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North Mendittorosa 2013

7.3 / 10 88 Ratings

A perfume by Mendittorosa for women and men, released in 2013. The scent is woody-spicy. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Woody

Spicy

Fresh

Green

Resinous

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Aldehydes

Black pepper

Italian bergamot

Heart Notes

Blossoms

Jasmine

Base Notes

Virginia cedar

Atlas cedar

Haitian vetiver

Indonesian patchouli Nutmeg

Nutmeg

Perfumer

Anne-Sophie Behaghel

Ratings

Scent

7.388 Ratings

Longevity

7.168 Ratings

Sillage

6.469 Ratings

Bottle

7.770 Ratings

Value for money

5.614 Ratings

Submitted by Grazia, last update on 04/18/2025.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance is part of the Odori d'Anima collection.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Embruns d'Essaouira

Acqua di Giò pour Homme Eau de Toilette

Terre d'Hermès Eau de Toilette

Reviews

6 in-depth fragrance descriptions

04/11/2015

7Scent 5Longevity 5Sillage

Drseid
828 Reviews

Drseid

Helpful Review 7

Starts North, Goes South...

North opens with an aromatic lavender and natural smelling Virginia cedar starring duo. As the composition moves to its early heart the natural cedar gradually gains further strength, eventually overtaking the lavender. Moving further through the composition's heart, the cedar changes in character, now adding in an incense-like facet to the mix as remnants of the aromatic lavender finally vacate. During the late dry-down the cedar starts to dissipate as it is gradually replaced by relatively gentle black pepper that takes the fore through the finish. Projection is on the low side of average, as is longevity at about 5-6 hours on skin.

North is a composition consisting of “what might have been". The open is truly outstanding and quite similar to the amazing aromatic lavender and natural cedar duo found in Anat Fritz by Anat Fritz (and it's intentional slight reformulation and re-release now called "Classical"). The primary difference between the two is Anat Fritz kicks up the aromatic lavender to much higher levels and leaves the cedar a tad more rugged and stylistically aggressive. That said, things were off to a great start. Additionally impressive was the way the composition emulated the use of incense without actually containing any, with the cedar deftly changing character in an ever so subtle fashion without losing any of its great smelling qualities. If one could hit the pause button and could freeze the development right here this review would be a big rave, but alas the perfumer couldn't quite leave things well enough alone... Instead, the late dry-down turns into a rather bland generic black peppery affair, with remnants of the cedar well in the background. The pepper is not much of a foundation for the composition and ultimately it falls apart in short order, leaving the wearer scratching their head as to what just happened, wondering “Why?". Even with the major let-down late, the composition is definitely a winner on the whole, but with the superior smelling and performing Classical by Anat Fritz selling for less money (despite North being an Extrait and Classical an EdP), a purchase becomes more than a bit of a tough sell. The bottom line is the 185 Euros per 100ml bottle North has a lot of things going for it, but when things go south, they plummet big time, still earning a "very good" 3.5 stars out of 5 and a recommended rating. Rating aside, this is definitely a disappointing outing when one takes into account what might have been.

11/10/2024

6Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

Kyanito
20 Reviews

Kyanito

Trying as a concept

The idea of a 'cold' fragrance intrigued me, so North was one of the first fragrances that I checked out for Mendittorosa. It was cold alright- the lavender-aldyhyde combo felt like a blast of cold air. Unfortunately as time wound on, it started to smell like disinfectant and other hospital-themed smells, so this ended up as a scrubber. I think it's comparable to Sartorial by Penhaligon due to their similar approaches to the starting notes, but North is much more focused and stays aldehyde-oriented, whereas Sartorial veers off into fougere territory afterwards.

11/28/2016

9Scent 10Longevity 9Sillage

Palonera
467 Reviews

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Palonera

Top Review 35

nordic noble

I know: Repetitions are boring, our readers are spoiled.
Just like you, just like me.
We constantly want to read something new about the fragrances of our lives, the objects of desire, sometimes even of disgust - neatly written, perfectly formulated, with careful analysis, humor, and entertainment value.
Always different, always new.
That is how it should be according to your wish and mine.

Alone: Sometimes it doesn’t work out, at least not for me.
Then the déjà-vu is too strong - a scent has left such a deep impression on me that it smells similar to this one, whether it actually does or just for me.
With every breath, my mind drifts into the past, sometimes far away and sometimes closer, then it searches and finds the brother, the sister, the twin even, and also my text about it.
And it can’t get it out of its mind.
That’s how it was for me with "North" and its brother "Craft," which lives with Andrea Maack in distant Iceland.

Here and there, a distinctly pine-woody, rather cool than cold clear-head accord opens on my skin, into which soon a sacredly cool-warm incense blends.
It’s not listed, but what does that matter to my nose, the headstrong one that stubbornly insists on incense, or for that matter, elemi resin?!
Unlike in "Craft," I don’t encounter Mr. Spock, not really anyway - I would have to try very hard to imagine metal, and since I don’t need that, not necessarily, I spare myself the effort and enjoy a walk in the woods deep in winter, back when I was a little kid, followed by a visit to the old church where my grandparents were baptized and where the incense of countless masses lingers.
Thick walls, slate-gray stone, the benches bulky, hard, and heavy.
A hint of cumin reminds me that deodorant was not yet en vogue back then in the village.
And so, I know, Mr. Spock wouldn’t smell like this, not the Vulcan, half-human or not.

