Nostalgia (2002)
by Santa Maria Novella

If you'll ever have the chance to visit Florence don't miss the opportunity to go to the Santa Maria Novella's museum / shop / headquarter located in an ancient chapel from 1200 that's absolutely breathtaking for its beauty and majesty.

Said that, Nostalgia it's not the kind of scent you would expect form a company founded in 1612 as it's quite modern and somehow weird. Rubber and leather that smell exacactly like the interiors of my grandad's old FIAT 500 during the summertime, when odors were emphasized by the high temperatures of the season. A great fragrance if you like challenging smoky rubber/leather scents a-la Knize Ten / CDG's Garage / Lisa Kirk's Revolution. I do.

Downside: the drydown is quite conventional if compared to the opening, but still pleasant.

One more thing. In italy SMN is sold at a reasonable price. 100 ml for 75 euros.

13rd April, 2011.

After reading the reviews, sent for a sample of this for my brother. He is so much of a car nut that his license plate reads...you guessed it....CARNUT. He could not stand it but I loved it. It is an odd one to be sure. Starts with a blast of creosote. Does not jive a bit with the old-timey bottle and traditional sounding moniker. The scent starts to morph after about 15 minutes and goes from beast to beauty. Just following the changes is fascinating.
Winds up slightly sweet, very rich and captivating. The beginning would offend many. The ending will charm most.

27th March, 2011.

Similar to that other scent mindful of the past, Nostalgia opens like Tauer's Lonestar Memories on a roaring kickstart of gas, motor oil, vinyl, and rubber, with powerful decongesting properties. For the first, petrol-doused thirty minutes it is a great big car-interior leather in the style of Knize Ten. However, it's not long before Nostalgia shifts gear and increasingly relies on a coarse imitation of Bulgari Black's rubber-and-vanilla pairing, caught somewhere between solvent and talcum powder. Not bad, but sorely disappointing.

21st March, 2011.

A car garage, fresh tires, gas being pumped outside, a new car! Love this stuff, it really does smell like everything associated with cars!

6th March, 2011.

Fun, fun, fun until daddy takes the T-bird away! (Or at least until the drydown sets in.)

Nostalgia starts out smelling delightfully like new tires and auto fuel. I suspect that like Tubéreuse Criminelle, there's a menthol or eucalyptus note creeping around here somewhere, and that it's responsible for some of the rubber/petroleum product vibe. Once these top notes clear off, I'm left with a very clean and ever so slightly powdery leather accord that persists for about an hour or two. The drydown is much more conventional than the opening, dominated as it is by powdery musk and creamy woods.

Do I like it? Yes, I suppose so, but the top notes leave me expecting something much more novel and dramatic in the development - something that never quite occurs.

29th November, 2010.

Frigid antique shop in winter run by a brittle old lady exhaling Vick’s lozenges.

Grimly wry, like the lingering odor of burnt rubber 15 minutes after the punk left the scene.

Cool, meanish girl, with cropped black hair in leather jacket over black leotard, walks in room smoking menthols.

2nd November, 2010.