There’s nothing wrong with admiring the past. Indeed, many artists would say that it isn’t possible to push your work in new directions without a healthy respect for what’s been achieved by your predecessors. But the danger of indulging in one’s fondness for yesteryear is that it can lead to a certain repetitiveness, which perhaps explains why Francesca Bianchi’s new Libertine Neroli echoes not just classics from decades ago, but also a few entries in the Italian perfumer’s own catalogue.
To be clear: it is an assertive, attractive piece of work, superior to most of the wares we’ve seen so far this year from brands with more substantial budgets and reputations. Taking as its starting point the metallic quality of its central ingredient, it links it to a crisp greenness at the top, and a rich, mossy patchouli in the base, to conjure a louche aristocrat, caught somewhere between the writings of Oscar Wilde and E M Forster. This is a young man so intent on keeping his lacy white cuffs pristine, he insists not only on his picnic basket being carried by a manservant all the way to the banks of the river, but also on every single part of his lunch – from sandwiches to champagne – being prepared and laid out at his bidding. ‘Lifting a finger’ is a term that is completely alien to him.
Wonderfully evocative though all this sounds, it’s also a case of Bianchi revisiting rather familiar territories. The retro grandness of the leather-chypre combo she’s used here – once again, shades of Estee Lauder Azuree – has been a feature of some of her other compositions, and Libertine Neroli arguably doesn’t display sufficient distinctiveness to be truly striking. Bianchi is a talented perfumer and she’s rightly earned a loyal following during the relatively brief life of her brand. But it would be gratifying to see her use her skills to bring to life a wider range of places and characters. This pleasure-seeking fop will do for now. But he may grow wearisome quite quickly.
Persolaise
[Francesca Bianchi Libertine Neroli review based on a sample provided by the brand in 2022.]
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Thanks for this review. To a large extent, it echoes my own sentiment. (Though I find the echoes of Azurée even more pronounced in Etruscan Water.) But – of course there’s a “but” – Libertine Neroli in my view really is one of Bianchi’s best perfumes. It is to be welcomed, especially after the less than convincing inclusion of neroli in Sex and the Sea Neroli. I also don’t find it foppish: it reminds me of Marcello Mastroianni rather than Oscar Wilde. And while seeming regretfully uninventive for someone familiar with the brand’s entire line, it is very convincing and well-done taken on its own.
Here’s an afterthought: Why is it that we expect so much variety from a perfumer? After all, perfume is all about nuance. A little thing affects them. Is it not impressive, someone carefully working out all the possibilities of basically the same Azuree-inspired leather-chypre-accord? Zen-like, perhaps…
A good point, Sebastian, thank you. I’m sure some perfumers try to create variety within their own, specific style.
Thanks for writing. Yes, absolutely, taken on its own, it’s a very good piece of work.