Giovanni Sammarco - has anybody tested his perfumes?

[hoschhti]

I am curious, has anybody sampled his perfumes, and if yes: What do you think of them?

 

[Colin Maillard]

I was curious too, some friends sampled them and they say they're good. He uses good quality materials (which he also sells I think) and apparently he's talented. Sadly although he lives in Switzerland, he does not ship samples/scents to Italy so I never got the chance to sample his stuff.

 

[hoschhti]

I just ordered his sample kit! I think he is also a member here on Basenotes, though not very active.

 

[Andrè Moreau]

Interesting thread.
About six months ago I heard he is a well-known and reputable raw-materials dealer and expert (ambergris, civet, "deer musk" etc.), other than a perfumer.
Since he lives in Switzerland and speaks italian fluently, I hope to get an interview with him, soon or later.

 

[hoschhti]

Today I received my samples and I did a first quick sniffing of all three perfumes (ALTER, VITRUM, BOND-T). My first impression: Very good! Outstanding quality and very elegant blends. I will do some more in-depth reviews next, so stay tuned!

 

[Andrè Moreau]

Since I am interested in obtaining an interview from him, please let us know your reviews.
I never tried these scents and I'd like to know an opinion.

 

[hoschhti]

ALTER review:

"Alter" is a gorgeous Jasmine (and Rose) perfume. Being all-natural the floral notes are not tamed but radiate with all their glory and an almost palpable quality, no aspect of the flowers is covered up, but it‘s still a very elegant perfume. After applying the Rose and Jasmine are on par, about half an hour later the Rose comes more to the center stage, leading then to a nice, slightly animalic drydown. There are other notes as well in "Alter", but I don’t pick them up consciously, they are just rounding out the fragrance. Longevity on my skin is not good (which is normal for all-natural perfumes), after about two hours the perfume turns into a skin scent for a few hours more. Performance on fabric is better. "Alter" is not a dark perfume but the Rose is of the darker kind and gives the perfume a mysterious sunset-vibe! Because of that it’s also easily suitable for men - no need to be afraid of florals! The quality of the ingredients is top-notch! For me personally the Rose is a bit too much emphasised. I am not the biggest fan of Rose in a leading role, that’s why it doesn’t surpass my favourite Jasmine-perfume "Tawaf" where the Rose is much more subdued. Nevertheless this is a great perfume for all Jasmine and Rose lovers who want to smell them in full bloom!


List of notes: Jasmine, Opoponax, Mimosa, Frankincense, Myrrh, Rose, Civet.

 

[hoschhti]

VITRUM review:

"Vitrum" is a Vetiver-perfume that does everything right. For me Vetiver can be a tricky note because there are some aspects of Vetiver that I like and some not. I don’t like the grassy and overbearingly pungent Vetivers, some even smell like some kind of vegetable. I like my Vetiver smoky, dark and earthy. That’s what you get with "Vitrum". The Vetiver is pitch-black and streamlined, smoky and earthy, at times slightly metallic and even slightly rubbery, and very sophisticated (By the way, that's a quality that all Sammarco-perfumes have in common, they are able to showcase the raw power of the natural ingredients but at the same time they remain very elegant). Some Oakmoss highlights all the good aspects of the Vetiver even further. A good dose of pepper gives additional spiciness to the blend making it even more powerful. In "Vitrum" the Rose plays only a supporting role in the background providing some smoothness to the rather austere blend. Its development is quite linear, only the notes themselves (like the Vetiver) develop a bit, but not so much the perfume as a whole. It becomes quieter and maybe a bit mossier with tiny hints of Frankincense. A little bit criticism: In the late drydown it reminds me of "Terre d’Hermes", a perfume that I rather dislike. Longevity again is not the best and again the performance on fabric is better. The quality of the ingredients is outstanding. This perfume was originally created as a bespoke creation for a female person, but it's easily unisex, even leaning more towards the masculine side in my opinion. It is dandy-like and refined, I could see a person like Pep Guardiola from Bayern München wearing this fragrance! Overall "Vitrum" is a very compelling perfume and one of the best Vetivers I have ever smelled! I think it's also my favourite perfume from Sammarco.

What I like about the brand in general is that there are no fancy stories behind the perfumes. The perfumes and their quality speak for themselves and create their own stories together with the wearer. In the case of "Vitrum" one of the first things that popped up in my head was (not a joke) K.I.T.T., the car from Knight Rider! It must be the pitch-black and streamlined Vetiver that reminds of the body of the car and the Rose adding a blittle bit of redness reminds of the red light thingy in the front of the car. Indeed a very evocative perfume!


