Perfume Review:i Profumi di Firenze Tuberosa d’Autonno
Date released: none listed
Perfumer: none listed
Sample provenance: sample from The Perfumed Court, 2010
Sub-category: Atypical (spicy) tuberose soliflore
Tuberosa d’Autonno opens up with the grape-candy effect that has become so familiar to us from Giorgio Beverly Hills – and from the Tuberose Monster par excellence, Dior Poison. (Elena at Perfume Shrine says this is methyl anthranilate; see her excellent post on aromachemicals and their effects here.) In fact, I have begun noticing this artificial-grape-flavor smell fairly frequently while testing tuberose/gardenia scents lately, and it always yells, “POISON!” pretty loudly in my ear. Giorgio BH may have been the first scent to pair it with tuberose, but Poison was the signature for this aromachemical, if you ask me. It’s almost medicinal in its artificiality – I think first of the Dimetapp my mother used to give me when I was a sniffly kid.
Within a few moments, a nice natural tuberose enters the room, and as usual, all attention follows, leaving the grape note off in the corner to itself (where it should be). I think there may be a small amount of orange blossom in the scent; at this stage, Tuberosa d’Autonno reminds me most of Fracas. It’s quieter than Fracas, but very creamy under the fascinating lilt of tuberose, which here has a “cool” cast. The whole scent spends a good long period in this creamy-cool-white petals mode, and I like it quite a bit.
After a few hours, the scent takes a noticeably spicy turn into warm spices under the cool white flowers, and it begins to remind me of Honore des Pres’ bombshell tubey, Vamp a NY. TdA lacks Vamp’s cheerfully trashy bubble-gum accent and overt sweetness, but it picks up on the spicy, rich, resinous goodness of the root-beer base of Vamp. This cool/warm dichotomy is enjoyable to me in both fragrances, but TdA is restrained and mysterious, where Vamp is limboing in her mini-skirt.
I’m aware that it’s probably not good form to review Fragrance X by comparing it to Fragrance Y. But this is my 18th review of a tuberose scent, and since tuberose is such a take-charge sort of note, many of these fragrances start smelling a bit alike after awhile. I apologize.
I can’t find any list of notes for this one anywhere; I Profumi di Firenze apparently plays its cards close to its chest. But if you want my guess: grape notes, tuberose, orange blossom, perhaps a hint of jasmine, a bare hint of clove, tolu balsam, myrrh and perhaps woods. The website (Isabella Imports) says this about it:
(Floral) Bewitching tuberose scent. Enchanting, intoxicating, for late nights.
Tuberose Polianthes from Italy
Lasting power, like most white floral scents, is good on me: about six hours.
Quality: B. Good quality stuff in there, but accented in an unusual fashion.
Grab-scale score: 7. Winds up close enough to Vamp a NY that I didn’t feel I needed any (I have a decant of Vamp).
Short description: Tuberose spice.
Cost: $$
Earns compliments? Yes, once the Grape Dimetapp accord goes away.
Scent presence: Moderate, with moderate sillage. Lasts several hours; after 4 hours, the sillage is much less and the scent stays close to the skin.
Review report: No full reviews available, other than a brief mention by Abigail at I Smell Therefore I Am, and another brief mention by Robin at Now Smell This. Both reviewers found it “cooler” than I did.
I love these tuberose series, as I love tuberose in all of its forms. I know that I have smelled Tuberose d’Autonno at some point, but I just do not remember it.
These days I find it hard to branch out from my favorite tuberoses like Carnal Flower and Tubereuse Criminelle, but maybe in the spring, I will crave something lighter.
I love having all the samples! If I had to pick just one, it would of course be Carnal Flower. Sigh… so beautiful.
Spicy, rich, resinous sounds good! And I do love Vamp a NY…if this is a spicier version of it (?), I am so there!
Vamp was actually quite spicy on me, and TdA was *less* spicy – but also less bubble-gum-root-beer than Vamp! TdA is very chilly until that warm base comes up. Sample couldn’t hurt, right?
Whoa! Interesting! Vamp is all sweet and creamy on me, with a tinge of earth and green.
Earthy and green – I didn’t get any of that out of Vamp! (And, to be honest, might not have liked it if I had. I like green, but earthy is difficult for me… witness my reaction to your mushroom series…)
I love your tuberose reviews! It was your blog that inspired me to explore tuberose last year, and I think I have tried this one. But when I tested a lot of tuberose fragrances, they all started to seem alike.
My favorites are Fracas, Carnal Flower, Tubereuse Couture, Tubereuse Criminelle and Nuit de Tubereuse (which I don’t think smells very tuberose-y, but still stunning). Beyond Love is gorgeous, but sooo expensive. I also love vintage Chloe. My mom used to wear it in the 80’s, so it reminds me of my childhood. But it’s not so closely linked to my mom that I feel I’m wearing someone else’s perfume, it just evokes nice memories of warmth, happiness and safety.
So glad you’re a fellow tuberose lover! The note is so powerful, though, it does tend to take over and make things smell the same. I don’t mind that, really.
I love Carnal Flower! Vintage Chloe, you might remember, I wore for years, all through high school, so it’s all bound up with a past me. Difficult to wear that now. It’s wonderful that you get echoes of your mother when you wear it, but don’t feel all bound up in her clothes! I love Mariella Burani because it reminds me a lot of my mother’s No. 5, without being a direct copy of her smell.
[…] It’s also fairly fruity. My youngest child sniffed me and, confused, asked if I was wearing Jell-O. I was confused myself, wondering where this grapey smell was coming from since By Kilian seems to pride itself on high-quality raw materials. The grape effect seems to be engendered by methyl anthranilate, mentioned by Luca Turin in his P:TG review of Giorgio and explained further by Denyse at Grain de Musc in her review of Sweet Redemption as being an aromachemical that is naturally produced by orange blossoms and tuberose. This aromachemical is frequently added to grape-flavored items such as Kool-Aid and Jell-O to enhance the grapiness, thus leading Americans to perceive it as being a synthetic smell (see my review of I Profumo di Firenze Tuberosa d’Autonno). […]