Etra Etro 2000

Etra Etro is a graceful, bright, sweet floral-fruity-woody scent played with delicate “white” notes mainly revolving around rose, sandalwood, and an accord which somehow resembles to tea for me, although the note is not listed. You know that “shabby chic” thing (both in fashion and house furniture)? That is what I thought about smelling Etra Etro. It smells natural, lively and somehow “countryside-ish”, but a civilized, posh, affected, slightly pretentious and somehow coquettish kind of countryside. Not sure why but that “world” came to my mind when wearing this Etro’s, but well, here we are. Well anyway, that tea smell I mentioned earlier – and which honestly is quite prominent to me – plus the “white” flowers reminded me a bit of Parfum d’Empire’s Osmanthus Interdite, which to me is somehow similar to Etra Etro, at least to some extent. That feeling of something “juicy” and tea-like is probably due to some fruity notes, a really simple, fresh, “watery” rose and the floral-woody-sweet notes of sandalwood, carnation and pimiento (which you can easily spot here). Vanilla, cedar and a subtle musk note compose the base notes. Nothing groundbreaking but a really graceful, pleasant, fresh scent, more substantial than it seems. Understate radiance. Good!

7/10

Very often I see reviews based on pyramid taken from random places. I must say that Fragrantica has tons of errors on their site. Always try to go to the original site or at least first review of that perfume. Exact thing is happening here.

One person stated that this fragrance smells like “Le Feu d'Issey” by Issey Miyake and it was true only for first edition.

Latest version of “Etra” is nothing even near. Check for yourself.

I bought “Etra” because of these reviews, but I’m strongly disappointed that people just copy previous pyramids without their own opinion.

Official Etro site states these notes:

“cinnamon, pimiento, sandalwood, vanilla, musk”.

It is quiet interesting fragrance with bright sandalwood, with fresh, crisp pimiento scent, it dries down to soft vanilla notes with cinnamon - musky aura. After all ... No milk, no rose, no geranium.

I asked people, who remembered “ Le Feu d'Issey” by Issey Miyake, and they said
: “new version is not even close to previous version”.

It is one of this moments, when your own error is your own strength. Be true to your own senses, especially when you give review for others to see.

@AromaPath is absolutely right: this has nothing to do with Le Feu d'Issey original or the light version. I don't know what the original Etra smelled like, but the version I have from two years ago is just straight up anise and alcohol. It's a rather unpleasant, unrefined sensation, like a perfume that has gone bad after sitting too long on a shelf. There's absolutely no evolution, just an unpleasant linear journey of a household cleaning product or a paint diluent.

Etra lives in its sillage. It may seem to be a phantom, just out of reach from tickling nostrils and titillating olfactory receptors, but a shift, a turn of the body, a moment of repose after forgetting about immediacy, and there's the haunting spiced glimmer. The distant camphor and spice, tinted highlights of geranium and rose.

The cardamom: like the amorphous plume as if sprinkled into coffee. A hot red pepper, flicks and specks, confetti-like, rendered in soft focus and milky. Rosewood, linalool-soft-yet-strong-like-spiderweb-silk. Linalool is makes up most of the precious wood's profile; the constituent is woody-spicy, floral sweet, yet anything but dense.

The dry down sees the cardamom fade to grey (cue the Visage song), geranium and rose whispering, the mood is predominantly rosewood, anchored with some sandalwood deep underneath. Intellectual and poetic in design, it doesn't seek to please but maybe rather to ponder. It's great to apply on both skin and clothing to have the different phases intermingle. Those who appreciate introspective, introverted fragrances should take note. It's simply beautiful.

(this is for the older version with a gold cap).

I have been using Etra intermittently since its release. Now that a 50ml bottle is empty and after a few weeks, I have replenished my supply, and the - yes, really - relief from my husband and daughter has given me the push to officially crown Etra as my signature scent.

And indeed, I feel completely in tune with the fragrance right away. I will spare you all the hymnic and somewhat subjective things one might like to write about their own signature scent, even if it would be true.

The milk accord in the fragrance pyramid may seem unusual, but Etra never actually smells like milk at any point. Rather, this accord acts more metaphorically. It is equally the fluid that harmoniously blends all the fragrance components into a whole, into a white, gentle unity.

For me, Etra is something like a gourmand for beginners. True gourmet fragrance lovers might chuckle at that, but vanilla, cinnamon, allspice with delicate sweetness in a soft milky veil, for me, that is already gourmet...
On my skin, Etra develops very quickly into a spicy harmonious unity with a very slight rosy-floral freshness. I also cannot discern any herbal, green, or even citrus notes at the beginning.

I find the longevity to be fine; I can still sniff the light vanilla base the next morning. However, the fragrance is quite close to the skin after about two hours.

A gentle-warm scent that I enjoy very much in any season, at any time of day or night, and for any occasion!