Launched in 2018 as part of L’Artisan’s “Les Paysages” collection, which was inspired by French landscapes, Mandarina Corsica pays homage to Corsica, the French-owned island in the Mediterranean which lies southeast of the French mainland and west of the Italian Peninsula.
Corsica is renowned for its clementines, a cross between mandarin and orange tree flowers, and Mandarina Corsica has mandarin front and centre in every stage. It opens with nose-tingling note of mandarin, floral and fresh, it’s flanked with tart bitter, orange. This is the smell of mandarin oranges, the tender sweet flesh and the bitter pith and peel. Within seconds, the fruits are caramelized with a note of brown sugar. The smell of candied mandarin dominates the heart, where tonka bean displays its chocolate facet and I the smell of chocolate covered orange peel. The notes list Georgywood, a scent molecule created by Givaudan, it contributes a clean, woodiness that supports the mandarin beautifully. Mandarin dominates the base as well, where it is joined by immortelle. Immortelle, which thrives in the Corsican scrubland, and is the perfect complement to the mandarin, after all, things that grow together, go together. It smells like maple syrup and keeps the candied orange present down to the drydown. But it also adds warmth and an herbaceousness that bring depth and dimension to the fragrance by rounding out the candied mandarin. Ambroxan, which to me smells skin-salty, gives me a sense of place – I’m by the sea.
The drydown is refined and sophisticated, as the citrus sweetness settles into a tender, warm skin scent that is perfect for men and women.
The L’Artisan website says that Mandarina Corsica ‘…evokes beautiful reminiscences of the Corsican landscape, particularly the early Summer where the nights are heavy with warmth. San Giuliano, south of Bastia, an iconic ‘balcony’ village, many of which are scattered along the ridges of the landscape. There is a scent of citrus in the wind… this is where the fields of tangerine trees, which cool the hot, dry air, can be found.’ Sounds like nose Quentin Bisch captured the spirit of a time and place in a beautiful fragrance that I can visit anytime I wish.
Notes: Mandarin, brown sugar, candied mandarin, Georgywood, tonka bean immortelle, ambroxan.
Type: EdP
Parfumeur: Quentin Bisch
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