Folha de Laranjeira

Citrusy, Green and Flowers Ah ... The simple things in life ...! I like them. I just opened the vintage cologne Folha de Laranjeira (Orange Leaves) Granado and guess what it smells like? Green orange leaves. You know, when you crush an orange leaf and a very strong, acidic and even slightly bitter citrus smell comes from it? That's what we have here, too. Burning, resounding notes of Bergamot, hand in hand with Petitgrain (which is nothing more than the pure essence of orange leaves), very green, very sour, are the first notes. Glued to them, comes the lemon and mandarin orange. It's super intense! The body notes bring more petitgrain, this time with peony and mint - and you will notice their entry (and the citrus going out) after 1 minute or less of after applying. Finally, less than 10 minutes later, you will star recognizing the base notes: musk, followed by patchouli + iris + moss. The cologne is perfect for mornings and those moments when an unwanted sleep hits, and you need more vigor. The opening citruses come effusively, more or less like a punch at your face. You will wake up. But the body notes give a softness, a floral sweetness, and ends with a beautiful pad on the base notes. Granado describes it as a citrus aromatic woody cologne, but honestly, I don't sense any wood. I felt a floridity in the background. The moderate moss and patchouli bring a touch of nature and earth, but what predominates, at the end, are the flowers. I loved it. I will use it a lot. ——- Cítrico verde floral. Ah... As coisas simples da vida...! Eu gosto. Acabei de abrir a colônia vintage Folha de Laranjeira da Granado e adivinhem que cheiro ela tem? De folhas verdinhas de laranjeira. Sabe quando você esmaga a folha da laranjeira e vem um cheiro cítrico bem forte, ácido e até levemente amargo da folha? É isso que temos aqui, também. Fidedigno! Logo de saída vêm as notas ardidas e retumbantes da Bergamota, de mãos dadas com o petitgrain (que nada mais é do que a essência pura das folhas da laranjeira), verdíssimas, azedíssimas. Em seguida, vem o limão siciliano e a mandarina. É muito intenso! As notas de corpo trazem mais petitgrain, dessa vez com peônia e menta - e você perceberá a entrada delas (e a saída dos cítricos) após 1 minuto ou menos da aplicação. Por fim, menos de 10 minutos depois, passa a reconhecer já as notas de fundo: musk, seguido do patchouli + íris + musgo. A colônia é perfeita para as manhãs e aqueles momentos em que bate um sono indesejado, e você precisa de mais vigor. Os cítricos de abertura vêm efusivamente, mais ou menos como um tapão na cara. Você acorda. Mas as notas de corpo vão dando uma amaciada, um dulçor floral, e termina com uma bela afofada nas notas de fundo. A Granado descreve como sendo uma colônia cítrica aromática amadeirada, mas, sinceramente, não vejo madeira. Vejo uma floralidade no fundo. O musgo e o patchouli moderados trazem um quê de pés no chão e natureza, mas o que predomina, no fim, são as flores. Adorei. Usarei muito.

smells gorgeous and fresh but barely lasts for the price it can be forgiven

This is a brazillian brand sold at this extraordinarily beautiful store in a palace in Lisbon. The brand's looks is reminiscent of a portuguese brand called Claus Porto, and it had some interesting single-note herbal scents. I was first baffled by the soaps, I picked up some wrapped ones to smell, and could not smell them past the wrapping paper (unlike Claus's soaps which was kind of what I was unconsciously expecting). They had unwrapped soaps so clients could smell them. Not heavily fragranced - and one of my favorite uses for good soaps is using them to perfume drawers and closets. And soap quality, strength of scent is in my experience correlated with the quality of the eaus and perfumes... Of all their colognes, this was my favorite. It is not, as can be read from the image of the packaging FLOR de laranjeira, it is FOLHA de laranjeira, so it is orange leaf and not orange blossom. Petit-grain by another name or from a different citrus species. I love petit grain, particularly in these light unfussy cologne formulations. I was surprised at the price (nearly 100 euro for about if I remember correctly 200 ml) but perhaps it was special. It was instead a disappointment. Nice, as petit grain usually is, and it smelled lovely, for about half an hour and then it disappeared without much trace. This reminded me of a spanish bath cologne - usually colognes called "gotas frescas" (by mayfer, instituto español) are petitgrain based. This was similar to one of those, but at a much steeper price! It is also, emphatically, a day scent.