Carthusia
Carthusia
100 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The opening hits you with an almost aggressive floral density—tuberose and gardenia dominate immediately, backed by mandarin's citric sting and bergamot's bergapten bite. It feels crowded, nearly cloying, as though someone has thrust an entire florist's window past your nostrils at once.
The composition gradually equilibrates as spice notes emerge—clove and nutmeg introduce a peppery dryness that counteracts the cream. Frankincense smoke materialises, lending an almost religious solemnity, whilst plum and violet leaf add green, slightly austere dimension. The fragrance becomes less about florals and more about their shadows.
By the final hours, oakmoss and cedarwood dominate what remains, though the persistence is negligible—sandalwood and white musk fade to an almost imperceptible trace on skin. What lingers is primarily olfactory memory rather than actual projection, a chypre whisper rather than a declaration.
Fiori di Capri is a fragrance that refuses to whisper—it announces itself with the humid warmth of Mediterranean gardens caught in glass. Laura Bosetti Tonatto has constructed something genuinely ambivalent here: a floral so densely layered that it borders on suffocating, yet somehow maintains an almost spectral delicacy. The tuberose and gardenia arrive as a creamy, buttery mass in the opening, immediately tempered by mandarin's sharp citric bite and bergamot's cool bergapten snap. What's fascinating is how the spice accord—clove and nutmeg—doesn't warm these florals into something traditionally "feminine." Instead, they introduce a peppery discord, making the composition feel slightly off-kilter, almost troubled.
By mid-development, frankincense emerges like smoke drifting through a wedding bouquet, and here the fragrance reveals its true character: something between a classical chypre and a botanical study. The plum adds a dusty, tannin-like quality that sits uncomfortably against the white honey and violet leaf's green snap. It's neither comfortable nor immediately likeable, which makes it compelling.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
3.8/5 (89)