Bahiana (2005)
by Maître Parfumeur et Gantier

The top-note is enchanting with orange and mandarin, the main chord is tropical with coconut - underneath the pleasant top and middle there are some notes which seem inconsistent and disturbing. The scent is extremely light - and the formula, trying to be trendy and topical - seems shallow and shadowy...a pale green with aspects of coconut. very poor staying powers, high price - nothing I'd recommend.

13rd April, 2010.

With listed notes like mandarin and coconut, I feared this might be a piña colada for the skin. Surprise! The opening is tropical fruit alright, but the accord comes off more like ripe mango, guava, and perhaps even a bit of passionfruit, rather than suntan lotion. Soon after application I found a buttery-smooth woody note welling up under the fruit. Could it be sandalwood? Checking the notes, I decide it must be the rosewood and gaiac at Bahiana's heart. And a beautifully handled wood it is! It blends with the bone-dry coconut note to form a warm cushion for the exotic fruits.

This is indeed tropical, and strictly for summertime. That said, Bahiana is the richest, most complex, and most lasting fruit fragrance I've encountered in a long time. It persisits for at least 6 or 8 hours on me, with a lingering amber, musk, and wood drydown just lightly touched with fruit esters. How MPG gets those citrus notes to last so long is beyond me, but I'm certainly not going to complain. There may well be a bottle in my future...

Thank you, MPG.

17th December, 2009.

Light Blue clone! I'm sure this scent must have redeeming qualities, but I simply can't get over the eerie similarity to D&G Light Blue - and I needn't reiterate how I feel about Light Blue.
It's grating and pointy-sharp and I don't want it on my skin or anywhere near me. All citrus and splintery wood, not at all the tropical cocktail I had anticipated.

4th September, 2009.

This is a wonderful tropical citrus scent that feels both refreshing and natural. Regrettably after a few minutes I can only detect it with my nose planted on my wrist (that doesn't happen too often to me), and for this I give Bahiana a neutral rating.

9th May, 2009.

Everyone else pretty much nails the description of this scent (even the "syrupy," "fruit salad," "weird buttered popcorn" note, which turned out to be my favorite aspect!), so I won't bother. What I will say is that, although this certainly smells nice, I'm just not blown away by it; it doesn't come close to emotionally engaging me. I suppose my main misgiving is that it's simply too subtle and wispy. Of course, wearing this in 90% humidity on a summer day will help. Even so, I won't be getting too worked up over a frag that is so narrow in its applicability.

FWIW, while I tend not to care about masculine/feminine scent labels, I am admittedly sensitive to unabashed femininity in frags. No problems here - Bahiana is definitely 1000% unisex.

27th April, 2009. (Last Edited: 28th January, 2010.)

Bahiana, Virgin Island Water and Bronze Goddess ....in my opinion: No! they are NOT alike! (Note: I have all three of them right here)
There are a few similarities between VIW and BG but I prefer VIW, it is more interesting and unique. BG seems kind of coarse to me in a certain way. BG has more of the sand and salty ocean while VIW smells more like a summer cocktail (not a sweet one though) with the rum and coconut. I find that the coconut is far better blended and situated int VIW than BG.
But now about Bahiana... To me this is the most exotic/tropical and vacation-like of those three. A light cocktail of exotic citric fruit, creamy coconut with a detaining herbal base that reminds me a little of a rainforest.
A real masterpiece as far as the tropical fragrances for women go. I never really understood how it could be unisex?!? I haven't smelled it on a guy, when I wanted my brother to splash it on he very clearly refused to wear a "girl fragrance" (he actually thought I was playing a joke on him) ...I cannot blame him. I think it is way too sweet and fruity for it to be masculine.

26th January, 2009.