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Gucci L’Arte di Gucci ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 16 May 2011 83 Comments

L'Arte di Gucci advertL'Arte di Gucci advert

A long time ago I read an interview with Donatella Versace in which she said wearing red lipstick with a red dress was bourgeois. She suggested pink lipstick instead. I get that. Red lipstick with a red dress is predictable, a hackneyed suggestion of seduction or power. Pink with red is a surprise that makes you look twice.

Sometimes, though, you don’t want to mess around with subtlety. You don’t want to play cute or artsy — you want to get to the point. A red dress with red lipstick will do just that. So will the perfume world’s version of red on red: a rose chypre. Gucci L’Arte di Gucci makes the point better than most.

L’Arte di Gucci launched in 1991. Its bottle, a glam concoction of asymmetry and gold, is a good representation of its contents. L’Arte di Gucci goes on sharp with a fanfare of green and rose, dirtied by cardamom. (Honestly, a fanfare. Don’t squirt the bottle while your honey’s still asleep, or you might wake him with the olfactory racket.) The fragrance shimmers with hints of orange, aldehydes, and cassis as it settles.

With ten minutes, dirt, leather, and the tiniest bit of rot join the rose and coriander. White musk cleans up and balances both the fruitiness of the rose and cassis and the animalic aspects of the leather and civet. A nice haze of labdanum and amber-sweetened oakmoss cushions the fragrance, giving it the blasé, worldly smell of an old-school chypre. L’Arte di Gucci has meaty sillage that quiets considerably after the first half hour. A spray lasts most of the day.

Rose chypres are often about glamour, and L’Arte di Gucci is no exception. The problem is that the glamour of a rose chypre can be a bit clichéd. Black patent leather, a dozen roses, cigarette smoke, merry widow corsets — you know the drill. Gucci under Tom Ford squeezed every last drop out of that cliché. What L’Arte di Gucci adds is 1980s moxie. Like its sister rose chypre, Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum, L’Arte di Gucci knows what’s proper but won’t apologize for breaking the rules.

Often a rose chypre can feel like the red-lipsticked, red-dressed bourgeois wife (in my mind the mistress is a tuberose like Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower) smoking cigarettes in her luxurious townhouse while she gets a pedicure, but that’s all right. She’s beautiful, to be sure, and knowing and sophisticated, and sometimes I like pretending that's who I am. Guerlain Parure, Ungaro Diva, Agent Provocateur, Les Parfums de Rosine Une Folie de Rose, and XerJoff Damarose are examples of rose chypres that, for me, give rise to this feeling.

But often it’s fun to take it a step further. Beyond the rose chypres that smell like wives who lunch expensively with friends while their husbands fool around are others, like L’Arte di Gucci, that don’t leave room for a mistress. Of course the woman who wears L’Arte di Gucci wears red lipstick, no matter the color of her dress. Did you ever doubt it?

L’Arte di Gucci is discontinued but still available online.

Possibly of interest

Le Galion L’Ame Perdue ~ fragrance review with an aside on perfume in Paris
5 Perfumes: Fruity Chypres for Fall
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Dark Moon ~ fragrance review

Filed Under: perfume talk
Tagged With: chypre, dearly departed, gucci, rose

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83 Comments

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  1. Daisy says:
    16 May 2011 at 2:26 pm

    ahhhhh L’Arte di Gucci…..yeah, you mess with her husband and she’ll show you that fancy letter opener ain’t just for opening envelopes! L’Arte definitely has a bit of a kick-your-ass edge.
    That said; I love it, even though I am the most mild mannered of ladies.
    yep, good stuff. Sad to see it discontinued…

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 2:45 pm

      You? Mild mannered? I’m not afraid to leave you alone with a letter opener, but then again your wit is sharp enough…

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      • Daisy says:
        16 May 2011 at 3:33 pm

        shhhhhh! secret! 😉

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        • Angela says:
          16 May 2011 at 3:36 pm

          Not for long!

