Salvatore Ferragamo White Mimosa – Sweet Nectar from Italy

by: Miguel Matos

Tuscan Scent White Mimosa is one of the fragrances Salvatore Ferragamo included in the Tuscan Scent Quintessential Collection line back in 2014. In past articles, I already reviewed Golden Acacia and Viola Essenziale from the same line. These are all part of the exclusive niche-like editions from the Italian brand. And while the mainstream collections of Ferragamo rarely catch my attention, I do think that the exclusive lines are not to be missed. This White Mimosa is a gem and in my opinion it smells just as luxurious as the price tag it comes with (USD 250).

White Mimosa was the first commercial release signed by the new and promising talent Anne-Louise Gautier, the perfumer responsible for another love of mine and an example of elegance, Grès Pièce Unique. Anne Louise was not working alone in White Mimosa, she collaborated here with Christine Nagel. But while Pièce Unique is a scent that lives through a show of subtle notes, White Mimosa is different and carries itself with sweetness and strength. I was introduced to this fragrance with some delay, last October during the TFWA event in Cannes, and have been sniffing it since then.

Anne-Louise Gautier is especially fond of natural ingredients and she likes to use a short formula in order to give the raw materials full expression. This is what she told me and indeed that is what I can smell here. Mimosa is the key ingredient, but the scent is not really a soliflore based on mimosa. This is a balmy and very creamy scent with spicy, milky and slightly gourmand facets. All the perfumes in the Tuscan Scent collection refer to materials that are associated with Tuscany, a region in Italy. Here, like in most Mediterranean countries, mimosa is one very common plant. The yellow, fluffy flowers have a sweet and powdery smell. Sometimes the smell is really intense, depending on the temperature. The landscape gets golden with all the flowers and it is a joyful sight. I have also found information that says mimosa is beneficial in case of anxiety, depression, and stress. And indeed this feels like a positive, joyful fragrance, full of life, rich golden hues and a soothing mood. Some specialists in aromatherapy say that mimosa absolute has calming, warming and relaxing properties and can help to nourish, soften and soothe inflamed, oily or sensitive skin. Mimosa flowers are the first signs that spring is coming. This yellow puffy flower is considered to be a sign of hope in France. According to the English botanicals website Starchild, “Mimosa can be used in celebrations of spring to welcome the return of the Goddess. It brings hope and joy and banishes the demons of depression. It is suitable for rites of renewal, for turning a leaf or starting on a new endeavour. It can also be used for dream work and astral travel. It belongs to the throat chakra and promotes communication and exchange”. White mimosa is also the name of a cocktail with orange juice and champagne, but I think this is totally unrelated.

White Mimosa Flowers

“A creamy and sophisticated floral scent celebrating the tender and fierce Tuscan flower, the White Mimosa. Sumptuous. Velvety. Sensual. Part of the Tuscan Scent "Quintessential Collection", a luxury perfumed anthology created around the most intense and fierce scents of Tuscan raw materials.” - Salvatore Ferragamo                    

The natural powderyness of mimosa is here amplified with iris, so do expect a very dusty sweet fragrance here. But this sweetness is balanced with a strong spicy accord, which the official notes don't specify, but I know that Anne-Louise loves pink pepper so that must be it, associated maybe with cardamom and black pepper. It makes the scent pop and gives it a tart aroma. Another spice I can detect pretty clearly is cinnamon, which can be derived from the sweet aspect of mimosa. However, cinnamon, whether it is just an effect or the actual material, is very prominent. Since the fragrance is milky and creamy, the association with cinnamon turns the composition into a sort of gourmand, evocative of deserts. If we think that mimosa also has honey facets, you can see that sweetness is everywhere in this perfume. But it's not the obvious thing you would imagine. The sweetness from mimosa, along with the cinnamon and almondy notes (and again powder) coming from heliotrope, gets warmer and fizzy by the use of spices and peppers. It is a dense perfume and it smells really natural. The projection is big but the scent gets quiet after a couple of hours, resting on the skin and fading rather quickly after the third hour in a comfortable and soft trail of vanilla. The road from start to finish is adorned with white flowers, which I suspect to include jasmine and gardenia. But that  doesn't mean this is too feminine. Again, the spices transform everything and give depth to the whole fragrance. In the end, the powder from mimosa, after being touched by the powder of heliotrope, moves into the puffy white feather cushions of the cuddly iris with some woods as structure. This is a story of tenderness, warm feelings and honeyed comfort.

 

TUSCAN SCENT WHITE MIMOSA Top notes ambrette, mandarin Heart notes white mimosa, white flowers, heliotrope Base notes iris, vanilla

I have to tell you. Look for the name and don't forget it: Anne-Louise Gautier. Whenever you read this name, open your nostrils. After these two proofs of talent and respect for the art of perfumery (White Mimosa and Pièce Unique), I am expecting a very good and fragrant future for this young French woman. Can we have a third creation real soon?