Milano Fragranze Brera photo and collage by Neringa©️
“If I could only give you a kiss on your lips, It would tell you all the delights of love, Abiding to speak a thousand joys to you! Ah, thus it would speak to you along with my heart’s palpitations. I do not desire gems or pearls, nor do I seek others’ affections. Your look is my delight, your kiss is my treasure….”-Il Bacio, Luigi Arditi (translated from the Italian)
Pinacoteca Di Brera via Pinotecabrera.org
What happens at the art gallery after the visitors have left? When the clock strikes midnight and the day has faded into the darker shadows of the night? Suspend your notion of reality and imagine: drawn by a distant flickering light, imprisoned-in-still-life characters of the paintings awaken. They step outside to wander the narrow gallery hallways, silently floating above the ground, like haunted souls; silenced from dawn till dusk. The Pinacoteca di Brera (“Brera Art Gallery”) established in 1776 is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings, including artworks that reach from 4000 BCE through the 20th century. Caravaggio, Rubens, Raphael, Mantegna amongst others have created masterpieces adorning the walls of Pinacoteca Di Brera, but it was Francesco Hayez’ Il Bacio that had captured the heart of Creative director Alessandro Brun (also the co-founder of Masque Milano) and inspired Milano Fragranze Brera, composed by Violaine Collas of MANE.
Il Bacio, Francesco Hayez via Ermano
Remarkable in its intense clarity of light, Il Bacio depicts a genteel young couple engaged in a charged, passionate encounter. The man and woman embrace as if they are stealing a forbidden kiss in a forbidden place; the woman’s hand is electrified with passion, the man’s hand soft on her face. The lyrical shadow to their right draws our eyes to the length of her sensuous, draping skirt. Eroticism and emotion are carried in the dimension and interplay of highlights within this intricately rendered silk. A famous symbol of Italian Romanticism, Il Bacio is shadowed with an air of hazy nostalgia and tender melancholy. It demonstrates Hayez’s ordered, Neoclassical composition and refined, narrative style, but it is his use of light that makes it a truly intimate pleasure for ones’ eyes. Perfumer Violaine Collas skillfully translated the luminosity, the colour-shadow interplay and the sumptuous nature of the fabrics depicted in Il Bacio into a mesmerising olfactive interpretation.
Milano Fragranze Brera visual interpretation of notes by Neringa©️
Milano Fragranze Brera is constructed around rose: the kind of rose which is painted with the most glorious shades of red you’ve ever seen. The sweetest rose. The purest rose. The thorny rose. The vengeful rose. A rose to worship and to be afraid of. Fierce lovers’ rose. A rose like a hot iron brand on your skin.
Adorned with jewel-toned richness of spices; notably golden threads of saffron and the blazing, deep carmine of chili pepper wraps the King and Queen of flowers into the lustrous satin folds of the young woman’s dress in Il Bacio emanating the intoxicating aroma of night-blooming jasmine. But underneath the the darker, nocturnal shadows the musky, gourmand earthiness of patchouli lurks. The pairing of rose and patchouli entwined in an intimate embrace is one of the most ingeniously perfect olfactive combinations in perfumery, they’re made for each other despite their contrasting personalities or, better said, precisely because of the apparent opposition of their scent profiles. Rose, with its velveteen, voluptuously honeyed nature and floral radiance, lifts the earthy darkness of patchouli and softens its raw edges; adding enticing, sensual undertones that would save even the most blasé perfume lovers from boredom. Like the dark brown cloak draped over the young man’s shoulders in Il Bacio; Mme. Collas drapes the rich olfactive veil of ambered labdanum over the intoxicating floral heart. Every rounded, irresistible curve of floral essence is adorned with carnal flickers of vanilla’s leathery nuances and intensified by a cleverly balanced application of earthy, chocolate toned patchouli. Milano Fragranze Brera is simultaneously modern yet as classically timeless. Above all it is unforgettable.
Every morning when the sun’s rays break through, illuminating the intricate frames of the paintings adorning the centuries-old walls of the Pinacoteca Di Brera, the art-hungry visitors will start filling the gallery. If you are among them you might catch the aroma of rose, saffron and patchouli lingering in the air. It will smell just like Milano Fragranze Brera.
Notes: Top: Saffron, Bergamot, Chili Pepper; Heart: Rose, Jasmine, Bourbon Geranium; Base: Patchouli, Labdanum, Vanilla
Disclaimer: Sample kindly provided by Milano Fragranze, opinions are my own.
Neringa Svobutaite, Senior Contributor
*Find out more about the Milano Fragranze Iine: watch Contributor Steven Gavrielatos aka Redolessence ‘s video overview and interview with Alessandro Brun.
You can read Nicoleta Tomsa’s review of La Prima here
Milano Fragranze Brera photo and collage by Neringa©️
Thanks to the generosity of Milano Fragranze we have a 100ml bottle of Milano Fragranze Brera for one registered reader in the US, EU or UK. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what you enjoyed the most about Neringa’s review, have you tried any of Milano Fragranze fragrances and where you live. Draw closes 8/14/2021
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