Hay
by Santa Maria Novella

A wonderful natural fragrance that is evocative of nature and blending. It is not a pipe tobacco scent at all, but if you take the idea of a "leaf" or "grain" (of some kind) and blend it with other natural things, you could get the idea of how this quiet gem is put together. So special, it is hard to forget. And all the better, because there's no other fragrance in this country that I know about that is anything like SMN's Hay. Sounds silly, contrived, odd, preposterous? It is magnificent.

9th January, 2012.

Funnily this "hay" made me queasy in the stomach. It smells like a cheap industrial strength chemical-rose soap used in public restrooms. A slight effort is made to have a honey note drift in. To recapitulate: industrial/soap/restroom/sweet.

28th January, 2011.

The Demeter version of hay made me sick to my stomach – this one is so much better. But I do have a difficult time calling this Santa Maria Novella version “hay.” It doesn’t really smell like the hay that I’m familiar with. If I use the Italian “Fieno,” I can ease my conscience in respect to truth in labeling. The beautiful, rustic opening is quite catching – it is very rose dominated to my nose. The accord is rose and fieno …something dryly vegetal, neutral, and unaffected. For three or four minutes I could believe that that background note is hay, if I force my imagination. It’s actually a beautiful note but it doesn’t stay long because the accord quickly develops a full floral bouquet – rose and myrtle, says the pyramid, I say rose. I love its simple and rustic rose note, and it's about the only obvious rose note I've encountered that I can readily see myself wearing. The drydown is soft – a bit herbal, sweet, and powdery: too powdery for my tastes, but in a pastoral fragrance like this, the powder might be forgivable. I appreciate Fieno especially because of its charm and simplicity. There’s that rural pleasantness about it. That note that is supposed to be hay is very nice. The fragrance seems to have an acceptable longevity.

29th August, 2008. (Last Edited: 29th January, 2011.)

Hay wasn’t quite was I was expecting. I was expecting a dry and hot fragrance like golden hay in summer, but instead, this was green, a little harsh, and very powdery. Not my cup of tea at all.

19th September, 2005.

A surprise that caught me unaware. I'd invisioned a deplorable stink, a wet steaming barnyard to be precise, oh boy. Quite the contrary, SMN does it again with ingenuity and skill. Hay (aka Fieno), to me, is honeylike with mild spices, very nice.

3rd February, 2004.