With
Bottega Veneta pour Homme Essence Aromatique, we are undoubtedly dealing with a masterpiece - always within the limits of what a cologne aspires to and is capable of achieving.
Most readers will know: Essence was discontinued some time ago now. It thus shares the fate of all current fragrances that were marketed by Coty under the Bottega Veneta brand.
The Kering Group, which owns the fashion house Bottega Veneta, is aiming to distribute its own fragrances under this name. The acquisition of Creed will certainly help to create the conditions for this venture.
Be that as it may, the collaboration with Coty had to give way and only time will tell how successful the new start under the new aegis will be.
What remains of the creations of the Coty era in retrospect?
On the men's fragrance side (and this is the only fragrance I dare to judge), there is
Illusione Eau de Toilette, released in 2019, a truly great designer fragrance (I use the term to describe a price segment) that pulls out all the stops in terms of mainstream pleasantness and combines this with the feel-good aura of a wonderful, subtle but ever-present resinous fir note that is initially hidden from the nose.
In general, resin, fir. What particularly distinguished Bottega Veneta was a uniform house concept, a "green thread" so to speak. This is evident in all of the brand's fragrances. Green, in a rather poisonous and gaudy version, is the signature color of the Bottega Veneta fashion house. The color is taken up as an olfactory metaphor in all its shades in the brand's fragrances marketed by Coty, from delicate floral to the rich green of conifers.
The fir resin note from
Illusione Eau de Toilette, for example, can also be found in all fragrances in the Pour Homme range. And it is also discreetly interwoven in
Bottega Veneta pour Homme Essence Aromatique. To determine this, all you need to do is compare it with the sillage of
Bottega Veneta pour Homme Eau de Toilette.
From 2016 to 2018, the house's concept found a particularly "niche" (and high-priced) expression in the 15 fragrances in the Parco Palladiano range. From
Parco Palladiano I: Magnolia to
Parco Palladiano XV: Salvia Blu, they are all dedicated to the trees, shrubs and herbs of Venetian parks.
The highlights of the series (II: cypress, III: pear tree) combine enchantingly beautiful images of nature, which can be described as poetic, with a supple suitability for everyday use, while fragrances such as V: "laurel", XI: "chestnut" or XIII: "four-leaf clover" take up well-known scores and reinterpret them with a quality impression that can hardly be surpassed.
So who will take the crown?
In my opinion, a creation from 2016 has a very important say here. This one comes across as modest. It bears the name "Eau de Cologne" and claims to consist of just three listed fragrance notes. Its sea-green liquid behind milky glass is supposed to be reminiscent of an old classic men's fragrance that has since been sold in drugstores.
Echoes of the good old
1881 pour Homme (2005) Eau de Toilette can be found not only in the presentation of the essence. Both fragrances were conceived from the beginning. Both rely on the power of an opening that immediately captures the nose without needing to be understood and without ever becoming tiring. A citrusy, woody accord that invigorates and promises refreshment. The top note of Cerruti, to which the fruity, tangy note of blackcurrant is added, still has a timeless effect today and has certainly contributed to the lasting success of this fragrance.
The time-honored baton of the fougère tradition was picked up by Cerruti (in its original version) in 1990 and carried into the new millennium as a long-loved mainstream fragrance to the applause of the public.
The
Bottega Veneta pour Homme Essence Aromatique is aware of the traditions of woody freshness, takes them up and yet strips them of most of their essential ingredients, interpreting them in a way that is suitable for midsummer on the one hand and taking a further step towards modernity on the other
The traditional go-to masculinity placeholders - vetiver, patchouli, oakmoss - are silent here or (patchouli) only underlay the composition in a gentle ostinato.
You will also look in vain for the heavy, old-fashioned sweetness of many of the classics in the segment. The sweetness of Essence springs from the citrusy opening accord, always remains subtle, accompanies the course of the fragrance for a while, only to be lifted away quite quickly like a delicate veil.
In summer temperatures, the top note of
Bottega Veneta pour Homme Essence Aromatique seems to hold a promise. It seems to appeal to all those who do not want a cup of ice cream or a swimming pool in the midday heat of summer. Instead, their place of longing is a cool ground in a spring-like, shady forest, where ferns sprout, water ripples and the cold stone wall of an abandoned masonry invites you to lean against it. It seems to promise a temporary moment of calm and cooling, far away from the hurried hustle and bustle of the summer city and its performance beasts with their oppressive swathes of fruit cocktails, tea and pineapple.
But nothing lasts forever. Anyone who has ever sprayed on a cologne knows this. The spring-like coolness is followed by renewed summer heat. We are driven out of the cool, shady forest into which the essence has drawn us far too soon. The spring-like illusion gives way to a drydown that deserves its name in every respect.
The fragrance ends in a bed of pine needles on a remotely earthy, resinous base.
No lush green pine needles on the tree, but the pine needles of a rain-free pine forest on a southern slope in August or September, surrounding the walker with their aroma from all sides. Dry, crackling, prickly, almost tactile.
Here, towards the end, I smell clear echoes of the tart, dry pine forest aesthetic of
Esencia Eau de Toilette, another classic of the genre.
In terms of the fragrance image, the
Bottega Veneta pour Homme Essence Aromatique is the weather that changes, from sweetly wet and cool to hot and dry. In
Esencia Eau de Toilette, it is the (incense?) breeze that finally subsides. Afterwards, in both cases, you find yourself in the same late summer pine forest drought.
At its base,
Bottega Veneta pour Homme Essence Aromatique is a distinctly masculine fragrance, just like
Esencia Eau de Toilette. The aroma of pine needles stands for a contemporary masculinity that does not need a mallet to hide its weaknesses, that is unagitated and has nothing to prove.
The End.
It was nice to be with you.
But wait, is this really the end? I'm convinced this fragrance will stay. And will come back. In one form or another. The market never forgets its masterpieces.
Italian bergamot
Siberian stone pine
Indonesian patchouli