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  2. Ari says:
    16 May 2011 at 2:45 pm

    Mals loves this one. I would hunt it down, but since it’s discontinued I imagine it’s best to be content with my Ungaro Diva. I’m very intrigued by the description “don’t leave room for a mistress”. I love that demanding kind of perfume, especially since being a demanding kind of woman is very much discouraged.

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 2:47 pm

      Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum has a similar vibe, too. (Come to think of it, wasn’t Paloma famous for her red lipstick?)

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      • ggperfume says:
        16 May 2011 at 6:54 pm

        Yep, I thought of Paloma’s signature red lipstick right away.

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        • Angela says:
          16 May 2011 at 6:56 pm

          I feel like she even sold a lipstick of her famous red at one time.

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          • nozknoz says:
            16 May 2011 at 9:46 pm

            You are correct! I never tried it, but I remember the ads, and Google confirms it.

          • Angela says:
            16 May 2011 at 10:03 pm

            Google. The never-ending font of trivial knowledge. Thanks for looking it up!

    • Daisy says:
      16 May 2011 at 3:32 pm

      Yep—I can’t believe Mals hasn’t shown up yet for a round of “oooooh-ahhhh, L’Arte di Gucci !” Maybe her laptop is still out being fixed.

      so I’ll cover for her: “oooooooh, ahhhhh, L’Arte di Gucci!”

      Ari—to me there is quite a strong connection between FM Portrait of a Lady and L’Arte di Gucci…ever sniffed Portrait? If you’d like to pm me I can send you samples of both : Daisyloo82 AT gmail dot com

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      • Angela says:
        16 May 2011 at 3:37 pm

        They really do feel similar, although Portrait is more woody. Both power roses.

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        • mals86 says:
          16 May 2011 at 6:10 pm

          And Portrait has that oriental-ish thing in the base that I can’t stand.

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        • Absolute Scentualist says:
          16 May 2011 at 8:53 pm

          I have to add that Sisley Soir de Lune reminds me a lot of L’Arte, too, though less heavy on the roses and fruit and more amped up on the moss/patch. But it instantly reminded me of L’Arte.

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          • Angela says:
            16 May 2011 at 9:07 pm

            I’m going to have to get out my sample and give it a try!

    • mals86 says:
      16 May 2011 at 4:26 pm

      Diva is very, very good. When I’m out of L’Arte (not likely… two beeg bottles, and I don’t apply this one lavishly), I’ll go to Diva.

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      • Daisy says:
        16 May 2011 at 4:31 pm

        Hi Mals!! you’re here! laptop fixed ?

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        • mals86 says:
          16 May 2011 at 6:07 pm

          Yes! I ordered a replacement LCD screen, and it came in the mail today, and I fixeded it Mice Elf!!

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          • Angela says:
            16 May 2011 at 6:55 pm

            I feel your pain with the messed-up laptop (mine just died), although it sounds like you’re really clever with a computer. I can’t imagine trying to replace a screen.

          • Daisy says:
            16 May 2011 at 7:58 pm

            those Mice Elves are pretty smart ! 🙂

      • Angela says:
        16 May 2011 at 4:38 pm

        Not Paloma?

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        • mals86 says:
          16 May 2011 at 6:07 pm

          NOT Paloma. I don’t like Paloma, it’s too fierce and not rosy enough for me.

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          • Angela says:
            16 May 2011 at 6:57 pm

            It does have kind of an asphalt thing going on, but I like that about it.

  3. Dilana says:
    16 May 2011 at 2:56 pm

    “Red lipstick with a red dress is a sign of being “bourgeois?”!”

    Yet another designer who divides the world into those who meets her own stylistic standards and those unworthy of her attention.
    Calling some “bourgeois” because they wear red lipstick with a red dress itself is “bourgeois.”

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 3:12 pm

      Really, it seems like there are red lipstick people and not-red lipstick people, and those who tend to wear red lipstick wear it with just about everything, anyway.

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      • ggperfume says:
        16 May 2011 at 6:59 pm

        Lots of women (Paloma Picasso, for one) consider red lipstick their signature look.

