Oltrarno

My first thought: a masculine-leaning violet? Something about the copious dose of citrus and the cold initial wave of violet and musk make it smell like a not so exciting man's cologne. Once the top settles though, the notes align into a rather lovely and moderately sweet, violet-led ensemble. I'm not quite sure how ebony is supposed to smell, but I detect a solid woody base underneath the violet. All of the different elements of the composition are held together by a light wash of powdery vanilla that gets more and more pronounced towards the drydown, though, thankfully, it never begins to overwhelm. All in all, it's a standard powdery violet inspired by the candied style but designed to be a more updated, less prim and fussy version of the classic. Although I'm actually quite fond of the candied violet genre, I like Oltrarno better than Violetta di Bosco from the same house. Violetta di Bosco is much closer to the typical candied violet style, but it ends up smelling flat and chalky to me, whereas Oltrarno is more sparkling and less one-dimensional. A decent violet offering if you would like your violet with a squeeze of citrus and a good dose of powdery vanilla.