List of notes: Vetiver, Rose, Frankincense, Oakmoss, Pepper, Bergamot.

 

[thebeck]

Let me just say that Giovanni is a great guy, gives great customer service, and is honestly trying to develop some unique and quality perfumes.

I have sampled his three offerings. If you enjoy O'Driu, then I think these could also match your taste

For me, my nose just can't adjust to these type of scents, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate what the man is trying to offer.

 

[hoschhti]

Let me just say that Giovanni is a great guy, gives great customer service, and is honestly trying to develop some unique and quality perfumes.

I have sampled his three offerings. If you enjoy O'Driu, then I think these could also match your taste

For me, my nose just can't adjust to these type of scents, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate what the man is trying to offer.

I'm a total sucker for natural perfumes. La Via del Profumo, O'Driù, and now Sammarco, but also Oud-Oils and Attars, these scents are exactly my taste. But I can understand that for some these perfumes can be too rough and don't perform (longevity, projection) well enough.

Compared to O'Driù the Sammarco-perfumes are far more well-mannered, O'Driù-perfumes are sometimes a bit over the top (in a good way).

 

[hoschhti]

BOND-T review:

Whenever I hear the words "Chocolate" and "Gourmand" when it comes to perfumes I always make a quick turn, it's simply not my genre. I tried "Bond-T" (What does the name mean?) and was prepared to dislike it, but no, it’s great! Cocoa and Patchouli (together with Tonka and Vanilla) provide the framework for a very interesting note that is embedded in this frame. It could be Osmanthus which is listed as a note but I’m not sure because I don’t know how Osmanthus really smells, it could be also a facet of Patchouli. Anyway, this note smells at times like Tea and at times like Tobacco, and sometimes like the both together! This nice play of notes gives the perfume an incredible depth and sensuality: This amazing Tea/Tobacco-note is floating in a sea of Chocolate! The whole perfume is slightly animalic and smooth as a baby’s bottom. I don’t like the word "sexy" and I normally don’t use it but "Bond-T" definitely is a sexy fragrance! Like the other Sammarco-perfumes it's suitable for men and women. Being all-natural it can't compete with synthetic fragrances when it comes to longevity etc., but that's the price you have to pay if you want to experience a high-quality natural perfume! Me? I'm sold as "Bond-T" is so far the only Gourmand-perfume that I like!


List of notes: Cocoa, Tonka, Vanilla, Osmanthus, Patchouli, Civet, Castoreum.

 

[Andrè Moreau]

Thank you, that's enough for me,
Hope to obtain soon an interview by him.

 

[hoschhti]

Giovanni sent me a sample of an yet unnamed and unreleased new perfume. Here are some first impressions: I would describe it as a "Dirty Citrus" or "Citrus Musk". It starts totally innocent with a fresh, "eau de cologne"-like citrus smell, but after a few minutes the animalic base shines through and this time the animalic notes are not just playing a minor role but are really the stars of the show (together with the citrus). At first I thought it contains real Deer Musk because the animalic base smells so different, but Giovanni told me that it doesn't. But it contains real Ambergris and I think it's a hefty dose of it. A lot of musk-perfumes have some kind of a dirty "bathroom-vibe" or have a bit of a "grandma-smell" or they smell just "pissy" or "poopy", but this perfume smells totally different: I have smelled real Ambergris before (in lower concentrations?), that's why I think there must be a hefty dose in it because it smells "fleshy" and slightly salty and at times even like putrefaction! Now, that sounds disgusting, doesn't it? It is a miracle that the perfume doesn't come across as repulsive! On the contrary, it's really nice! It is the clever set-up of the citrus topnotes against the animalic basenotes that makes the perfume dirty and very animalic but also fresh and somehow clean at the same time! The citrus topnotes remind me a bit of Creed's "Silver Mountain Water", although it's long ago when I smelled it the last time, so my memory could be wrong, but the new perfume has also this "mineralic" vibe that I remember from "SMW". The animalic base is unparalleled!

Giovanni told me that the perfume contains a new raw material called "Bushman Candle", but I haven't heard of that before and neither do I know how it smells, so I can't tell how much it contributes to the perfume.

 

[hoschhti]

This could be interesting for Italian folks: The perfumes are now available in Italy through Sacro Cuore Profumi.

