Baldessarini (2002)
by Baldessarini

Baldessarini’s top notes are a conventional, but very well executed blend of citrus and aromatics, but the heart is something more unusual. It is essentially a two part structure: a sweet, yet brisk spiced fruit accord set against a very dry, dusty cedar. The spiced fruit and cedar may derive from Féminité du Bois and Donna Karan’s Chaos, but in those scents the two elements are blended into a seamless accord, whereas in Baldessarini they do not so much blend as stand side by side, drawing the nose back and forth between them. Though it employs different ingredients, this is the same trick played by Bernard Chant in his Aramis (animalic leather vs. white flowers) and Aramis 900 (green floral vs. amber/patchouli), and it succeeds here as well, generating an olfactory tension that maintains interest until the drydown.

The drydown is where I enjoy Baldessarini the least. While the spiced fruit portion of the scent endures quite well, it does fade long before the cedar, which on its own smells rather colorless and thin. Anticlimactic in its development, but a very good scent nonetheless.

A nice male perfume that is aimed for more adult audience. Not so sweet as the Ambre, not so peppery as the Del Mar.
I would say that is a citrucy perfume and although not an eau de toilette, it lasts!
I would say that Baldessarini three perfumes are covering all the tastes and are better that the Hugo Boss perfumes.

I don’t get “sweet” from this: “Sweet” often has a difficult time escaping from my ravenous skin. I also don’t smell the citrus notes or the mint that are supposed to be in the opening according to the pyramid. I get fir and spices. The cloves, cumin and fir from the heart notes come through immediately upon spraying; they become an almost incense accord that is lighter, gentler, and longer lasting than the usual incense in a fragrance. This spicy incense / fir continues for a very decent length of time right into the drydown which is fir-y / woody with a strong sweet tobacco note added. I thoroughly enjoy the fir-y, tobacco-y natural smelling drydown. Since Baldessarini is a cologne, it doesn’t last as long as a typical EDT, but its longevity is good for an EDC. Except for the addition of tobacco in the drydown, Baldessarini is rather linear to my nose – but it’s an excellent linear. It doesn’t seem Oriental to me because the sweet notes – amber and musk – don’t come through strongly in the drydown, I see this as an excellent woody-tobacco scent. I was originally hesitant to buy it because it seemed over-priced to me, but now that the cost has come down, I see it as a very good investment and a welcome addition to my wardrobe. (Edit of the February 21, 2007 review.)

This is a rather unsatisfactory product that introduced itself to me with a liquid Haribo opening. The last time I was assailled by such a dense sucrose salvo was when I tested Paco Rabanne One Million, and if anything this was even more unwieldy. The citrus elements in the opening seem to be completely overpowered, and for the first hour this feels clumsy and lumpen. The only wearable phase occurs some two hours in, when the rather thuggish elements have receded, and a far more entertaining blend of ingredients are permitted to shine through. A dry, spiced tobacco accord has its brief moment in the sun, then evaporates all too quickly leaving one disappointed on almost every level.

There is absolutely nothing remarkable about this at all - other than the fact that it lasts less than an hour. Horrible and boring.

A huge thumbs down.

A fruity, admittedly well-blended juice that I find a lot less remarkable than everyone else seems to. Pleasant enough and OK, very impressive packaging, but a bit too fruity to be as formal a scent as everyone makes out. Mediocre longevity doesn't help its case. Overall, I'm not terribly impressed.