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        • Angela says:
          16 May 2011 at 7:46 pm

          So true. I wear a fair amount of red lipstick myself.

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    • Merlin says:
      16 May 2011 at 4:07 pm

      The rules do always seem a bit arbitrary!

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      • Angela says:
        16 May 2011 at 7:46 pm

        Thank goodness for the inevitable exceptions!

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  4. Tamara says:
    16 May 2011 at 3:11 pm

    I wear red and fushia lipstick PROUDLY. It’s bold and beautiful.
    I also wear L’Arte edp.

    Wonderful review for a wonderful scent……

    P.S. I did almost asphyxiate myself one night though by over-applying! lol
    After that L’Arte is a roller-ball perfume only.
    But I still adore her brashness. 😉

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 3:13 pm

      I wish I could get away with fuschia lipstick! It would look horrible with my coloring, but I like seeing it on others.

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      • ggperfume says:
        16 May 2011 at 6:58 pm

        I often wore fuchsia lipstick in my yoof – hot pink too sometimes. And super pale pinks in even younger days.

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        • Angela says:
          16 May 2011 at 7:47 pm

          Nice! And now? No pink anymore?

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          • ggperfume says:
            16 May 2011 at 8:19 pm

            Oh, yes – pink has always suited my complexion better than other colors of lipstick. I just go for more sophisticated, soft-raspberry shades of pink rather than the ’80s intense hues.

    • Daisy says:
      16 May 2011 at 3:35 pm

      hey, at least you didn’t douse yourself and then hop into a 110 degree car!! Cuz, baby; that’d curl your eyelashes! 🙂

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      • mals86 says:
        16 May 2011 at 4:29 pm

        OMG. L’Arte in a hot car.

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        • Daisy says:
          16 May 2011 at 4:34 pm

          lotsa l’arte in a hot car! Can you imagine? arg.
          perfumyxiation: you’re doin it right!

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          • miss kitty v. says:
            16 May 2011 at 5:02 pm

            Once again, tried to hit the “like” button for this. 🙂

  5. Tamara says:
    16 May 2011 at 3:20 pm

    It’s awesome because the colors fit my personality and really make my face *POP* I love bold scents too, they all go together I think. 😀

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 3:37 pm

      I agree. Add an infectious laugh, and you have the recipe for real personality.

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  6. Daisy says:
    16 May 2011 at 3:29 pm

    I love bold scents but I seldom wear much lipcolor—it ends up all over my teeth! So it’s sheer tints and shiny gloss only for this girl….but yeah, load me up on bold scents!

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 3:38 pm

      Oh, I hate that teeth thing. I wonder how many pounds of lipstick a gal ends up eating in the course of a year?

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      • Haunani says:
        16 May 2011 at 5:55 pm

        Eeeeewwww….

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        • Angela says:
          16 May 2011 at 6:58 pm

          Maybe they should start making it with omega-3s. You know, selling it as a healthy supplement.

          Log in to Reply
          • Daisy says:
            16 May 2011 at 7:58 pm

            omg–what a fabulous idea….you are a marketing genius!!

          • Angela says:
            16 May 2011 at 9:08 pm

            Let’s go into business! We can call it Oops-A-Daisy edible cosmetics, and once it’s launched we’ll start our perfume line!

          • Daisy says:
            16 May 2011 at 9:41 pm

            I like it! 🙂

          • ggperfume says:
            17 May 2011 at 11:54 am

            Brilliant plan!

  7. AnnS says:
    16 May 2011 at 3:32 pm

    It’s nice to see L’Arte di Gucci reviewed – it is a travesty that is it out of production. To me it symbolizes a more raw, organic beauty and passion than one that’s all dressed up. (Nahema’s my red lipped dressed-up honey rose.) But as with all “greats” L’Arte certainly transcends all boundaries. It certainly is a no-bull**^% rose that is just dazzlingly gorgeous, very confident. I am fortunate enough to have a large decant of it that I treasure. I don’t wear it nearly enough. L’Arte di Gucci keeps a safe place at the pantheon of the greatest rose fragrances ever developed. You could put L’Arte in a burlap dress and she’d still be the most gorgeous, commanding woman in a room.

