The Maria Candida Gentile Collection: Fragrances to Touch The Heart

Italy has always been a paradisiacal destination, interspersed with medieval ruins, picturesque fishing villages and countryside rich in history and long cypresses swaying in the wind. Italian fragrances always seem to me to sing at an accompanying tune; beautiful, jovial, sensuous but in a non too precious, rather soigné manner, radiating the message la vita e bella all around like church bells melodiously peeling apropos a happy celebration. Maria Candida Gentile's collection proved upon sampling to be in such company: Lush, masterful, happy and nuanced formulas to entice the novice and to satisfy the connoisseur.

One thing that instantly impresses me regarding the Maria Candida Gentile fragrances is the ratio of natural essences used, no doubt thanks to her Grasse training which coaxes perfumers into appreciating the palette of superb materials produced there. These are vibrant, quality materials which bring on what the human nose can only recognize as richness, opulence, lushness. The artistry lies in combining them with the right amount of less complex materials into compositions which last long, project well and provide a good trajectory of interest throughout.

In Maria Candide Gentile's Classic and Travel line I picked a few favorites, even though they all speak in mellifluous voices that you really want to follow into the echoing forests. Here are my picks:

EXULTAT
(Hesperidic, Floral, Woody)

Exultat is touching on both the contrast and the accomodating orifices between citrus and sacerdotal frankincense. The latter naturally possesses citrusy facets on top, making the combination register as an increase in tonality for a few minutes, an effect also explored in Etro's Shaal Nur. The ecclesiastical connotation of frankincense (olibanum) couldn't go amiss: The story goes that signora Gentile was inspired by a visit to the church of Saint Lorence in Lucina during the hour of Vespers.

But in Exultat the hesperidic top note soon dissipates to give way to a very detectable and unusual in such a context violet leaf note; silvery, quiet and crepuscular, like linen purified in a wash of ashes and countryside lavender. This technique mollifies the natural smokiness of frankincense, rendering it purer, subtler and very wearable with the soft feel of Grey Flannel. We might have been conditioned to regard frankincense fragrances as reclusive, monastic and intellectualized, but here is proof they can be wordly, human and smiling as well, which is a feat in itself.

CINABRE
(Spicy, Floral, Amber)

Cinabre on the other hand tricks one into thinking it is a cinnamon amber composition and even though there is the intense spice element present and the warmth of ambery resins indeed, one would be mistaken to view it so. Cinabre is a big, honking spicy rose the size of a house and gorgeous for it! The initial top note is intensely spicy in a peppery way, short and hot and soon cooled by the more sophisticated touch of ginger (these are clearly sequential stages, pay attention and watch them deliciously unfold, as signora Gentile weaves them artfully into the plot). The rose is lush, all out, sensuous, a deep red rose that accompanies erotic messages delivered under the cloak of night. This sexy rose blend is no accident: it blends essences of many varieties, Moroccan Splendens, May rose absolute with vanilla and myrrh into an embrace that is strong, but a little dangerous at the same time. The resinous elements bring out an orientalized effect to the rose, eschewing the powdery or pot-pourri associations one might have with this flower.
 

Last but not least, I was enchanted by Hanbury, the feminine fragrance which epitomizes the joys of a Mediterranean garden; sweetly citrusy on top, deeply floral and nectarous in the heart, wonderfully understated and elegant in its base.

HANBURY

The Hanbury Villa in the northern Italy city of Ventimiglia lies by the blue sea that has seen pirates and sailors crossing it for millenia. As if it smiled through it all, its garden grows beautiful mimosas that scatter the landscape with yellow pop-pops of joy at the drawing of each winter into spring.

This intensely femme blend, yet also redolent of childlike innocence of the yellow floral note of mimosa, is taking honeyed facets, with a sprinkling of sweet hesperidic top notes and a tiny caramelic note, softly balsamic, kept in check by the deliriously happy, clean essence of neroli. Hanbury keeps the floral element into a lightly musky sostenuto, which persists for a very long time on the skin; almost as long as a Med garden is in bloom.
 

The mouillettes have been lying on my desk for several days now, aromatizing the air with their delicious mélange. I have worn the fragrances on my skin and clothes for days with pleasure. Concluding, I was so psyched to try the Classic collection by Maria Candide Gentile that I'm now curious to explore her Exclusive collection at the first opportunity as well. The lady can do no wrong in my books!

Discover Maria Candida Gentile at her official site

Author: Elena Vosnaki is a historian & perfume writer from Greece and a Writer to Fragrantica. She is the founder and editor of Perfume Shrine, one of the most respected independent online publications on perfume containing fragrance reviews, industry interviews, essays on raw materials and perfume history, a winner in Fragrantica Blog Awards and a finalist in numerous blog awards contests. Her writing was recognised at the Fifi Awards for Editorial Excellence in 2009 and she has been contributing to publications around the world.