Carnation (2006)
by Mona di Orio

An interesting scent and I am trying to marry the ad copy and name with the fragrance itself. I don't know how a maiden's blooming cheek smells abit skanky but I am allowing for 'artisitc licence' here ! .
The top notes are a little bit skanky - not off putting but interesting and then it becomes sweeter, smoother, just a little bit powdery but I never lose that slight citrussy feel . The musk comes around eventually and it becomes a warmer subtle scent- more delicate warmth and a skin scent.
Again , with this house, there is inspiration from Guerlain here- I am even reminded of Sous Le Vent in the dry down with this fragrance. I wish this perfumer would find her own style a little bit.
I remain on the fence, kicking my legs, about this one.

20th April, 2011.

Don't let the name fool you. If you're looking for a typical carnation scent, all spices, Dianthus, and eugenol (clove oil), you've come to the wrong place. Yes, there's Dianthus (giroflée) in this fragrance, but it performs behind a veil of powdery musk, aldehydes, sweet amber, and white flowers - especially a soft, yet sultry jasmine. A creamy sandalwood serves as backdrop for the floral bouquet.

The overal impression is rich and "perfumey" in the manner of the grand old Guerlain scents, which could well have been Carnation's inspiration. It's lush and decadent, but still very dignified and proper, with its powdery base and soft aldehydes. I can give Carnation no better compliment than to say it smells as if it had been made nearly a century ago. Women (or very adventurous men) who enjoy the classic Caron and Guerlain scents may take very happily to this recent fragrance.

17th December, 2009.

Skanky. Big, skanky, *dirty* top notes, very floral and very indolic. Getting some leather too. However, there's an oddly synthesized flavour to its skank; plasticine, melting rubber? Can't quite put my finger on it. Like the rubber-tired sportscar that's Bvlgari Black went and did a hand break turn in a bed of decaying jasmine petals.
The volume is turned down FAST, though: 15 minutes in it's a skin scent and the worst of the indole is gone. (Either that or I'm still stinking up the room but my nose is blocked.) The base does smell vintage-inspired: powdery but with a slight bitter edge cutting through it. Reminds me of Mitsouko in a way, though I'm sure that comparison will horrify lovers of that Grand Dame.
An acquired taste for me - maybe without the plasticky thing in the top notes it would be more palatable.

22nd October, 2009.

Hmmm, sweet! But sweet in a cheeky way. I don't know wheter I like it because it's so feminine or so brutal. It takes a bit of nerve for a man to sport this one, but if I do, it feels really decadent in a J.-K. Huysmans way, or in a vicuña sweater way.
It slightly reminds me of Jicky, also due to a similar ambivalence.
Also, to my surprise, it works very well with outside temperatures below zero... on me that is.

Oh, and so great to have NO modernity at all in this fragrance. Or does that make it modern? ;-)

It makes me wonder how thisone would work on an elegant woman.

2nd February, 2009.

Ah, an unisex floral that makes his/her presence known. I don't get much from the topnotes, because the middle- and basenotes are so overwhelming. I get a lot of jasmin that is spiced up, and I certainly can smell the woods and amber in de basenotes.

One spray gives you enormous sillage and longevity. It leans to the feminine side, as is the case with all florals, but all guys in formal settings should be able to pull this one off. What you need, however, is a sexy woman in a black dress.

9th December, 2008.

I wish I could like Mona di Orio's Carnation, I really do. But I just don't. Carnation is an oddly depressing old fashioned smell of leather and powder, but not in a good way. Two of the three times I tried this, I got the smell that you smell when you are near the rack of rental leather shoes at a bowling alley. Not foot odor but the smell of worn leather shoes. I was mystified as to how it could be called Carnation when it bears absolutely no resemblance to that flower's spicy smell. Then I read on-line that it is called Carnation because it is meant to be reminiscent of a "bloom on a maiden's cheek". Sheesh. What will those marketers and copywriters think of next??

Here are Carnation's notes, per The Perfumed Court: top notes of bergamot, clove and geranium; middle notes of ylang ylang, violet, jasmine and precious woods; and base notes of musk, amber and styrax.

19th June, 2008.