Perfume Review: Cristiano Fissore Cashmere

A scent evoking the expensive softness of cashmere….I can’t think of anything more appealing. So as soon as I heard about Cashmere Eau de Toilette released by an Italian knitwear designer Cristiano Fissore, I had to try it. It wasn’t what I expected. For me, a cashmere-like perfume had to be warm, ambery and softly-vanillic, with delicate spicy undertone, creamy sandalwood note and quite a lot of tonka bean. I would have never thought that such a scent could be fruity and fresh. My first reaction to Fissore’s scent was – this is all wrong! The list of notes (bergamot, jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, amber, cedar, myrrh, vanilla, white musk) does not include apricot, yet that was the first note I could smell, and it stayed throughout the scent’s development. Not the juicy, realistic apricot picked right from a tree, nor a jam-like, honey-oozing confection, more of a muted, abstract rendition, but apricot nevertheless. Then there was the coldness of lily of the valley, the citrusy freshness of bergamot, the dry cedar and the right-out-of-a-shower feel of the delicately musky drydown. All wrong, all wrong, muttered I, falling asleep (bedtime is when I often test new scents, you see). And yet next night I reached for my sample again, and the night after that, and the one after…After a week of wanting to wear to bed nothing but Cashmere …I’ll re-phrase that…after not wanting to wear to bed any scent other than Cashmere, I came to realize that although it didn’t do it my way, the scent did evoke the fabric. I imagined dark golden-brown, luxurious shawl that absorbed its wearer’s woody-oriental perfume. Fissore, however, created the olfactory equivalent of a just-bought or freshly-laundered (in an apricotty soap) pastel pink sleep hoodie or cardigan meant to be worn over a silk nightgown. Its very freshness is cuddly, its blend velvety-soft, indeed cashmere-like. This is an understated and elegant comfort scent, no less. I am addicted to it. Santa baby, if you are reading, this is the bottle I want to find under the tree this year. Cristiano Fissore Cashmere is sold at First in Fragrance, €100.00 for 100ml. Image sources, voguevanity.it and gettyimages.com PS. The Fissore collection of fragrances also includes Cashmere for men. If you are familiar with it, please share your impressions!