Eau D'Italie - Rosa Greta

Picture: The imagined colour of Rosa Greta
Photo: Parfumista (c)

Rosa Greta is a tribute to the timelessy beautiful Greta Garbo, created by perfumer Fabrice Pellegrain for italian stylish nichehouse Eau D'Italie. Eau D'Italie describes the inspiration of the fragrance as "In 1938 Greta Garbo suddenly vanished from Hollywood.  Later the paparazzi discovered her secret hideaway: a stunning villa in Ravello on the Amalfi Coast, overlooking the blue of the Mediterranean, its gardens fragrant with blooming clusters of the famous Ravello Rose.  The divine Garbo shone again all her light, having lived moments of secret happiness with her new lover.  To this tale of love and life we have dedicated Rosa Greta."

Rosa Greta starts true rosy combined with slight herbal tea notes similar to example Bvlgari Eau Parfumeé au Thé Blanc. This accord creates an almost ozonic, outdoor, by the sea accord and I can imagine bright, light red, crispy roses in an elegant Amalficostgarden. The litchi is not apperant as a detectable note by itself, probably it is there to balance the harsh aspect of the teanote and to highlight the fruity notes of the rose. The rose is very clean an natural (as Garbo herself) and it's present in that shape during the whole drydown of Rosa Greta. Somewhere in the first part of the fragrance, I can smell an element one of my favorite Eau D'Italie Un Bateau pour Capri, an element that somehow reminds me of the mediterranean air and sea from a distance, not the smell directly on the beach. The cedarnote is also bright and clean, underscored by the ambrox which gives Rosa Greta a bright radiance and a longevity for more than a day even if its a light, daytime rose in style. It's a uncomplicated, contemporary rose, very versatile and enjoyable to wear, especially for summertime. It's the counterpart rose to the dark, complicated, mysterious Eau D'Italie Pasteum Rose another favourite from the line. Rosa Greta appears a bit different in different wearings. Mostly i appears as the clean, sea-air-ish rose as described here, but in some wearings the airish notes becomes sparkling, fizzy somewhere in the middlenotes. This sparkling, fizzy apperance reminds me of Ramon Monegal Kiss My Name and Lovely Day but without the slight peppery note apperant in those. As the two mentioned Monegals, Rosa Greta is a happy fragrance.

Picture: Rosa Greta
Photo: PR Eau D'Italie (c)

Rosa Greta is a beautiful, versatile, daytime rosefragrance, with good longevity and medium silage. Suitable both for casual and at work especiall in summer. A fragrance that couldn't disturb anyone and not as intriguing as it's  muse. To me both Pasteum Rose and Un Bateau pour Capri is more Greta, but as the inspiration for Rosa Greta is the image of Greta Garbo in the context of the Ravello Garden and Gretas clean, blonde, classic look, I can see the connction.

Rating: 4

Notes: litchi, white tea, rose bud, damascus rose, ambrox, cedarwood

Midsummer

Picture: Midsummerrose
Photo: Parfumista (c)

Midsummer again, or just passed. The summer solstice here in the north is celebrated the weekend after the occurrence with Friday as a national holiday. This year the weather (always a big question in Sweden) is quite good, mostly sunny and warm. For exemple two years ago it was almost as cold as on Christmas Eve (which was warm) with only 8 C daytime and rain.

For Midsummer one should (?) of course, if warm weather anyway, wear florals to match the occasion. I couldn't think of any flowery fragrance that I wan't to wear today, strangely I crave for spices today, and yeserday too to be honset, So I'm smelling as an oriental spicemarket of Les Néréides Oriental Lumpur which is a robust, dry, warm, spicy, patchoulileaves fragrance, in the higher ocataves of the fragrance notescale. If it had a color it is a light green/grey nuance. There also a dry, grassy element, here there is actually a connection to a swedish meadow when the grass is dry in the late summer. But overall Oriental Lumpur is dry spices, contrasted by the fresh earthy patchoulileaves. A good niche fragrance to the fraction of the price of others in the dry spicy segement such as Tauer L'Air du Desert Marocain, Frederic Malle Noir Epices and Tom Ford Sahara Noir. A strong fragrance with distinct silage which should be applied in small doses. My vesion of  Oriental Lumpur is from the old anglesbottle.

Busy days...

Picture: Bird-cherry tree
Photo: Parfumista (c)

There are so much going on in the early summer and as my storage of edited pre-written reviews is empty there has been a shortage of blog posts lately. When (if :-), everything calms down reviews will appears about new releases from two favorite brands: Eau d'Italie and Carner Barcelona. Maybe also something inspired from the post about Zlatan and a Midsummerpost of course. Until then: Have a nice summer!