are really lovely, warm and not too harsh, and blended with the spicy carnation is a beautiful combination. It is a surprisingly green fragrance, though, for at least about the first hour of wear. The ylang-ylang in this is also very intense. This is supposed to be a tribute to Caron Bellodgia, but I don't get the heavy clove in this that Bellodgia has. This perfume has a lot of sillage and longevity. A great one to sample if you like wood notes. UPDATE: I did end up purchasing this and wore full applications of it last night. It is VERY strong, very exotic, and is definitely an evening perfume. It is sooo vintage, I would recommend it only for a vintage lover or a niche lover on the prowl for something unique. I may go to the Art Deco ball on the Queen Mary this coming year and wear this. This is a perfect 1920's era perfume.

"Kaleidoscopic" is a perfect word to describe the effect of this perfume. It's so beautifully blended that aside from an initial blast of rose, I can't really pick out one note over another. Instead, it changes and glitters every time I bring my wrist to my nose (which is often; this is a stunner). I was told (shout out to the lovely Antonia at Tigerlily perfumery in SF) that Shelly Waddington, looking to follow up the impeccable Zelda, was trying to imagine something that Zelda Fitzgerald herself would have had on her vanity, like Caron's Bellodgia. Well, mission accomplished with extreme prejudice: to my mind, Fiore di Bellagio is masterfully, luxuriously, perfectly executed -- sillage is heavy, longevity is insane, and the scent itself could not be more voluptuously elegant and fresh, like Jean Harlow just out of a perfumed bath.

I love En Voyage but this perfume was not a fan of my skin. From the tube it smelled of wonderful warm florals and woods. On my skin it smelled like someone throwing a mix of wilted flowers over a pile of poop lying in the hot sun. There is also a weird note of urine wafting just above the florals. Which was made worse since it took forever to scrub off. Needless to say, I am afraid to touch it now. I would have loved for it to smell like it does in the vial and am sure it probably smells wonderful on other people. Sadly, this is not for me.

I've just discovered En Voyage, and I am very impressed with my sample of Fiore di Bellagio. Most of my perfumes are vintages, and I am often underwhelmed by many modern scents, but FdB can hold its own with any great perfume. It has the richness and long development of a vintage scent but with a resolution of modern HD quality. As others have noted, FdB explodes with juicy citric notes that quickly resolve into a vibrant floral bouquet that lasts for hours. As you sniff again and again (I couldn't stop), you can certainly pick out dewy roses, peppery carnations, lily of the valley, but the overall effect is kaleidoscopic rather than distinct. And these "fiori" retain the opening's hesperidic and green freshness throughout: they do not turn sweet, no warm mulling spices (clove, cinnamon) appear, so there is a tartness here that might turn off some noses. The drydown is softly woody, a bit warmer but still lively, with touches of civet, some labdanum, and, happily for me, no discernible vanilla. The last lingering traces of FdB are like a faint dusting of violet and orris scented face powder. FdB may have been inspired by the Art Deco era and vintage Caron scents but, by omitting the moss and typical "oriental" base notes, Ms. Waddington has made an opulent floral that feels fresh and entirely contemporary.