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heagelveply – :
The opening of Mona di Orio Oiro very much reminds me of her Nuit Noire. They’re both quite heavy-handed with indole and animalic muskiness to bring out the carnal sensuality of white florals. The indole here doesn’t have much camphor/mothball nuance, instead, it’s full on with the decaying flesh aspect.
In Oiro, the sweet, occasionally smoky jasmine is drenched in this animalic, decay-like indole and musks, but it’s not as much as a “punch in the face” like Nuit Noire, and somehow feels more exuberant than the brooding animalic darkness of Nuit Noire.
Oiro remains this carnal yet sophisticated jasmine during the first 3 hours, while the animalic aspect gradually softens into the background. The jasmine is now comforted by the rounded, suave embrace of sweet pea and heliotrope, without much of the later’s powdery, almond-y nuance. Smooth, discreet sensual amber bring a warm glow upon jasmine, while something green, dirt-like (vetiver?) stirring from underneath, like the inevitable shadow whereas there’s light.
This elegant, opulent dry down then lasts another 6 hours, making the longevity around 9 hours in total, and the sillage of Oiro is moderate to soft.
Golden glow and looming shadow, skanky decay and comforting, velvety warmth, Oiro makes seamless transitions between these contrasts with its generous, rich materials. Although I suspect the indolic, animalic opening might be a difficult introduction, the refined, sensual dry down and the whole journey of Oiro definitely worths a try. If only it could be brought back…
Beeklymaymnuajud – :
(A review originally posted on MakeupAlley in 2006, I wanted to re-post it here now because I do not use MakeupAlley anymore [but have many fond memories of using it] and I am trying to get back into writing reviews, using old ‘work’ as inspiration…): This to me is a gorgeous, ethereal, delicate but yet robust perfume in the tradition of Napa Valley Boheme…Mona di Orio’s perfumes have been tricky for me because of what I see as slick and almost pretentious marketing–the packaging however is an exercise in almost pure luxury and I do love it, the boxes and the bottles. I would call myself a big fan of Mona di Orio and though admittedly sheepishly said, also a fan of the mystique surrounding her, as if by consorting with her perfumes we are reaching back into Istory, such as that of Roudnitska and Beaux before him, an Istorical line is being traced with Mona as its current incarnation.
Oiro is di Orio’s fourth perfume, after Lux, Carnation, and Nuit Noire…and in my opinion it is her best yet. Oiro means “Gold” in Portuguese, and to me this is a golden, vibrant light green (almost a tad neon-ish light green) perfume. Very contemporary and classical at the same time.
Notes include (from the Mona di Orio website): Head: Green mandarin from Calabre, sweet pea, spices. Heart: Absolu jasmin from India, Oliban from Somalia, heliotrope, vetyver from Haiti, ylang ylang from the Comores. Base: Immortelle flower from Spain, cedarwood, musc, amber.
The green mandarin is something I have never smelled in perfume before, and it is a zesty kind of bergamot citrussy smell that is most invigorating, mood lifting even.
The rest of the perfume unfolds with fascinating surprises, like the sweet pea note mixed with spices in the top notes, oh just reading the list of notes gets the brain and senses working, a truly unusual combination.
Knowing Immortelle flower only from Annick Goutal Sables and Victoire Gobin-Daude’s Biche Dans L’Absinthe, I am surprised and pleased to find its pasty light brownness in the base mixed with cedarwood (to me the smell of the goddesses and gods) and di Orio’s trademark amber and musc base mixture.
This is the reason why I like French perfumes, and even perfumes like Boheme that have these same evocative qualities (by I believe perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, I believe to my knowledge the best the USA has to offer in perfumers:) create and strike a similar chord with me, HUMYN PERFUMES.
The beauty of this Mona di Orio creation is that it even has a kind of dirtyness I find in all of her perfumes, like the smeared palette of paints used by Francois Boucher or even Rembrandt (or some darkness thrown into the Boucher) …it’s like we are getting a glimpse of the process and product with di Orio, and they have managed (I believe with the cooperation of her Dutch business partner Jeroen Oude Sogtoen) to raise a sort of fortress or even ivory tower which has at times elitist tones but manages to really scream the buttery envelopping gourmand richness of French perfume.
