Albi by Laura Tonatto, 2002

A rather unique scent, presumably due to the unusual 'mousse d'arbre' ingredient. You can expect a herbal, tangy citrus, underpinned by a deep 'green' aroma, giving a luminous, penetrating quality to the fragrance. This must be the mousse d'arbre. It seems to act as a fixative, giving great longevity to a pre-dominantly citrus scent. Although this also imparts a certain weight, it is far from cloying and it remains suitable for warmer weather. There is nothing quite like this, although Sisley's Eau d'Ikar is perhaps a second cousin; I suspect fans of that might appreciate this.

+1 delightful play of lavender, lemon and a nice mossy drydown - 1 for similarity to CkOne. = 0 Albi greets your nose with happy notes of lemon zest and lavender, before going into a still-zesty sweet and non cloudy moss base. However for an EDP, Albi behaves more like an EDT (and thus requires a generous amount of sprays to actually smell what it is supposed to smell like throughout the day) and given the price, i'd expect more from my bottle. Every time i wear this, people who smell it would ask me "are you wearing a CK perfume?" or "is that a CK you're wearing?" which is pretty much a moot point if you ask me. It does smell a bit more complex than CK, but the general aura is that of CKOne. This scent could very well be named Laura Tonatto's version of CKOne. I like it, but not enough to give it a +1 due to its connotation.

Michael Edwards classifies this a as a rich citrus and that is exactly how it comes across to me. The density of the scent is owed to the healthy dosage of treemoos, which is exquisitely married to the long lasting petitgrain-heavy citrus notes. While there is a moment of sweetness here, it is not the sticky candied citrus peel variety (amply displayed in the hard to find Tova Cologne for Men) which I am personally not fond of. I find the lavender plays but a supporting role here. It is light and contributes some herbaceous treble counterpoint to the mossy base, rather than showing a strong personality of its own. All in all Albi squares several circles in presenting itself as an innovative citrus, blending spriteliness with masculine mossy gravity, and providing astounding freshness-cum-longevity (and sillage). A masterful creation and a pleasure to wear.

I dont like Albi. It is very dense on me and it reminded me of another scent I disliked Mambo. I compared the notes and didnt see any real similarity was I crazy? Then I did a side by side test and Mambo did remind me of Albi, although they were certainly different and Mambo had a bit of fruitiness not in Albi. Anyway, Albi strikes me as a very heavy scent; I seem to find certain lavender presentations to be undesirable and Albi seems to be one of these.

What a lively, sparkly winner this one is: light and sweet, peppery and mossy. So very unique, it is elegant and edgy at the same time. It isnt an aquatic or a citrus, although there is a noticeable petitgrain in it. There is such a clean feeling presented by its opening lavender, petitgrain, and pepper. The pepper wears off and the moss joins in with the light lavender and petitgrain to provide a clean, sophistication. Robyogi is right: As light as it is, it is a sillage monster and needs to be applied with discretion. Bright, loud and light at the same time, it is wonderfully complete with Laura Tonato creativity and passion.

I find Albi to be amazing stuff. There is something in it called "mousse d'arbre" or "foam of tree." I did a little internet research on this a while back and found that it's apparently some sort of moss collected in France. Albi has a persistent natural sweetness to it that I find addictive. Usually I don't like sweet scents because they seem so thick and cloying. This one, however, feels bright and light, uplifting almost, and is very unique, hard to explain. This sweetness balances the pepper and lavender, which are equally prominent. It is a monster sillage projector though, so I go light or apply long before I leave the house. Longevity is good, especially for a brighter, summery scent like this, and especially on my clothes. This scent brings a smile to my face, and gets 4-5 stars in my book.