citrus salsa - Sisley's Eau de Sisley 3

Well now, this was a surprise. I'm not normally a Sisley fan, but for #3, they surprised me. It looks like they took a page from the book of Ultraviolet (Paco Rabanne) and mixed an unusual flower and fruit with something spicy. But where Paco Rabanne combined pimento and capsicum with osmansthus, Eau de Sisley #3 removes the pimento and adds TONS of citrus to the top, combining the bittersweetness of grapefruit with lemon and mandarin. I had no idea that the combination of sweet citruses would work so well, but they do - the "ginger" note is a melange of typical ginger aromatics plus the tinge of capsaicin.

You wouldn't know the difference until you ingest ginger alongside the fragrance - then you can tell that the sesquiterpenesque notes are enhanced ;) Capsaicin is the obvious culprit, though I have no proof whatsoever. However, if you mix sliced grapefruit, sliced mandarin, and sliced ginger, then sprinkle cayenne pepper on it? You get exactly what this smells like on my chemistry. Since grapefruit normally smells nasty-sour on my skin, this is a sheer success. This smells STUNNING on my skin. So much so, that I needed a whole bottle. I'm not normally a fan of fruity fragrances, but successful citruses are a distinct exception. Even during the (brief) romantic and ambery drydown, the citrus and ginger lives on, and considering how fleeting citrus usually is, I'm VERY happy with this concoction. #3 will be a lovely summer-into-fall scent, for those of you who are seasonal with your fragrance-wear

Notes:

top / citrus, bergamot, mandarin, grapefruit, lemon
heart / red ginger, osmanthus
base / patchouli, vetiver, benzoin, vanilla and musk.