Such a Little Wonder or Rhubarb Dreams: Jimmy by Bruno Fazzolari

The thing about a Bruno Fazzolari scent is that he is able to lend his synesthesia to the wearer. When you wear Monserrat it does immediately evoke the color orange. Au Dela brings to mind earthy shades of browns and greens. And with Jimmy, Fazzolari, is able to evoke an a combination of colors I have always loved, vibrant rich pink and green.

Jimmy is a happy scent, it is probably the easiest entry point into Fazzolari's collection of scents, it is in fact incredibly easy going. The word that Jimmy brings to mind is delightful. The scent of Jimmy is spritely and bright. The beginning of Jimmy is a play of violets and tart black current, everything is dancing together, and honestly I am reminded of the dancing ballet hippos in Disney's Fantasia. I think it's because there is a rather jolly bounce to Jimmy.

The violets in Jimmy are happy, there is nothing melancholic about these violets, consider them rain drenched and suddenly in spring sunshine. The tart accent of black current gives them a fruit accent and they are sweetened with rose.

The violets eventually make room for a wonderful alchemy on Fazzolari's part, what enters is grapefruit, a grapefruit that plays equally beside the violet and rose. You smell all three of them at the same time and bizarrely it all reminds me of rhubarb, I can't explain it but that is exactly what happens.

What is interesting about all of this is right in the background is an excellent use of ambergris and moss, they add an earthiness that only enhances the rhubarb quality of the scent even more. It is sort of a briar patch effect, the way berries are enhanced by the earthy scent of the briars around them.

Jimmy is an excellent recreation of a spring day. I highly recommend to those that miss Spring in the Winter.

Try Jimmy if you like Jour d'Hermes, Sonoma Scent Studio's Yin and Ylang, or  Le Temps d'une Fete by Nicolai Parfumeur.





First image from brunofazzolari.com
Second image Janet Little Jeffers

The Variations of Orange: Monserrat by Bruno Fazzolari

Do you need to smell something that smells close to the sublime moment of a seed sprouting in soil? If so you need to get your hands on Montserrat by Bruno Fazzolari.

This scent is for me that strange juxtaposition that citrus ripens in the winter. We consider the scent of citrus to the scent of summer at times but add cloves and you think winter. Montserrat does not go into clove combination but rather it plays with the idea of citruses out in the cold fields of spring and winter in California. In fact under the layers of grapefruit you smell the green buds of citrus about to bloom. Yet, what I love more is that he is able to capture the scent of citrus as you pick it from a tree the dry earthy green scent of the break between fruit and branch.

This scent is heightened with the intriguing note of plaster which appears in the dry down. With addition of this note Fazzolari creates a full image in my head. Think white walls of old farms houses in the countryside think in the style of Italy or Spain, especially the ones that may have a courtyard, and in that courtyard are citrus trees.

There is a strange beautiful quality of lushness and austere-ness in this scent. The grapefruit and citrus notes verdantly singing and yet the addition of earthy notes of carrot seed and plaster keep in grounded in a cooler contemplative mood.

Try if you like: Orange Sanguine by Atelier Cologne, Concentre d'Orange Verte by Hermes, and 4711.
image from Riochico