The weather is cooling off here as the calendar flips to mid-October. This generally triggers the grand migration of my warm-weather scents to the back of the shelf as the bigger bolder cold-weather perfumes move forward. It is at this point in the year I bid au revoir to my citrus perfumes. Almost all of my favorites do not do well underneath sweaters and scarves. There are mornings where I look at them but I know they are waiting for a warmer day. I have always wanted a citrus perfume which would be able to stand up and be counted in the chill of the fall. When I was at Pitti Fragranze I discovered a new line, to me, and the winter citrus I’ve been looking for in Peccato Originale Antidoto.
As a medicinal chemist the Peccato Originale display caught my eye because it had a lot of the old pharmaceutical accoutrements used to treat patients about a hundred years ago. Creative Director Silvia Monti’s family has owned a chemist’s shop for generations. From that inspiration she designed Peccato Originale to be a fragrant medicine, “something that goes beyond its function, it becomes an emotional support, a traveling companion that, sometimes, stays at your side for a lifetime.” Sig.ra Monti has released four fragrances to date Antidoto is one of the two newest releases.
Silvia Monti
When I was being introduced to the line and we came to Antidoto I was told that this was a citrus that would last longer than any I have tried. I’ve heard that before and after a few hours the proof is no longer on my skin. It was explained to me before spraying it on that Sig.ra Monti wanted Antidoto to be a potent antidote and to jump start the internal systems. Once I sprayed a bit of Antidoto on my skin my internal clock started ticking. Twelve hours later it was still going strong. In fact the citrus in Antidoto goes so strong the heart and base notes of mate tea and rum have a difficult time making themselves known.
The citrus bouquet of Antidoto is made up of petitgrain, lemon, mandarin, and grapefruit. All are present in overdose and then the note which helps knit them together and make them last for a long time is a high percentage of hedione. The jasmine quality of hedione acts as a fixative to the top notes and allows them to elongate their presence over many hours. The other note in the top accord is a great green cardamom. That cardamom, hours into the development, will help delineate the mate tea as it forces its way into perception. Another couple of hours later a rich dark rum accord finishes this off. Even throughout the mate and rum drydown the citrus notes dance like fireflies on top of the heavier notes.
Antidoto has 12-14 hour longevity and above average sillage.
Antidoto is a fascinating perfume to wear because of this elongated development. It makes it seem like I had applied different perfumes throughout the day. Fresh citrus then green tea and citrus finally a rum cocktail with a twist of citrus. Every time I wore Antidoto it lived up to its name as it was the antidote to my dilemma of being able to wear a citrus perfume in the colder weather.
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Peccato Originale at Pitti Fragranze.
–Mark Behnke
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