Eau d’Italie’s Sienne l’Hiver has been hanging around in my purgatory basket1 since it launched back in 2006. I’ve taken it out a few times to give it another shot, and then I’ve put it right back where it was. I don’t know what keeps me from moving it to the “no” pile. Perhaps it’s because so many people love it,2 or perhaps it’s because it’s by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour? Or perhaps it’s because it is named for Siena. I try not to get too wrapped up in fragrance back stories — they so rarely resonate with the juice, and often that’s just as well — but Siena is such a lovely place, wouldn’t it be nice if it had a fragrance to match?
The sample hung around in my purgatory basket long enough that it got mostly used up, and what was left was rather stale, and who knows, maybe the stuff has been reformulated in the interim. (While it languished, Eau d’Italie redid their packaging; the bottles still look like functional products instead of luxury perfumes, but now they look a little more expensive). So I got another sample.
The opening is, briefly, cold air tinged with green, then it moves indoors, and we get a rush of sensations…
