Luxe, Calme, Voluptè (by Francesca Bianchi, 2022)

In these weeks I’m wearing a selection of Francesca Bianchi’s perfumes. 

I must admit I like them all, and all for the same reason: the absolutely unique contrast between rich and opulent formulas, and a gentle, never overwhelming radiance. Francesca likes rich textures; her scents are complex, multi-faceted, and enriched with precious raw materials offering an incomparable three-dimensionality. 

They have a presence. 

They breathe, like living animals. 

Yet, all this richness, all this exuberant and sensual vitality, doesn’t scream. If these same -identical- scents had been composed in the 80s, their roar would have dried anyone meters away. 

Instead, Francesca manages to make them emerge from the skin overlapping nuance after nuance with rare subtlety; chiseling the sensations to gently reach the nose, layering wave after wave. The result is like slowly resurfacing from a dream. They remind me of Leonardo’s Madonnas: never a sharp outline, or a pop light. Their heavenly grace emerges from the table thanks to delicate lines superimposed layer on layer. 

Everything alive vibrates, almost never with perfectly defined contours. A little of who we are always melts in the air around us, and Francesca knows how to show it.

For me, this is Mastery. Try it... see if you can. 

Having said that, I think that Luxe, Calme, Volupte is my favorite so far, thanks to a bitter floral accord with emerald-green hues of great character, worthy of the best Italian tradition, enveloped in an ambery frame of rare opulence with precious woods and resins. A jewel of crepuscular complexity, which invites you to search (within yourself) the right place to indulge in pleasure.