Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Nasomatto - Nuda

A jasmine manifesto

First the rant: The Nasomatto website is a perfect example of all that I find annoying in perfume web sites. It has music I can't turn off. The whole thing is Flash. When I choose one section, there is no way to go back to a previous one and the text is the kind of flowery, poetic "manifesto" that sounds like it was written in Italian, translated to Japanese and then translated to English.

OK, rant done, I feel better now. Wait, I forgot to mention, there is nothing on the Nasomatto web site about their new perfume Nuda, so I can't tell you the official notes and the site only mentions the perfumer by his first name "Allesandro." From Fragrantica, I find that his name is Alessandro Gualtieri, but the only note revealed in Nuda is jasmine.

I wish I could say I knew the smell of live jasmine intimately, but I live in jasmine-deprived Canada. I've fallen in love with jasmine from soliflores like Montale Jasmine Full and By Kilian Love and Tears, Surrender and Opus Oils Jitterbug. Nuda is another perfume that explores the different facets of this gorgeous flower. Nuda is simply jasmine,  intoxicating and romantic from top to bottom. 

Nuda starts with the gasoline rush of pure jasmine: that part-flower, part-fuel scent. As that fades, it becomes a more conventional, sweetly narcotic jasmine. It's a little innocent and  a little sexy at the same time. Staying close to the skin, Nuda is a jasmine to wear for yourself or for lovers.

Pretty though it is, I feel like something is missing in Nuda. Jasmine Full has the sweet orange blossom and honeysuckle to round out it's jasmine; Love and Tears has a green stems note to add to its spring flowers feel. I've read that Nuda was intended by be very "animalic" but it's not on me. The dirty indoles of Jitterbug have been mostly stripped from Nuda, leaving it clean and fresh but just... pretty, and just jasmine.

Still, Nuda is a very good jasmine. If you are a jasmine fan like me, you should give it a sniff. Unfortunately, Nuda doesn't last all that long and the lack of any discernible basenotes, like a musk or wood, means that once the jasmine has faded there's nothing left but sweet dreams.

House: Nasomatto
Nose: Alessandro Gualtieri
Notes: jasmine

Image: Amedeo Modigliani,  Nu féminin, 1918

2 comments:

  1. If this veers to the bland end of jasmine, I might like it! : - )

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  2. couldn't agree more about websites- they don't need to be fancy and the thing where you can't go back drives me mad.

    I am definitely a big jasmine fan and am yet to 'the one' when it comes to jasmine- so will try and get my hands on some of this!

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