Romanza was launched in 2015 by the Italian niche fragrance line Masque Milano Fragranze, founded by Allesandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi in Milan in 2013. The concept behind the line is that each fragrance represents a different act and scene in an imaginary opera called Opera of Life, as conceived by Brun and Tedeschi. Romanza is Act III, Scene II of the opera.

On me, it opens with the smell of sweet, fresh, fleshy orange blossom shot through with the bracing herbaceous, bitter smell of gin-nuanced absinthe – The Green Fairy. The contrast between the bright orange blossom and dark green absinthe is mesmerizing. The woody, spicy aspects of the absinthe link to those aspects of angelica, bringing forward its warm sensuality. And then, the heart bursts open with the smell of sweet, heady narcissus, bolstered by indolic jasmine, which together creates a dramatic, narcotic blend like no other I have ever smelled. It’s potent and powerful and pulls me deeper and deeper into it, swirling around my brain and igniting all the pleasure points. Romanza smells the way yielding feels.

Narcissus has a green aspect that violet leaves extend with their metallic, green facets, slowing down the fall and pacing the development so the pleasure lasts longer until the base of vetiver, cedarwood, and patchouli make it drier and darker. Amber adds a sweet warmth while civet makes it animalic, and myrrh gives it that dark, resinous bitterness I love. It mingles with some lingering sweetness from the heart and the amber to create a bittersweetness at the end that gives me pause every time I catch a gorgeous whiff of it.

If Romanza were an act and a scene in an opera, it would be a scene-stealer. As a fragrance, it’s a heart-stealer with no regard for gender.

Notes: Orange blossom, absinthe, angelica, violet leaf, narcissus, jasmine, vetiver, cedar, patchouli, amber, civet and myrrh.