#001 São Paulo is Burning

An excellent aroma with a focus on leather, here it is somewhat raw and rubbery, smoky by what I think is frankincense, with green touches of oak moss and a very subtle tobacco at the base. Extremely masculine and sophisticated aroma. Without any kind of sweetness. I found it an excellent option for those who like the leather note and are looking for something new, as they got tired of perfumes trying to copy Tom Ford Tuscan Leather. Very good performance, not being a pump but maintaining and projecting for a reasonable time on the skin. I didn't really like the spray bottle, which seemed a little fragile.

If you live in São Paulo like i do, this is the perfect fragrance for you. Althought is not suitable for summer, it may be versatile. The smell is so intense and manly and the performance is really good. 10/10

São Paulo is Burning was released in 2019 and received the number one (#001) in L’Envie's body fragrance collection. The fragrance of São Paulo is Burning is defined as urban, by the brand, and is a passionate tribute to the city of São Paulo, which never ceases to amaze. In the composition, it brings notes of bergamot, aldehydes, and grapefruit, at the start; Geranium, green notes, iris, tonka beans, musk, labdanum, and sandalwood, in the body; Olibanum, moss, patchouli, leather, and tobacco, in the base. On the skin, São Paulo is Burning reveals an intense woody creation, with many leather nuances and aromatic facets. More than that, it reveals a very bold positioning of the company, since its fragrance is dense and full of classic style, like those that were successful in the 80s and gained less favorable nicknames from the 2000s onwards, when they became considered to be “uncle’s scent” or, even worse, “old man's cologne”. Particularly, I thought it was a master move, as this type of fragrance is disappearing from the shelves as if the consumer over 50 years of age no longer exists or does not represent a large portion of sales, which is totally contradictory at a time when the market returned to revere the Silver Generation. In addition, São Paulo is Burning exudes class and sophistication, revealing the warm and ambery nuances of labdanum, as well as the balsamic and earthy smoky of frankincense and patchouli notes. It is not a fragrance with a lot of citrus presence, although the top notes can make that impression. Here, the leather is mossy, and the aldehydes make the notes bubble as if they were boiling, exhaling with great intensity since the initial minutes of application. To be honest, I don't see São Paulo is Burning as a unisex fragrance. But I understand (and applaud) the company's stance on not labeling its perfumes by gender. In terms of performance, the projection is high and the durability on the skin does not disappoint. In closing, I'll share with you my first impression when feeling this fragrance: São Paulo is Burning is the reincarnation of the excellent Photo, by Karl Lagerfeld, which, coincidentally, left us in the same year this product was launched. It changes one thing here, another there, it has more leather and less honey, but it follows the same olfactory direction as the latter and so many others, such as Jaguar For Men, Tsar, etc. A pleasant surprise and a nice kickoff for a Brazilian company that wants to show its authorial independence and not follows commercial fads.