 

[drseid]

I received samples of the entire line earlier this week. I was impressed with all of them, finding the quality of the ingredients top-notch. That said, the one that immediately stood out as the closest to my tastes was Vitrum. I wore it today, and the quality of the focal vetiver is outstanding, conjuring up similarities to the great Turtle Vetiver series by LesNez. This is definitely a hardcore vetiver composition that judging from the negative reviews must be quite polarizing. Polarizing or not, this stuff is outstanding and plays completely to my taste! A complete review will be forthcoming soon in the review section, but it is safe to say this one is going on my "buy" list for sure.

 

[hoschhti]

I received samples of the entire line earlier this week. I was impressed with all of them, finding the quality of the ingredients top-notch. That said, the one that immediately stood out as the closest to my tastes was Vitrum. I wore it today, and the quality of the focal vetiver is outstanding, conjuring up similarities to the great Turtle Vetiver series by LesNez. This is definitely a hardcore vetiver composition that judging from the negative reviews must be quite polarizing. Polarizing or not, this stuff is outstanding and plays completely to my taste! A complete review will be forthcoming soon in the review section, but it is safe to say this one is going on my "buy" list for sure.

I am glad that you like Vitrum. It's my favourite as well, followed by Bond-T. Sammarco is a brand that deserves much, much more attention in my opinion.

 

[drseid]

I am glad that you like Vitrum. It's my favourite as well, followed by Bond-T. Sammarco is a brand that deserves much, much more attention in my opinion.

The review is now up. I agree the perfumer and house deserve much more attention based on the samples from Indiescents I received, and I for one certainly will endeavor to keep any new releases on the radar going forward. I should mention that I do see where the O'driu comment is coming from in the particular case of Vitrum, as it exhibits many of the same qualities of the best of that house (and I mean that as a great compliment to Sammarco). I don't get the same feeling from the other Sammarco releases, but they are just different, showing the perfumer has got good range.

 

[hoschhti]

Sammarco has a new one out! It's called Ariel, like the famous mermaid and is dedicated to redheads. The list of notes is very intriguing: Angelica, Tuberose, Jasmine, Osmanthus, Violet, Rose, Sandalwood, Mandarine, Ginger, Tobacco, Davana and Orris Concrete.

http://giovannisammarco.ch/product/ariel/

 

[hoschhti]

ARIEL review:

The first thing that I noticed after "Ariel" settled on my skin is that it’s considerably softer, more gentle, actually totally different in style than the other perfumes by Sammarco, so I think it should be less "polarizing" to folks who found the previous ones too raw. :smiley:

When "Ariel" hits the skin you are greeted with a strong, leafy green and citrusy fresh accord with a sharp Tuberose, but this accord fades away after a few minutes and the scent turns into a soft and creamy mix of Sandalwood, Orris, Citrus (Ginger, Mandarine) and herbal undertones (although I’m not sure where the notes are coming from as there are no typical herbs listed). There are floral notes as well, but they are more in the background and tie everything together, the only flower that sticks out more is the Tuberose together with Davana. There is also a very faint Tobacco-note providing a slightly smoky background right from the beginning. This stage lasts quite some time and leads to a dry down that consists mostly of sweet and nutty Sandalwood and the soft Tobacco-note. As you can see from my description "Ariel" is a perfume with a distinct evolution whereas the other perfumes from Giovanni are more on the linear side. It’s also the most complex so far. The quality of the (natural) ingredients is very good, but this time they don’t show their raw power and stay more on the polite side. Like mentioned in the beginning this could be a good thing for people who didn’t like the earlier creations and dismissed them as too hardcore. Personally I like the rougher compositions more. Some criticism: "Ariel" can be a bit cloying (Davana?), especially when the dry-down kicks in. Before that the sweetness is nicely counterpointed by the citrus/floral notes and the herbal notes. Longevity is not good (on my skin) which is normal for a natural perfume. Projection is moderate. On the website "Ariel" is described as the most feminine perfume from the line and it definitely is. Still I think a guy can pull this off especially in spring or summer. All in all this is a soft, sweet and sensual perfume with a shier personality, seamlessly blended with high-quality ingredients, and it’s entirely different from the other offerings by Sammarco Perfumes. Definitely worth a try!


List of notes: Angelica, Tuberose, Jasmine, Osmanthus, Violet, Rose, Sandalwood, Mandarine, Ginger, Tobacco, Davana and Orris Concrete.

 

[hoschhti]

Another Ariel review:

https://chemistinthebottle.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/giovanni-sammarco-ariel/