Dame De L'Ile Eau de Parfum 100ml

Candy floss sits in the opening of Gritti Dame De L'Ile Eau de Parfum 100ml, which tells you immediately that this is a sweet fragrance and not an apologetic one.

Lime and bergamot come first and do the balancing. Lime is cold and sharp, bergamot bitter and green, and for a minute or two they hold the sugar in check. Then the candy floss takes over, spun and warm and slightly artificial in the way the material always is, and the scent commits to its character.

Jasmine is the only flower, and it is the right choice. Warm, heady and a little heavy, it gives the sweetness some depth and keeps the middle from being simply confectionery.

The base makes it comfortable. Vanilla extends the sugar into something smoother and rounder, amber adds a soft resinous warmth underneath, and musk presses the whole thing into the skin. Seven materials, with no attempt at complexity and no need for it.

Luca Gritti composed it. In wear it is long lasting at eau de parfum strength, projecting clearly for the first hour and then sitting close and warm for hours afterwards, which is how sweet compositions tend to behave when they are made properly.

It leans feminine, suits cold weather and evenings, and is an obvious choice for anyone who already knows they like sugar in their fragrance and is tired of being told not to. A word of warning: this is not a fragrance to wear to a formal interview or a quiet office, and it was never meant to be.

Gritti is run by the Gritti family in Italy and takes its name from Alvise Gritti, a sixteenth century Venetian merchant. Luca Gritti, the perfumer behind the house, composes its collections.