Byredo
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Sicilian bergamot and bitter orange crash onto the skin with immediate sharpness—not the polished, perfumey version but something closer to actual citrus peel, slightly green and acerbic. The citrus dominates completely, establishing a fresh, somewhat austere character that feels almost utilitarian in its honesty.
As the citrus begins its inevitable fade, the musk and rose absolute emerge from beneath, revealing themselves gradually like a photograph developing in developer fluid. The rose takes on an unusual, almost animalic quality—faintly salty and skin-like—whilst the musk creates an unexpectedly creamy, faintly warm bed beneath the now-softer citrus. This is where the fragrance achieves its most intriguing phase: neither fresh nor floral, but something deliberately ambiguous between the two.
The abelmoschus surfaces with a subtle peppery-spiced character, mingling with the remaining rose and musk into something quietly sensual and increasingly intimate. By this stage, the citrus has retreated almost entirely, leaving a soft, musky-floral skin scent that hovers very close to the body—a private fragrance rather than a projecting one.
Palermo arrives as a study in Sicilian restraint—a fragrance that understands the difference between representing a place and performing it. Jérôme Epinette has resisted the temptation to construct some grand, tourist-board ode to orange blossoms and Mediterranean theatrics. Instead, he's composed something considerably more intimate: a bergamot-driven composition where the citrus elements possess genuine acidity rather than the typical perfume-y sweetness.
The bergamot and bitter orange open with a sharp, almost austere quality—these are breakfast-table citrus notes rather than holiday-brochure ones. They're allowed to breathe without the usual floral padding, creating a green, slightly tart impression that suggests freshly grated zest rather than juice. Where the fragrance finds its sensuality is in the heart, where rose absolute doesn't arrive as predictable florality but as something musky and slightly animalic, interacting with the citrus in ways that create an almost salty, skin-like warmth. The musk grounds everything, preventing this from floating away into abstraction.
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Sylvaine Delacourte
3.7/5 (85)