New Fefé by Panama 1924

by: Juliett Ptoyan

At the beginning of the 20th century "Fefé" meant "dandy" in Naples; a dandy was a young gentleman who took a lot of care in his appearance and spent hours trying to look dapper. During the last Pitti Fragranze this word makes a reappearance: Panama 1924 launches Fefé as their new eau de toilette.

In Profumitalia's (owner of Panama's license) booth is a stylish mannequin in a pumpkin-colored orange jacket under a spotlight: it seems like they dressed him up as accurately as Maurizio Cerizza's work on the fragrance. By the way, "Fefé" also has its roots in the classic Neapolitan barbershop, Boellis - and so it felt only right to see not just a mannequin, but shaving accessories as well.

We're standing at the booth, and Cristiano Cerizza, managing director of Profumitalia, is telling me about the scent of shaving cream, which is always in the air of barbershops. The same note is in "Fefé": the topnotes are like a snow-white foam with a drop of bergamot oil, and the barber is carefully lathering the face of a client with a little varnished brush.  A bit later this "salon" chapter of the fragrance turns into an airy fougere heart with notable herbaceous and citric shades (the mix of orange peels and spicy estragon is truly incomparable), which is perfectly balanced and very toned. In fact, "Fefé" could have became a charming Eau de Cologne, but what for? It's very ironic as it is and it's ok - there's not so many really good juices for men.

Back to our Neapolitan dandy: after 10-15 minutes its airy heart vanishes and transitions to the smooth basenotes, as smooth as a top-of-the-range textile for a classic suit (which is obviously bespoke with a tailored-fit and takes five fit-tests before it's complete). Cashmeran plays here a key role, but patchouli and cedar help it. The dry down of "Fefé" is very subtle, almost transparent, but the traces of cedar and amber can still be found there. The result is  a really pleasant masculine fragrance, moderately classic and ironic, and perfect in its concept.

Top notes: bergamot, lemon, estragon

Middle notes: jasmine sambac, orange blossom, saffron

Base notes: patchouli, cashmeran, Virginian cedarwood, guaiac wood, amber, musk

DAYTONA BY PANAMA 1924 (2013)

The nose should be Maurizio Cerizza, but I'm not sure.

A guilty pleasure for me. Boellis is a traditional shaving/grooming brand based in Italy, finally really connected to an actual historical boutique and an actual Boellis family, the current owner being an actual skilled and renowned barber. Now, obviously this means nothing as regards of their perfume range since they are not producing the scents themselves and rather just sold the license to a production and distribution company based in Milan (Profumitalia); but at least, the brand is honest and doesn’t need to boost its image and mock customers’ intelligence with made-up nonsense. And the fragrances seem reflecting that attitude actually, since the ones I tried seemed all as much unpretentious as quite solid. Maybe unremarkably, if not mediocrely good, but still (almost) worthy the price tag if you are into non-groundbreaking, non-luxury, but nice, well-made, compelling and slightly designer-oriented stuff with a refined old school, typically “Italian” twist.

Now, Daytona is a fresh, elegant, comforting, maybe slightly dull but totally competent leafy-zesty-woody scent with a metallic fruity twist bearing quite a clear resemblance to Creed Aventus, with some key differences for me (besides the elephant in the room – the price tag). There is surely a tiny bit of that same department store feel, the dihydromicernol-driven kind of pungent-metallic-aquatic citrus-fruity note blending with dry, musky, ambroxan-infused and again quite “mainstream” crisp woods; but there’s no pineapple first, less cassis-driven fruitiness, and there’s more musky smokiness with a cozy minty-lavender accent and some more nondescript “grassy” feel, which seems connecting Daytona more tightly to the old school aromatic-green fougères tradition, making it smell a bit more barbershop-oriented, more distinguished and more mature than Aventus. And overall, aside from the notes, Daytona smells also more breezy, more smooth, and surprisingly more natural than that in my opinion. Still that’s the ballpark, so nothing really new; but if you feel something like that (like Aventus I mean, or in broader terms, like a safe and tame enough contemporary aromatic fougère balancing “charme” and a “crowd-pleasing” attitude with a really good persistence and projection combo) is missing from your wardrobe... then Daytona would make a really classy and quality choice, with a decent value for the price.