Mona di Orio: Tubereuse - What Do We All Think?

So far I've been a bit hesitant about the Mona di Orio line given a rather hair-raising experience with Nuit Noire and Cuir, and somewhat neutral encounters with Ambre and Musc, so a dive into more recent territory with fragrances I've been really impressed by has made me do something of an about-face and grow really interested in the line.

I've had a quick sample wear of Tubereuse, and I find myself both very impressed yet also, unsure of whether it's me. I'm very much into va-va-voom florals of the big, luscious, room-filling, sultry kind, and Tubereuse is pretty much the opposite in the sense of being subtle, spring-like, or "twilight" as Mona herself put it, not the big aggressive animal tuberose.

Conversely, this is a really gorgeously done tuberose, not like one I've smelled before ( and I've smelled a LOT of tuberose frags ). This is not bland tuberose; this is not Fracas diluted. It's its own thing, rather green, rather creamy, very soft, exquisitely fine-grained, like an oil painting where you can't see the individual brush-strokes. Spring-green silk rather than the purple velvet of something like Poison.

The note list makes it look like a been-there, smelled-this tuberose ( pink pepper on top, coconut on the bottom ), but I urge anyone thinking that to give it a shot on its own merits. It's not Avante Garde, but it's unique: the note list is rather less accurate than the description.

Also, try it on skin. For some reason the blotter strip dried down to a weird pickle note ( go figure ), completely estranged from the well-behaved beauty on my skin.

So, Basenoters, your thoughts?

In my opinion, it's not that much alike. Caron Tubereuse is a lot thicker, heavier, has that weird thick creamy to sour herbal contrast that it makes it fun. Caron Tubereuse is in no sense "fresh", it's very perfumey, where as this Tubereuse is decisively "fresh" and much more natural-smelling. Both do share a certain green tinge and extrait feel, however, and a vetiver undertone.

Though the floral focus is different, and the approach here is somewhat more classically "French", but this is a bit like Comme des Garcons Champaca in its approach to a soliflore.

Thanks for the responses all!

Quarry - do try it, it is worth your while. While not hugely alike, it's definitely a fragrance I'd recommend a Sabi fan try

I tried the new Rose on a paper strip ( in fact I have it beside me now ). I'm leery of judging before I've tried on skin given what happened with the Tubereuse strip, but I'm getting a rather lighter-in-style Nahema. Nahema and me are not friends, hence why I didn't try it on skin despite it being all new and exciting.

I'm surprised, given you're not shy of Big White Florals. I am not a fan of Michael Kors either, yet I really wouldn't relate the two...?

What kind of sharp - loud floral sharp or was it the green sharpness involved?

I've worn this a number of times this past week and have a somewhat peculiar relationship with it. There is a very odd note in the first thirty seconds - green, but green like dill rather than galbanum or limes. Then comes a waft of aldehydes and a rather withdrawn tuberose note, gradually leading to an accord of delicate tuberoses, smooth vetiver, and the driest coconut I've ever smelled. Really, this coconut makes every other coconut smell like dessert.

Though not loud, I almost feel in the "This fragrance is wearing me" category, in the sense that it feels very refined and sophisticated and probably would not hang out with me if it was a person. Definitely not at all a lush crowd-pleaser like Carnal Flower. It is introspective, but not in the eldritch Gothic duchess mode of Caron's Tubereuse. It's a professional, giving a speech on something complex and analytical and interesting. I'd say it's very Chanel but that would be reducing the fact that it's even more Mona di Orio.

Definitely a class act, yet somehow easier to admire than love.

While I can definitely relate Jil Sander No. 4 to Nuit Noire ( in fact they seem to share a lot of "DNA" ), but neither of them to Tubereuse. Actually, there seems to have been a fundamental shift in style when I compare her old line to the Nombres d'Or I've smelled.

I've smelled quite a few tuberose fragrances and this one is really its own entity in spite of many familiar ingredients.