Zagara Norma Kamali 2003

If I didn't have such great respect for this fragrance, my review title would be "Invasion of the Killer Orange Blossoms." Anyone who has ever walked through a blooming bitter orange grove knows that these white beauties are no joke - the scent is a stunningly heavy, yet fascinating sweetness, very well captured by the long-discontinued L'Occitane Neroli Eau de Parfum. Zagara takes a different path. While it is also an incredibly present fragrance, it is closer to the slightly fresher, lightly bitter neroli oil (the water-distilled version of orange blossom) than to the absolute of the actual orange blossom (from solvent-based extraction). When I acquired it a few years ago on a beauty board, I couldn't make sense of it - it was simply too much of a good thing for me. Luckily, I didn't sell it off, because now I can appreciate the complexity and density of this fragrance. Everything is there - the white-flowered heavy sweetness, the fresh hint of orange, the finely bitter zest. Not the cosmic experience of Kamali Incense, but certainly a platonic essence - which not everyone may want to wear. Hats off to the courage and ambition of this fragrance line.

Zagara by Norma Kamali is supposed to represent, as the name suggests, the famous Italian orange blossom and the soul of a Sicilian woman. When I sprayed it on, I thought only "wow, how bitter!". However, not fruity bitterness like that of grapefruit, but almost "toxic" bitterness. The scent is very intense and certainly not pleasing, rather striking. It is less of a perfume or fragrance, but more of a green and fresh Eau de Cologne, albeit with intensity. In the end, it actually reminds me a bit of Bobbi Brown Bath (which I really like), but Bath is softer, cleaner, and fresher from the start. Zagara by Norma Kamali is definitely too sharp for me.