Anniversary Farmacia SS. Annunziata 2021

Anyone familiar with the history of the Farmacia SS. Annunziata can put the headline in the right context, as we are dealing with a time-honored Florentine pharmacy that now also has various perfumes in its portfolio. The Anniversary is a birthday present from the brand to itself for the 460th anniversary of the company. My respect. Someone has to imitate them first.
Now to the fragrance itself. I bought it blind at the time because, on the one hand, the fragrance notes were very exciting and the Anniversary received a lot of positive criticism on social media. Another decisive factor was the comparison with Tobacco Vanille Eau de Parfum which I had the pleasure of smelling at a friend's house and which I thought had a certain similarity. All in all, enough reasons to take a shot in the dark and buy this perfume.
Let's approach the outer packaging first, as in the onion layer method.
This looks minimally glamorous and maximally pragmatic. It is a plain cardboard box. Not even color is used for the imprint. The box itself contains a black fabric bag, which in turn contains the bottle. Before anyone rolls their eyes because they would have expected more for their money, let me tell you that Farmacia is following the consistent path of sustainability here and using recycled materials to keep the ecological footprint as small as possible. I think this is very commendable, as I at least dispose of all outer packaging after a short time and would only generate an unnecessary amount of waste and expenses if I were to do so. But admittedly, you really don't buy the Anniversary because of the presentation.
Let's go one step further and look at the bottle. This is where you get a better idea of what you've paid your hard-earned money for. The body is made of confidence-inspiring thick-walled glass. Plant leaves and flowers can be seen in relief on the sides. A beautiful detail. The cap is unspectacularly made of black plastic and its shape reminds me a little of the cap of a medicine bottle. The company logo can be seen at the top.
Now let's get to the fragrance. Take off the lid, press the sprayer (pleasant pressure resistance, very fine atomization) and let the first impression sink in.
I have to come out of the closet here: Apart from the tobacco, minimal leather and some nutmeg and saffron (?), I can't really make out any other notes. It may be that I lack certain points of reference for comparison in this respect. I will therefore try as best I can to describe the fragrance from my point of view. When I first smell it, the fragrance seems slightly fresh to me and there are other associations such as warm and spicy, somewhat sweet, deep and slightly balsamic. If I had to assign a consistency to the fragrance, I think it would be somewhere between liquid and syrupy. It would flow rather than drip. I find the overall olfactory construct to be tightly and beautifully interwoven. The chords function more as a common unit than as egomaniacal individual players. Occasionally, the thought flits through my mind as to whether the olfactory bouquet wouldn't also suit a cough syrup. Not exactly, I think. Nevertheless, the scent has something of a health drink that I would like to sip. I find the all-over aroma here to be quite special, giving the Anniversary a unique selling point. However, it is not particularly similar to TF's Tobacco Vanilla. I know other fragrances that do this more clearly. In the drydown, Anniversay loses its initial freshness, becomes somewhat sweeter and milder and appears more orderly. Yes, it's a beautiful thing. I don't regret this blind buy.
You also get something in terms of longevity and radiance. Not beast fashion, but not a child of sadness either. I would describe it as adequate in terms of price. Especially within the first hour, the projection is really good and even after four hours, the aroma of this fragrance still occasionally wafts around me. I completely agree with that.
Last but not least, a little tip from yours truly: try the Anniversary on before you buy it. I was probably lucky with my choice. It is a little too unique to pass as a blind buy.