1881 Bella Notte pour Homme Cerruti 2014

Olivier Cresp has created around 200 perfumes. Among them, around the turn of the millennium, is the wonderful Jungle pour Homme by Kenzo: a brilliant blend of subtle nutmeg spice, fine woods, and zesty lime. For the Cerruti 1881 men's line, known for its woody-spicy, affordable scents, Cresp composed a Brahmsian dark cardamom symphony in 2014. In it, he combines a range of heavy spices with cardamom, pepper, juniper, and nutmeg in a well-tempered manner.

The overall scent is wonderfully Christmassy, perfectly suited for foggy autumn and cold winter days, and it reminds me from afar of a now possibly half-forgotten Azzaro fragrance from 2003: Visit. Annick Ménardo created this, which I also greatly appreciate, cardamom fluff with many ingredients from the spice rack: On a base of cedar and guaiac wood, Ménardo planted a heart of incense, barely perceptible amber and musk, and topped it off with fresh pepper, cardamom, and nutmeg.
In comparison, the two quite similar scents seem to me that Azzaro's Visit is a bit softer, gentler, if you will: more feminine. But also a bit more synthetic, slightly metallic at the end. The juniper in Cerruti's 1881 Bella Notte, possibly also the delicate coriander and patchouli notes, arrange this Bella Notte à la Cerruti a bit rougher, more masculine. Thus, it is a worthy flanker of the wonderfully woody, certainly somewhat old-school dusty, yet always refreshing, hefty green original Cerruti 1881; a scent for men.
Like probably most men's fragrances with "night" in the name, 1881 Bella Notte also glances at Yves Saint Laurent's bestseller L’homme La Nuit with its seductive cardamom vibe. The creator trio Flipo, Wargnye, and Ropion underpinned their cardamom-pepper-cedar triad with sweet tonka and muted vetiver and added bergamot and lavender in the top and heart notes. I still find YSL's original La Nuit (whose newer versions are now often lamented as being quite diluted here at Parfumo) to be a rather great, warm, seductive evening and going-out scent.
However, it should be acknowledged and remembered that Annick Ménardo had already composed a structurally similar cardamom symphony back in 2003, which was more suitable for everyday wear, though not quite as sensually heavy as YSL Homme La Nuit. And Olivier Cresp finally added a variant to these two esteemed spice classics that tends a bit more towards nature, woods, and the outdoors. Which - depending on one's life situation - may be very welcome.
When I'm in the mood for cardamom, I would say: La Nuit for opera, dates, and clubbing (although there might be too many wearing it there?). Bella Notte for autumn walks or even for Christmas. And Visit, well, it actually works for almost all kinds of visits: office, ballroom, yes even the beach, as it seems to be the least wintry of the three Brothers in Cardamom.
The sillage of 1881 Bella Notte is average, thus friendly to people, discreet. The longevity is also in the mid-range of an EdT: it projects warm, dark, spicy for about 6 to 7 hours. The bottle has the classic irregularly ribbed, also rugged relief back of the original 1881 - which I (similarly designed) also quite like to hold in my hand with one of the most wonderful summer scents, Rochas Eau pour Homme - now smoothed out, only the number 1881 is engraved into the smooth bottle. Here now in an elegantly blue-to-black gradient box bottle, as befits a beautiful night.
A lovely spicy perfume that could certainly receive a bit more attention. Just because Cerruti's are also sold in drugstores doesn't mean they aren't good scents. In my eyes, rather: in my nose, the three mentioned cardamom brothers play in the same league qualitatively (though not price-wise…). Indeed, in the league I like to refer to as the Champ..., uh: Cardamom League.