Porpora Tiziana Terenzi 2017

Porpora opens with a mild raspberry tinged thin, slightly airy rose underpinned with moderate clove spice and animalic musk support before transitioning to its heart. As the composition enters its early heart the thin, airy rose turns piercing green as it adds a clove-laced incense facet, shedding most of its raspberry accompaniment with slightly earthy patchouli joining as co-star with the musk remaining in support. During the late dry-down the composition remains highly linear, as the rose and patchouli gradually recede, leaving the remnants of the musk and piercing clove-laced incense combining with amber from the base through the finish. Projection is good and longevity outstanding at over 20 hours on skin.

Looking at the ingredients list, many have compared Porpora by Paolo Terenzi to my favorite perfume, Portrait of a Lady by the great Dominique Ropion, finding it an excellent alternative for far less money... Money aside, it was with great interest that I secured a sizable spray sample to see if I agreed. To save those that want an immediate verdict from reading further, the answer is "not even close."

Porpora opens immediately with a *faint* similarity to Portrait of a Lady with its rose and raspberry tandem, but the ingredients and implementation are completely different. In Porpora, the rose is thin, slightly synthetic smelling and the raspberry very subtle, with an odd smelling musky undertone that is rather off-putting. By contrast, in the original formula of Portrait of a Lady the rose is jammy, huge, natural smelling and the raspberry much thicker and more intense, with patchouli already playing a key role in the development. In the middle of Porpora, the synthetic thin rose joins modest earthy patchouli with the odd animalic musk remaining, but now adding a sharp-pitched, whiny green tinge from poorly implemented clove and incense. Portrait of a Lady keeps perfect balance of the jammy rose and patchouli, with ambroxan from the base by contrast. The late dry-down of Porpora is very linear and that high-pitched green tinge to the remnants of the rose with the odd musk remains through the finish, only adding in slightly sweet amber to the mix that doesn't improve things. Portrait of a Lady, by contrast, also remains linear, but in its case the perfect balance of rose, patchouli and ambroxan remains through the finish. Both perfumes have unbelievable longevity at nearly a full 24 hour day, but Porpora is much less vociferous. The bottom line is the $170 per 100ml bottle at discounters Porpora may have an ingredient list similar to Ropion's greatest masterpiece Portrait of a Lady, but passing similarities are all that overlap, and the "average" 2.5 stars out of 5 rated Porpora comes up *way* short both by comparison, and unimpressive when judged independently, mustering a neutral recommendation by itself, and a *huge* avoid if being considered as an alternative to Portrait of a Lady at any price.

Upon applying this fragrance, a huge cloud of various rose scents greets you, rounded off by a strong raspberry in the dry down. It is a scent that suits an elegant woman, around 30-50 years old.
This is not meant to be a negative point; on the contrary, this fragrance makes you feel more mature, even if it's just for the nose.

I recently received Porpora as a sample, and of course, I had to test this fragrance immediately. First, I must say that I am not a big fan of roses, but that was not the issue here, nor was it what bothered me.

To me, Porpora is floral, fruity, and spicy. However, this combination poses a problem for me, as it makes the entire fragrance feel inconsistent. Porpora definitely has rose as the main note, but unfortunately, the raspberry with its fruitiness pulls everything in a terribly unbalanced direction. On top of that, there is the sweetness of cinnamon, which clashes horribly with the clove and patchouli. The slight notes of incense and myrrh round everything off inappropriately.

Normally, I am a fan of Tiziana Terenzi, but this fragrance is clearly a failure for me. The notes suffocate each other and clash, and they simply do not harmonize with one another.
The longevity is really very good; I could smell the fragrance on me for over 12 hours. The sillage was perceptible for almost 8 hours at arm's length before Porpora quickly became close to the skin after 10 hours.