Sometimes you just need to be in the perfect place to discover the perfect scent. Whenever I'm going on vacation, deciding what perfumes I'll take is a much more painstaking process than deciding what clothes I'll need. I try to imagine my surrounds and what feelings I want the scent to invoke. On this trip to Italy, I decided to stick almost solely to Italian brands of perfumes.
I had received several samples from Carthusia I Profumi di Capri when I participated in a recent sniff-along with Beautyhabit, and I brought them along. My husband and I were hiking on the Cinq Terre trail between Corniglia and Vernazza. It was a perfect sun-kissed day, 78 degrees, the Mediterranean sparkling about 300 meters below, so the perfume, Carthusia I Profumi di Capti Mediterraneo, seemed an obvious choice.
Carthusia is based on the island of Capri, a place I would love to visit one day. Surrounded by sea and sun, many of their fragrances reflect this lifestyle. This is certainly true for Mediterraneo. The tag line for the the fragrance says, "The freshness of lemon leaves mingles with the sparkling note of green tea to create a sun-filled and dynamic fragrance." This is a good synopsis of the scent, because it does feel sunny and cheerful. I had tried it before in my home environs, and while I thought it was nice, I wasn't Wowed. But when I put on this scent, perched high above the ocean, with Corneglia, the town where our hike started, visible in the distance, this scent just seemed the absolute perfect expression of a sunny Mediterranean day! And I was Wowed!
It opens with a very fresh lemon. I didn't quite get how important lemons were on this coast, but it is lemon season, and there are lemon slushies, lemon gelato, anchovies marinated in lemon and pepper. It is a staple of life here. The lemon in the perfume feels so fresh and fragrant. It is complimented by notes of mint, eucalyptus, red thyme, and litsea, all of which help to illustrate the plant life we experience along the trail. Then a beautiful clear note of white tea comes into the scent. It smells so cooling and refreshing. Lighter notes of jasmine, cardomom, wild flowers, tangerine, and green tea join in, but it is lemon and a light tea note that are most evident. It's simple, yes, but oh so perfect when you experience the landscape the perfumer is trying to encapsulate into a scent.
If you ever find yourself hiking the Cinq Terre trail, look for the restaurant sign pictured below as you get closer to Vernazza. It is amazing how they have carved out this charming restaurant at the top of the peak with no roads, and the views are amazing!
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