Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Armani Prive Pivoine Suzhou - Exploring Italian Perfumes


 When I travel I carry either samples or small bottles of perfume. Since I was trying to use only Italian perfumes on this trip to Italy, these cute 7 ml bottles I had from the Giorgio Armani Prive Collection made perfect travel companions. I was looking for a photo opportunity for Pivoine Suzhou, and a field trip to the Grand Hotel Tremezzo on Lake Como provided the perfect opportunity. 

We're in Italy for my daughter's wedding, and The Grand Hotel Tremezzo is where she was staying when she fell so in love with Lake Como. The Hotel was built in 1910 in the Belle Epoque style and from the first it was a getaway for the wealthy. It is colorful, flirty and a little over the top, and looks like the set for a Wes Anderson movie about a hotel in Lake Como. The color orange is accented everywhere, but you also see a lot of red and pink. This seemed like a great setting for my Armani perfume, which feels like something the rich and elegant would wear!

Grand Hotel Tremezzo, Lake Como
The fragrance was created to recognize the Suzhou Gardens in China. The peony is a beloved flower in Chinese art work through the centuries. I've never lived where peonies could thrive, so my only reference to their scent is through perfume. Usually a rose with fresh notes added is used to give a peony scent, and Pivoine Suzhou is no different. Notes of pink pepper, raspberry, and mandarin create a fresh and fragrant opening, with a little fizz to give a floral chypre effect. This perfume feels happy and effervescent when I apply, like opening a fine chilled bottle of Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé.


The heart is the scent of peony and rose, but the fresh and slight fruitiness remain. There is nothing groundbreaking about this perfume, yet I love it, and when I wear it makes me feel my look is elevated. Some perfumes are able to make you feel that you've got that polish of putting your look together, and this one does that for me. I don't know what has happened to me, but since this covid pandemic, I find myself appreciating simpler, non complicated but pretty perfumes more than I ever have.

The Armani Prive Pivoine Suzhou Soie de Nacre is what I'm craving to add to my collection, as much for its beautiful pearescent pink color as for the scent. Let me know if you've tried it and detect any difference in the fragrance between this and the perfume.


Perfume is my own. All photos my own except the bottle photo which is from the Armani website.

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