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 3:39 pm

      But do you like it? (Joking, joking)

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      • AnnS says:
        16 May 2011 at 4:56 pm

        I like her just fine. We only exchange words when necessary as a result of our mutual and healthy respect for each other. But all my other rose fragrances get sick and tired of kowtowing to her on a regular basis.

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        • Angela says:
          16 May 2011 at 5:01 pm

          Poor things! You’ll have to keep L’Arte up with Fracas and a couple of the other divas.

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  8. miss kitty v. says:
    16 May 2011 at 3:36 pm

    Speaking as someone who wears liberal amounts of leopard print, I think it’s safe to say I know nothing about subtlety. “Bourgeois” is not something you worry about being called, when you’ve got “trashy” or “gaudy” being flung at you. 😉

    I need to try L’Arte di Gucci again. I’ve got a truckload of samples that have had to wait until I finish moving. I’ll move this one to the top of the list.

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 3:41 pm

      That’s hilarious! Come to think of it, “bourgeois” really is only an insult if you consider yourself bohemian or nobility. But for regular people like me, being called anything French sounding is exciting.

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      • Daisy says:
        16 May 2011 at 4:35 pm

        careful there, girlfriend. There’s some pretty bad things to be called en francais….

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        • Angela says:
          16 May 2011 at 4:39 pm

          I always puzzled at the expression “Pardon my French,” usually directed at words of German extraction…

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          • Daisy says:
            16 May 2011 at 4:46 pm

            cuz there’s no excuse for German?

      • AnnieA says:
        17 May 2011 at 6:05 pm

        Bourgeois? Bourgeois? What’s wrong with “middle-class”?
        (–quote may be by Maggie Thatcher, but still)

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        • Angela says:
          17 May 2011 at 7:37 pm

          That’s funny! The plain truth is that “bourgeois” is simply more bourgeois.

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    • Rappleyea says:
      16 May 2011 at 3:50 pm

      I was trying to sneak a quick read in at work and you made me laugh out loud! 😀

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  9. Rappleyea says:
    16 May 2011 at 3:55 pm

    Great review, Angela! I just knew that I was going to love L’Arte, but the cloying, sweet musk in the dry down just didn’t work for me. Back to Nahema!

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 4:19 pm

      Nahema is a worthy competitor!

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  10. OperaFan says:
    16 May 2011 at 4:27 pm

    I can’t imagine not wearing red lipstick when wearing a red dress, so call me “old fashioned”…
    L’Arte is a glamorous fragrance (thanks, Mals for the introduction), one I find very similar to Diva – but smoother and fruitier (i.e., rich & jammy not the light & sparkly stuff) than Diva. Like Ari above, economywise, I would have to stick with Diva….

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 4:40 pm

      Plus, Diva goes so well with OperaFan thematically.

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      • OperaFan says:
        16 May 2011 at 5:38 pm

        Indeed! 😉

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      • ggperfume says:
        16 May 2011 at 7:03 pm

        Good call, Angela.

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  11. mals86 says:
    16 May 2011 at 4:47 pm

    I can see the appeal of doing the unexpected and wearing fuschia lipstick with that blazing red dress… I couldn’t do it myself.

    For one thing, I’m more comfortable in conventional fashion. For another, my coloring is light enough that I cannot wear fuschia at all, and I have to be careful with my reds. I’m happier in azalea pink, and I can’t do red lipstick unless it is on the warm side and sheer.

    I will just have to let L’Arte, with its big Kathleen Battle pink roses, be bold for me. I do prefer to put it in a rollerball, because L’Arte can be a little shrieky and plastic if sprayed. But it is gorgeous.

    A wonderful review, Angela!

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 5:01 pm

      You don’t need loud lipstick–you can let L’Arte do the talking!

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  12. mals86 says:
    16 May 2011 at 4:48 pm

    And now I have a problem. The mail just came, and I was going to try the new Tauer Zeta… but, but, but L’Arte is calling my name, like a siren…

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 5:02 pm

      A tough decision! They probably wouldn’t wear well together, either.

