There are times when I receive a collection that there is one which is so much better than the others it sucks all the air out of the room. I have always seen it as a double-edged sword. One edge is having produced something memorable is great. The other edge is the remaining members wither by comparison; maybe unfairly so. It is made worse when I pick the outlier from the group first so that the others become afterthoughts. This was the situation when I received a collection of six Eaux de Toilettes comprising the newest Carolina Herrera Confidential releases.
The Confidential collection debuted in 2015 with a collection of six perfumes designed to be combined with a companion set of three perfume oils. Those first releases were uniformly average; they were well done but presented nothing new. I can’t speak to the effect adding in any of the oils to them would have had because none of them stood out enough for me to care to explore that. Now two years later the new collection goes for a set of light volume perfumes designed for wearing during the summer. As before the collection is well executed. The difference this time is there is one which is more than that; Bergamot Bloom.
Alberto Morillas
Don’t let the name fool you Bergamot Bloom has almost nothing to do with bergamot. Perfumer Alberto Morillas has made a fabulously expansive jasmine which has a corona of citrus, ginger, baie rose, vetiver and patchouli.
The core of Bergamot Bloom is jasmine as represented by the aromachemical Paradisone. When Paradisone is used it can run roughshod over everything else in the perfume. The skill of Sr. Morillas is he knows how to use the right partners to ride the dramatic expansiveness of something like Paradisone. In the early moments, it is lemon and ginger providing the brilliance of a corona. Later, baie rose, vetiver and patchouli provide the warmth. All while the jasmine explodes like a supernova. To provide the final bit of ignition Ambrox doubles down obliterating all but the jasmine in its path as the jasmine collapses around the synthetic woody ingredient.
Bergamot Bloom has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
Ingredients like Paradisone and Ambrox are like wild bucking broncos which can be hard to control. It is why Sr. Morillas is the perfumer he is because he knows it isn’t just about the heat of the core but the corona is what makes it beautiful; which is what happens in Bergamot Bloom.
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Carolina Herrera.
–Mark Behnke
