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 a nose-tingling note of mandarin, floral and fresh; it’s flanked by 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 sticky marmalade dominates the heart, and when Tonka bean displays its chocolate facet, I get the smell of chocolate-covered orange peel is irresistible. 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, 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 vibe present down to the drydown. But it also adds warmth and greenness, bringing depth and dimension to the fragrance by rounding out the candied mandarin. Ambroxan, which smells skin-salty, gives me a sense of place – close my eyes, and I’m by the sea.

The drydown is refined and sophisticated, as the citrus sweetness settles into a tender, warm skin scent that smells of sweet summer nights.

Notes: mandarin, brown sugar, candied mandarin, Georgywood, Tonka bean immortelle, ambroxan.