Brava Mona! Inspiring…my only gripe is that on my skin I cannot smell the perfume and it’s sillage yet enough, but this is my first day with a new bottle and I plan to strategically apply to get the desired effect, must be possible…As a ps. the pure white jasmine from India used in this perfume is supposed to match Grasse jasmine somehow in its exquisite qualties……
deniska89t – :
This scent is first as a slap in the face – overwhelming jasmine and armpit/hourse-stable! Not my kind of melody, I thought.. but wait about one hour and it´s starting to transform..Now a warm, old-fashioned kind of fragrance starting to take form, I´m thinking of a lady from the 1920 during those happy years, she is sitting in front of her makeup-mirror, she is holding her powder with one hand, holding a cigarett in a long “cigarette-holder” in her other, a little bit nonchalant.. She is dressed in lilac and grey with a short “bob” and smokey eyes.. She´s looking beautiful and a bit decadent, just as this perfume. The animalic tone is now in the background, and just makes the flowers and jasmine stand out more beautiful. This scent is very far away from a fresh and romantic jasmine-scent, is more of a really sexy, mature or oldfashioned womans jasmine.. Demanding but rewarding, I now love it, but I just have to wait for the right time to wear it. Less is more, but WOW, wait for “more”!
Археометр – :
Was a present. This scent was mothballs and jasmine on me, plus a… feeling of violet-coloured fog. This fog to it all. This fog was half-pressing and half-magical, and had no real weight, but texture or even density – those it had for me. Closer to the end (second 24-hour timeslot) I felt a bit of musk and some sweets, too. This scent had a very familiar sound to it, something smelled like it in one of my Granny’s wardrobes, so the scent’s a pleasant memory for me.
hmmlmvdsqi – :
I’m afraid that this was my first experience of what is cruelly but accurately termed a scrubber. I couldn’t get this nausea inducing thing off my wrist fast enough. Which was amazing because on paper it contained everything I would normally love. Perhaps mine was a bad batch, because it smelled oily and rancid.
olympia – :
This is a marvelous creation. I love the flowery opening, it’s rich and very sensual yet being kinda cold and distant. I love when after only few moments a fantastic orange appears and it becomes a bit fruity, a bit playful, but still very grown up, very sophisticated.
When the fragrance goes to it’s heart phase it gets a bit bitter and I have seen it with other two creations by Mona di Orio as well, nothing unpleasant or anything, but it just goes to this bitter, cold phase. Weirdly I do not get too much jasmine, it’s been well hidden in all the other notes and well…it all is perfectly blend together.
The only thing that doesn’t make me jump and scream in pleasure is the amount of orange here, it’s a bit too much for my taste, but would work for others. If it wouldn’t be for the amount of orange I’ll gladly put this on my want list.
Adolf77 – :
I wish I could point out specific ‘notes’ in a fragrance, but I only know this is one of my favourite ‘skanky’ frags. Gardenia and Tuberose usually do that for me, but I don’t know which ingredient is doing it in here. Jasmine? Longevity is a bit better than average, a very rich scent that makes my husband sit up and take notice. I hope others in this line are as impressive. I’ll try another as soon as I can FIND one.
serg-55 – :
(edit) AFter three wearings I need to edit my original review.
Some internet reviews complain that is too heavy in the jasmine dept, and I can see why they would say that. As an oriental woody I would expect it to sit farther down in the ‘earthy’ notes, and not get stuck on the floral sweet spot.
I do like this scent, however. There are many notes here that I love, and the quality is up there. Overall, a good, well rounded fragrance that probably could use more of a woody anchoring.
Now why is this a hard sell in America, and why did all retailers pull it??? I LOVE old school classics, as mentioned above, and this can rub shoulders with the best of them. this scent is a stunner, but I am stressed at the difficulty at finding a place to buy it….
seveerr – :
Oiro by Mona di Orio left me breathless. I absolutely did get the falling in love feeling.
“Oiro” means “gold” in Portugese and this perfume supposedly named by the fact that jasmine absolute is worth several times its own weight in gold, since there is a generous addition of sensual and luxuriant jasmine in this perfume.
It opens up with heady flower notes followed by the burst of sunny mandarin. A tangy ginger note and the velvety spiciness of cardamom soften the sweet floral accord before green yet animalistic jasmine reveals itself. While jasmine intensifies, savory immortal and dry cedarwood swirl out. The citrus notes are present all over the composition in the background keeping the heady flowers not beeing too overwhelming. The drydown of Oiro is slightly powdery with a lot of sweetness.
The entire composition is so exquisite, magnificent, I’m looking forward to get acquainted with the other pieces of Mona di Orio’s perfume collection. (Mona di Orio’ve been taught by Roudnitska)
My only complaint about Oiro is the price-tag… 🙁