Note Pyramid
1881 Pour Femme
Twenty materials is a large formula by any standard, and Cerruti 1881 Pour Femme Eau de Toilette uses them to build the kind of full, layered perfume that the early 1990s did particularly well.
Jean Claude Delville composed it. Plum and peach open it with a soft, ripe sweetness, bergamot sharpens them, coriander adds a dry peppery edge, and mace contributes a warm, slightly bitter spice that stops the fruit reading as juice. It is a rich opening that announces a rich perfume. The heart is genuinely crowded and well managed. Tuberose and ylang ylang give creamy weight, jasmine and rose provide the floral centre, carnation adds a dry, peppery spice, osmanthus adds a mellow, dried blossom sweetness of its own, iris cools everything with grey powder, and white honey runs through the middle with a soft, waxy sweetness that is the perfume's most distinctive touch.
The base is long and classical. Oakmoss and patchouli give earth, vetiver gives root, sandalwood and virginia cedar give dry creaminess and pencil sharpness, and vanilla and musk round the end into something warm and powdery. The whole thing dries down slowly rather than collapsing.
At eau de toilette strength it is still substantial: six hours on skin and longer on wool, with the first hour the loudest. Two or three sprays suit it. Autumn and winter are its weather, evenings its hours, and it is aimed at women who like perfume with real body to it.
The Cerruti name was built on a wool mill at Biella that the family has held since 1881, supplying cloth to other designers as well as making its own clothes. Nino Cerruti opened the Paris fashion house in 1967, which is where the fashion story properly begins, and fragrance followed at the end of the 1970s. The perfume licence passed to Designer Parfums in 2018.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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