Description
Creators of the house of Carthusia were enchanted by delicate jasmine from the island of Capri – the island of sea mermaids and lush nature, so they designed Gelsomini di Capri – Jasmine from Capri, a beautiful flower which enriches and intoxicates all your senses with its magic and charm.
The unique bouquet of magic flowers of jasmine from Capri is the main ingredient of the new edition. The scent is sweet and fruity, created of intriguing and memorable fresh essences. The main role is played by jasmine, surrounded by geranium from Egypt, cloves and ylang-ylang from the Comores.
Middle notes of Gelsomini di Capri encompass zagara (orange blossom) from Morocco and Texas cedar, mixed beautifully with base notes of beeswax from France, Turkish rose and soft Madagascar vanilla.
Gelsomini di Capri arrives in elegant package as 50ml perfume. Available since July 2009.
bulbanator – :
I’m hesitant to label a scent indolic, but its present here with an overripe jasmine note.
Opening features an initial animalic jasmine and thick ylang accord on my skin. A geranium clove-spiced scent with orange blossom wanders around in the middle. The geranimum is very light, never overpowering the composition so I consider myself fortunate based on other reviews from below. I think I’m smelling beeswax (can’t be 100% positive) but it helps ground the notes in the base.
At around the three hour mark I was surprised at the strong rose scent, in fact i didn’t recognize it to be Gelsomini, and thought “where is that rose scent coming from? Oh it’s me.” Gelsomini is a little challenging because of the heavy, sweaty florals in the opening and middle.
Becoming fainter overtime, then turning slightly earthy, this is the definition of old-school perfume.
georgiev_85 – :
The sample of this that I received a few weeks ago must be reformulated with a stronger clove presence, and a more toned-down geranium. What I get is definitely a boldly spiced, very clovey white floral that is more akin to akawanis’ review. I too am reminded of jasmine tea, as well as real, living jasmine as it smells very similar to the jasmine growing on our fence outside. Warm spiced tea, fresh, dewy jasmine, heavy, nose-tickling cloves on my skin. Not even a hint of geranium peeks out for me, I don’t know if that is good or bad though since I’m pretty ambivalent to geranium. I can’t say as I’m drawn by geranium, nor am I repulsed by it, but I AM drawn to Gelsomini di Capri.
sana15041981 – :
Ahhh~ A fresh pot of Jasmine Tea! So realistically rendered, I can almost drink this bottle.
Never would I have imagined an unsweetened Floral to come across so gourmand. The opening is absolute floral heaven. Then, as pepperoniann rightly calls it, the floralcy disappears around the 15 minute mark, transitioning to a strong beeswax dry down. Since I wear a lot of mens’ frags, it takes a boat load of geranium to make itself heard. There’s no trace of geranium on my skin, even after 3 sprays.
I’d discovered Carthusia at a seaside boutique named Lele, in Paia Maui. It’s rare enough to see this niche line in a metropolis like San Francisco, so it was the last thing I’d expected in a tiny Hawaiian town. So I’m enjoying a Caprese perfume redolent of Chinese Jasmine Tea in Hawaii; and Gelsomini has come to embody the magical island experience. Now back in San Francisco, I’ll be ordering a bottle as a belated souvenir as a scented reminder of this amazing trip.
vitka1300 – :
I got a 2ml sample of this fragrance, but I only wore it once and realised that this is a very difficult scent for me. The user pepperoniann has written such a spot on review below that I don’t have much to add. This fragrance is a very realistic, natural floral, but extremely unpretty. The geranium is killing me!
dystroys – :
This smelled exactly like an impure grade of ylang ylang essential oil I have. Nice but not really a perfume.
dmitpars – :
I ordered a sample of this some time ago when I was searching for good jasmine scent. Now, this was before I realized I absolutely hate geranium in perfumes… so my apology if the below review seems unenthusiastic about Gelsomini di Capri.
This perfume is very old-school: there’s the classic pairing of jasmine and ylang, lots of geranium, some rose, and some cloves. It starts of rather bright with indolic jasmine and orange blossom as well as a very detectable rosy undertone. The result is a very natural tea-like scent, calming and lovely. Yet about 15 minutes in the fresh white florals disappear. What’s left is the indoles from jasmine and ylang mingled with a very, very loud geranium, so much it almost smells minty, likes a less-pleasant Florabotanica. Minty, but skanky. Then there’s the beewax that makes the entire composition even more natural-smelling, and skankier. Like flower bushes you see on hiking trails that grow out of mud. Carthusia bottled that scent perfectly in this one.
At this stage (1.5 hours in) I really cannot take Gelsomini di Capri anymore with its awesome projection (2 feet, and I get wafts of it all the time). My nose refuses to further sniff this thing, so…. :
kisena – :
Bottom line: if you’re a geranium lover this is a must-try, but if you’re like me who’s not fond of the note, please avoid this at all cost.
vic-82 – :
An attack of white florals which is so potent in the opening it comes across almost animal like a feral musk!
Waxy, orange blossom, ylang ylang and sweeter jasmine are dominant in the beginning then becoming a more powdered geranium type vibe. There is the tiniest hint of clove in there too. The scent for women who enjoy this traditional floral fare and not for this man to wear at all. The saving grace here is the jasmine in the top notes otherwise I really wouldn’t like Gelsomini di Capri.
radik-29 – :
I expected this to be a ‘pretty’ fragrance. Loads of floral elements. A slight shift, I find it quite handsome. The florals are vaguely high-pitched (jasmine, orange blossom, ylang-ylang) in the top-notes, but are all are all reigned-in by a leading geranium note. Into the heart, there’s a good bit of a dirty, sweaty feel, but this point seems more like an inflection of the floral, and not stand-alone skanky.
Wonderfully, the sweetness fades in the heart, and a rather earthy, though not vulgar, floral tone (again, lots of the geranium still in play) carries the day. It’s a very outdoorsy floral feel, more like a garden than a bouquet, and the underbelly notes (indoles, a sweaty feel) grow without ever becoming overwhelming. While not a chypre, Gelsomini becomes a down-to-earth scent, finding a well-worn feel similar in tone to the green/leather chypres.
UNKUIND – :
Mmm… I’m not sure. This one doesn’t finish to convince me. It is goods-melling like real Mediterranean jasmine, but it’s also so faint and has poor sillage, even if lasting power is very good in EdT. I only spray once on my wrist, maybe it needs more. It is like a softer version of Patou Joy and slightly indolic, quite warm summery lazy jasmine. I’m sorry I can’t clearly smell the beeswax. I like that in small quantities. All in all a very refined and wearable classy and classic jasmine scent, warmer and sunnier than most jasmin scents.