Ginestre
by Santa Maria Novella

Santa Maria Novella Ginestra

There is a point every summer where spring and its lush green starts to get seared by the sun and the greenery begins to dry up. As you walk past a newly mown field you get this sweet, grassy smell. This is one of the scents of the end of summer for me. Santa Maria Novella has captured this green and floral smell in their scent, Ginestra. Ginestra is a flower also known as Scotch Broom. Santa Maria Novella is one of the oldest farmacias in the world and dates back to the 17th century. That it would be one of these farmacias to get the smell of summer grass so right is no surprise to me. The top of Ginestra starts with a very light citrus accord of bergamot, lime and orange blossom. The heart of this comes in with a beautiful sweet, grassy, hay accord accompanied by a light floral which must be the scotch broom flower. It is most like a very dialed-down osmanthus to my nose and the lightness of it accentuates the sweet of the hay but also adds contrast to the grassiness, too. A touch of oakmoss creeps in towards the end of the evolution but Ginestra stays firmly in the floral green stage for the majority of its duration on my skin. Santa Maria Novella Ginestra comes as an EDT and on my skin has decent but not great longevity. It has surprising sillage for an EDT though. Ginestra is definitely a warm-weather scent as it needs some heat to really allow it to flower. For me I'm going to lie down in my newly mown field and watch the clouds go by overhead with a big smile on my face.

The bracing, green floral scent of broom. Love this one. Perfect on hot days, when you need something to keep you from wilting. It's longer lasting on me than some of the other Santa Maria Novellas, which is a nice plus.

This is a beautiful take on the scent of Scottish broom flowers, with supporting characters, most probably ambergris, but other green notes for sure. This is a very uplifting scent. It really puts the heart back into one. Great fro daytime wear, and I think it's equally suitable for men and women. It is in EdC strength, but gives quite good projection. BTW, the name is Ginestra, with an "a" at the end, in case you need to do a search on this.

flowery with ambergris. creed like.

not really an ambergris fan so not for me