Mito: a new launch by Vero.Profumo

And finally, here comes a real Mito (that is, a real Myth).

After Onda, Kiki and Rubj, Vero Kern launches her fourth fragrance, inspired by Villa d'Este lush gardens and walks among citrus, fountains and marble statues.

I love Vero for launching her fragrances only when she's got something to say, without haste or search for visibility. And I'm won over by the care with which she selects raw materials, her pursuit of formal perfection, which leads her to present a fragrance every two-three years... In addition, Vero's taste knows how to mix a crazy bit of eccentricity with a classy, measured refinement. All these features make her almost unique, her fragrances are complex, built as multilayered novels with entertwined plots counterpointing each other brilliantly. In short, her scents are really the best of what's out there, both as formal execution, artistic interest, and wearing pleasure are concerned.

Mito tells three stories: one is all citrus fruits, one is flowers, one is woody/mossy, but what makes Mito really special is a gorgeous green note of galbanum gently blowing across all three stories, highlighting them with an intensely green shade.

The top plot is about rough, bitter and bright citrus fruit (lemon, bergamot, grapefruit and verbena leafs perhaps), under which the second story breaths gently with flowers (orange blossom, ylang ylang, tuberose, jasmine, gardenia and magnolia). I say it breaths "gently" because the power of this opulent floral bouquet could get out of hand ending in a loud uproar, which would cover the delicate citrus plot and kill the interest in this fragrance. Instead, flowers are like "witheld"; Vero focused on the beauty of the translucent white petals, all wrapped in a green shade. Chic, chic, chic at its best.

At a bottom level, Mito gets shady and dry with oakmoss, cedarwood, soft leather with a peachy hint, complemented with notes which in other times would've been called "animal notes" which today go under the generic name of "musks"

In summary ... bergamot + jasmine/ylang + oakmoss ... well, it sounds pretty much a chypre structure!

Yes, finally, after years of olfactory anorexia, here we finally have a chypre that is in all respects a true chypre, featuring a balance between light and dark, austere and restrained - sexy as hell - and, above all, made with all the “right” raw materials (if you make sicilian dessert “cassata” with vegetable soy ricotta and with no candied fruits ... well, it's no longer a real cassata, isn't it?).

So, if you're wearing Mito, and Mitsouko and Vol de Nuit (Guerlain), Y and Rive Gauche (YSL), Diorella and Miss Dior (Christian Dior), Cristalle (Chanel), Vent Vert (Balmain), Bandit (Piguet) Trussardi and La Perla come to your mind in all their glory, you are perfectly right: Vero Kern has enough talent to play the classic structure of a 50s/60s/70s chypre in a contemporary way, and the place of her new launch is right next to these great classics of perfumery. And, what's best, we're allowed to wear it today, right after its launch, in the original version. And it doesn't even smell “vintage”!

I have been wearing Mito with great pleasure for several hours, it's not a loud scent, its austere beauty stays close to the skin. Moreover, its somehow "witheld" mood hides too much sensuality just under the skin, I cannot resist the idea of spraying it on male's skin: I think it will be a blast!

ps

Vero collaborated with Georgian illustrator Sofo Berdzenishvili for the visual story in the leaflet!