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  13. JolieFleurs says:
    16 May 2011 at 4:52 pm

    I bought a bottle of this unsniffed based on Marina’s review; I am The Original Rose Ho ( is that bourgeois enough for ya, Donatella?) and I just knew I’d love it.

    I tried. Then I tried again. I tried it one more time, then I waited a few months and tried it some more; I finally just sent the whole ghastly mess to Mals, with a warning that I was quite sure the bottle had turned, because I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to smell like that on purpose.

    Apparently I am just a simple, bourgeois, peasant, entirely lacking the soul to appreciate such a gem. 😉

    Honestly, I got nothin’ but horror out of it, and certainly not one iota of rose!

    So there is one less person fighting y’all for it!

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 5:03 pm

      There’s certainly no lack of other gorgeous rose fragrances if this one doesn’t work!

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    • mals86 says:
      16 May 2011 at 6:09 pm

      Bwa-ha-ha!! And now you know the source of that backup bottle…

      I love it.

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  14. Absolute Scentualist says:
    16 May 2011 at 9:35 pm

    Seeing this review today made me so happy, Angela. Daisy the Enabler struck again by sending me a sample a couple years ago and it was instant love as soon as I dabbed some on. I’m now the proud owner of a bottle and a half of the edp, and am nervous to be down to just that because she and I do have our torrid affairs that seem to go on for days when any other perfume won’t do.

    Diva was one of my first perfume purchases in my early twenties and I’ve loved it ever since then. But L’Arte… I put that on, throw on something black and sexy, grab the MAC Ruby Woo or Malificent and feel like I could conquer the world for a little while, at least.

    It is one of those perfumes that seems to be really polarizing and one that always makes Mr. Ab. Scent lean in for lengthy nuzzles when I’m wearing it.

    I wore it out to dinner with some friends once and a little while later, a waitress from a different section of the restaurant came over to our table. She said she smelled me walking by and didn’t want to be nosy, but really wanted to know what I was wearing and where she could get some. I’ve had the ‘you smell really good’ in passing before, but that was the first time someone had followed me to find out what I was wearing and it’s only happened with Sweet Oriental Dream since then.

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    • Angela says:
      16 May 2011 at 10:05 pm

      You and L’Arte were made for each other! I’ll let you know if I stumble across any other bottles. Clearly you need a healthy stockpile.

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      • Absolute Scentualist says:
        17 May 2011 at 12:37 am

        Aw. Thanks. I’d very much appreciate that. It’s one of my collection essentials that, when I contemplate running out, I need a fainting couch over the very idea. 😉 It is still absolutely confounding that it was discontinued. 🙁

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    • Rappleyea says:
      17 May 2011 at 11:10 am

      What a great story and mini-review!

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  15. sweetlife (ahtx) says:
    16 May 2011 at 11:31 pm

    “meaty sillage”

    So perfect!

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    • Angela says:
      17 May 2011 at 10:01 am

      I’m glad you appreciate it!

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  16. Lavanya says:
    17 May 2011 at 12:15 am

    I ordered a sample of L’Arte after reading Marina’s review over at PST..I love my roses either dirty or spicy/woody- so really enjoyed my sample and was only recently contemplating a bottle (ebay) I need to check out Ungaro Diva and the others that you mention..

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    • Angela says:
      17 May 2011 at 10:02 am

      Especially since L’Arte is discontinued, it’s nice to have a few acceptable back ups.To me, Diva is less dirty and more elegant, but really nice all the same!

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  17. SmokeyToes says:
    17 May 2011 at 5:32 pm

    Ohhh, L’ Arte is one of my favorites, have the edt and edp. It’s no surprise I also loved and wore Mon Parfum and Diva way back in the day…..
    L’A is commanding-I wore it to see Joan Rivers a few months back and nearly took out everyone in my section!

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    • Angela says:
      17 May 2011 at 7:38 pm

      What a perfect perfume to wear to see Joan! She would have been very jealous.

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