"North" connects, just like "Craft," on my skin deep green, woody, soft, and warm notes with ethereally cool aspects that only faintly remind me of ice and snow, with bright smoke and dark wood.
A serious yet not strict, very adult and down-to-earth fragrance, nordic noble, as Grönemeyer would say, calm and in its clear, direct way binding, secure, strong.
If it gets human, then only when I’m very warm, and only very close to my skin - misunderstandings, I’m sure, are out of the question here.
And that "North" will become everybody's darling, probably too.

09/20/2015

8Scent 7.5Longevity 5Sillage

Meggi
1018 Reviews

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Meggi

Top Review 26

Early Winter in Estonia

September. In Germany, it is often the generous giver of a golden autumn with the last summer-warming rays of the year. In the Lääne-Virumaa region in northeastern Estonia, however, September 1994 ended as early winter, as snow had been lying on the ground for a few days. Three students from Germany were guests in the country for six weeks, partly to gain insight into the transformation process of an economy that cannot simply join somewhere. On the other hand, we were simply tourists, who were received and cared for in the friendliest, even loving manner.

On my only September winter walk through a snowy forest, the guide of our small group could have been the responsible forester, as he was familiar with the details. Certainly not for the first time, he walked casually along a slippery tree trunk several meters long, which served as a bridge over a rushing stream, in thick boots with his hands in his coat pockets. The rest of us carefully pushed forward, and yet one (not me!) almost fell into the water.

Marko Pomerants (cute, right?) was not the forester, but the head of the environmental protection department, in Estonian called keskkonnaosakonna juhataja (even cuter, right?). Since April, he has been the Minister of the Environment of the small Baltic state, as I was astonished to discover. Well, actually, that’s not surprising. That’s how it was back then and apparently still is today. An environment minister with practical experience, and even from his own field. Wow.

I remember how strange the sudden winter felt to us guests. A winter we were not prepared for. North now also feels like a surprising winter. It has caught the flora off guard; it has not yet been frozen by possibly weeks of coolness or even nighttime frost. Here and there, the last juices of the summer half-year still flow before the winter calm sets in.

Like an icy wind, the opening of the fragrance stings the nose. My pepper is initially white, so be it. The verbally original 'ozonic flowers' probably mean the same as the announcement 'aldehydes.' An impression of biting winter air on an unprepared face. It takes a few hours (in the fourth hour, the pepper is black for my taste) for the body to adjust and the senses to lower their defenses a bit.

In the afternoon, a surprisingly strong coniferous note is noticeable for the indication 'cedar.' Wood and resin, even piercing and more intense than a practiced wintry environment would allow. The fragrance gains a bit of warmth, but not that of a roaring campfire, rather that of entering a slightly wood-stove-heated log cabin, after the closing of the door has kept out the biting wind. Gradually, very slowly, the comparatively warm temperature of the room creeps into the clothing. Cozy. Almost.

I thank Angelliese and Duro; both had thought of me with 'North.'

01/13/2017

7Scent 7Longevity 6Sillage

Taurus
1164 Reviews

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Taurus

Top Review 13

Nordish by Nature

The North is always relative. When you stand exactly at the South Pole, every step you take is in the northern direction. And the further you go, drive, sail, or fly - it gets warmer. At least until the equator.

From my personal standpoint/home, it gets colder as you head north. That is also what most Europeans associate with it: cold, snow, ice!

However, North by Mendittorosa does not embody this at all. While the fragrance does exude a certain roughness, what I perceive directly leans more towards herbal or fennel tea with a good dose of aldehydes and a felt idea of dry banana. In between, there’s a lot of pepper that puffs up further, along with a few cheeky splashes of lemon or bergamot on light wood. This doesn’t quite fit into my image of the North.

Curious as I am, I wanted to find out the intention behind the creation on the Mendittorosa homepage.

And lo and behold: they wanted to evoke bright, clean, pure, light, and nostalgic memories of empty white pages, dry leaves, and the fresh wood of Swedish saunas, as well as children’s drawings in an empty room. In my opinion, quite far-fetched except for the Swedish saunas. I can still relate to that ... the rest: well ...

At least it is confirmed that Italian bergamot (so there!) was used, as well as jasmine (I wouldn’t have guessed) and Haitian vetiver (more likely, but I didn’t think of it) and patchouli (huh!?!).

Now I have images in my head of Swedish women drinking fennel tea in the sauna, while outside the dry leaves have already been blown off the trees.

In the middle phase, the herbs recede more, while the lemon/bergamot comes a bit more to the fore. Towards the end, it becomes sweetly woody again.

If I were to make a comparison: North reminds me at times of Horizon by Guy Laroche, which also features aldehydes, black pepper, patchouli, and cypress (isn’t it similar to cedar?). Interestingly, it also has fennel, which I don’t remember as vividly. This is much more pronounced in North along with the pepper.

This fragrance, which is bursting with nature, is interesting, perhaps also because it somehow leads you down the wrong path. At the same time, I found it somewhat exhausting over time - and thus not for me. I prefer the unfortunately discontinued Horizon, which I wore for a long time and was more appealing with its spherical freshness.

Thus, the view to the north makes me think of the horizon, just to throw in a little wordplay!

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